4th UPDATE: Australia Small Miners Alarmed By Greens Tax Views

22nd Jul 2010 08:09

(recasts lead, adds comments from Resourcehouse chairman and more remarks from Senator Brown. By David Fickling Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES SYDNEY (Dow Jones)--Smaller and mid-tier Australian miners could restart advertising campaigns against the government's tax plans for the industry as soon as the weekend, executives and lobbyists said Thursday. In a meeting in Perth, industry representatives warned that the prospect of the Australian Greens party holding the balance of power in the country's Senate after Aug. 21 elections was creating fresh uncertainty for mining companies. "We're still assessing the future of the [advertising] campaign," said Simon Bennison, chief executive of the Association of Mining & Exploration Companies, a group of mostly small to mid-tier miners. "We're certainly not ruling it out." He said a campaign could be restarted as soon as this weekend, but it may have to wait longer and would depend on the views of AMEC members. Heavy-rotation advertising against the original version of the tax on mining company profits contributed to the embattled political atmosphere which preceded the overthrow of former prime minister Kevin Rudd last month. The Minerals Council, Australia's peak mining lobby group which led the original campaign, regards a revised version of the tax agreed earlier this month as a "positive outcome" that should "draw a line under the uncertainty" created by the previous model. But Andrew Forrest, chief executive of AMEC member Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. (FMG.AU), described the revised proposals as a "retrograde tax" that was "specifically suited to the purposes" of three big mining companies which consulted with the government on its design: BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP), Rio Tinto Ltd. (RTP) and Xstrata PLC (XTA.LN). That process was "designed to hose down the evident anger of those three multinationals, and not to benefit the Australian people" and smaller companies, he said. Fortescue would "favorably consider" any request for funds in the event of a fresh AMEC advertising campaign, but Forrest declined to explicitly back the stance of opposition Liberal-National Coalition leader Tony Abbott, who has called for the tax plans to be cancelled altogether. Miners' fears over the future of the tax have been stoked in recent days by signs of the Greens' growing political power. Polling suggests that the Greens, which currently have five senators, will hold the balance of power in Australia's Senate after the election, allowing them to block or modify the watered-down version of the mining tax hammered out by new prime minister Julia Gillard. Greens leader Senator Bob Brown said Wednesday his party wanted "a better return from the big miners." Clive Palmer, executive chairman of the privately-held companies Resourcehouse and Mineralogy, on Wednesday said that the deal on the revised tax would be "rendered null and void" if the Greens intervene. Forrest said the Greens' support for a tougher version of the tax went against the party's own agenda to encourage development for indigenous Australians. Senator Brown "understands that welfare as a long-term solution in fact exacerbates severely the underprivilege of (indigenous welfare) recipients", Forrest said. "The only long-term solution to get Aboriginal people into the mainstream of Australia is training and employment", and mining companies are best-placed to provide that, he said. Senator Brown hit back at the two executives and Western Australian mining heir Gina Rinehart, saying that they should stand in the election "to get public endorsement for their demands that billions be siphoned out of the public purse". "Let's book the Great Hall [of Australia's Parliament House] and have a full on public debate about who owns Australia's mineral resources and what is a fair tax to fund the nation's future education, health and public transport needs," Senator Brown said. -By David Fickling, Dow Jones Newswires; +61 2 8272 4689; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 22, 2010 03:09 ET (07:09 GMT)