The head of the Resources Council is steaming from the ears over the latest report on mining royalties from The Australia Institute calling it a “work of fiction”.
Chief Executive of the Queensland Resources Council, Michael Roche, said the report shows that The Australia Institute (TAI) was firming in the pocket of the anti-coal movement.
“So almost every month another report is churned out, critical of the coal industry, the gas industry or mining generally, and always oblivious to reality,” Mr Roche said.
“The latest state budget analysis by TAI is a work of fiction and an insult to Queenslanders.”
“Let’s start with royalties paid to the state government – according to budget papers, of the $2.3 billion paid to the state in resource royalties in 2013-14, of which coal was responsible for more than $1.8 billion.”
“Resource royalties is the third largest own source revenue item in the Queensland budget, after payroll tax and transfer duty.”
“Our members (mine companies) employ 43,000 direct employees, and coal companies make up 66 percent of those numbers – or the equivalent of nearly 30,000 jobs – and that does not take into account the contractors who are employed by the coal sector.”
“TAI also challenges the modelling of the QRC’s data, however it was peer reviewed and endorsed by the Central Queensland University in 2009-10 and the methodology has not deviated since then,” Mr Roche said.
“If TAI has a problem with the modelling of QRC data then they need to take that concern up with the Reserve Bank of Australia which used the same modelling approach in a research discussion paper* published in 2013.”
“In 2012-13, resources sector companies spent almost $38 billion in Queensland on wages, goods and services and communities”.
“That direct spending injection is calculated by expert economic modelling firm Lawrence Consulting to have generated total spending of $76 billion – one quarter of the state’s economy.”
“There is a very well-funded, well-coordinated campaign being run by the anti-mining activists who want to shut down the coal and gas export industries in Australia and The Australia Institute’s executive director Richard Denniss is in the thick of that campaign, being a co-author of their strategy document Stopping the Australian Coal Export Boom.”
“Instead of pointing fingers at the resources industry, TAI should declare its bias by revealing its funding sources and its role in the anti-coal movement.”
Mr Roche said that the results of the 2013-14 resource sector spending survey will be available in coming weeks.
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