http://www.thepunch.com.au/tags/mining/ Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/ming-money-talks-the-loudest-in-australian-politics/ When North Queensland Liberal MP George Christensen got the idea of launching a new political organisation to counter what he calls “the radical Green movement”, he immediately reached out to Gina Rinehart. Christensen sent her an email setting out his proposals to attack environmental groups (including UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation ) that he claims want to hold up mining projects in the region. The email exchange has now leaked. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/ming-money-talks-the-loudest-in-australian-politics/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/ming-money-talks-the-loudest-in-australian-politics/#item8598 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 I’ve been told that some people don’t associate the Greens with money, people or facts. So I’m starting this piece on the Great Barrier Reef with some facts about money and people: 5.1 billion dollars. This is how much Great Barrier Reef tourism contributes to the Australian economy every year. 54,000. That’s how many people are employed full-time in Great Barrier Reef industries, mostly tourism. 3 million. That’s the number of visitors who come to see this World Heritage icon every year, about 2.1 million domestic and nearly 900,000 international visitors to gateway towns. 5 billion dollars. This is the Government’s estimated value of the “ecosystem services” the Reef provides every year – cleaner air, cleaner water. And we get it for free. Extraordinary, isn’t it? And this awesome economic powerhouse is just sitting on the doorstep of Queensland. Here are some more Great Barrier Reef numbers, which you might find extraordinary for different reasons: http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Finding-Nemo-will-be-much-harder-if-we-mine-the-reef/ I’ve been told that some people don’t associate the Greens with money, people or facts. So I’m starting this piece on the Great Barrier Reef with some facts about money and people: 5.1 billion dollars. This is how much Great Barrier Reef tourism contributes to the Australian economy every year. 54,000. That’s how many people are employed full-time in Great Barrier Reef industries, mostly tourism. 3 million. That’s the number of visitors who come to see this World Heritage icon every year, about 2.1 million domestic and nearly 900,000 international visitors to gateway towns. 5 billion dollars. This is the Government’s estimated value of the “ecosystem services” the Reef provides every year – cleaner air, cleaner water. And we get it for free. Extraordinary, isn’t it? And this awesome economic powerhouse is just sitting on the doorstep of Queensland. Here are some more Great Barrier Reef numbers, which you might find extraordinary for different reasons: penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Finding-Nemo-will-be-much-harder-if-we-mine-the-reef/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Finding-Nemo-will-be-much-harder-if-we-mine-the-reef/#item8518 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 I’ve been told that some people don’t associate the Greens with money, people or facts. So I’m starting this piece on the Great Barrier Reef with some facts about money and people: 5.1 billion dollars. This is how much Great Barrier Reef tourism contributes to the Australian economy every year. 54,000. That’s how many people are employed full-time in Great Barrier Reef industries, mostly tourism. 3 million. That’s the number of visitors who come to see this World Heritage icon every year, about 2.1 million domestic and nearly 900,000 international visitors to gateway towns. 5 billion dollars. This is the Government’s estimated value of the “ecosystem services” the Reef provides every year – cleaner air, cleaner water. And we get it for free. Extraordinary, isn’t it? And this awesome economic powerhouse is just sitting on the doorstep of Queensland. Here are some more Great Barrier Reef numbers, which you might find extraordinary for different reasons: http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-titanic-replica-clive-thats-a-great-business-idea/ I’m not sold on Clive Palmer’s political instincts. The mining magnate, who controls a variety of resources companies like Queensland Nickel, has a tough challenge ahead of him winning LNP preselection in the seat of Lilley which is currently held by Deputy PM Wayne Swan. Particularly since Opposition Leader Tony Abbott hit a reluctant note talking about it yesterday. But I am sold on Palmer’s idea to build a second Titanic. Reason one: it’s an example of a billionaire actually doing something grand with their ginormous reserves of cash for once. “I don’t want to die wondering, you know, I always wondered if we could build another Titanic,” he told ABC Brisbane this morning. Reason two: it’s an exciting and potentially viable business opportunity. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-titanic-replica-clive-thats-a-great-business-idea/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-titanic-replica-clive-thats-a-great-business-idea/#item8377 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 I’ve been told that some people don’t associate the Greens with money, people or facts. So I’m starting this piece on the Great Barrier Reef with some facts about money and people: 5.1 billion dollars. This is how much Great Barrier Reef tourism contributes to the Australian economy every year. 54,000. That’s how many people are employed full-time in Great Barrier Reef industries, mostly tourism. 3 million. That’s the number of visitors who come to see this World Heritage icon every year, about 2.1 million domestic and nearly 900,000 international visitors to gateway towns. 5 billion dollars. This is the Government’s estimated value of the “ecosystem services” the Reef provides every year – cleaner air, cleaner water. And we get it for free. Extraordinary, isn’t it? And this awesome economic powerhouse is just sitting on the doorstep of Queensland. Here are some more Great Barrier Reef numbers, which you might find extraordinary for different reasons: http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/do-petrol-companies-need-our-charity-i-dont-think-so/ Since word got out that the government was considering cutting back on the $2 billion handout to resource companies known as the Fuel Tax Credit scheme, there has been the normal outburst of complaint from the industry’s lobbyists.  In last week’s Financial Review, it was Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association’s turn to insist that any cutbacks to this boondoggle would result in risk to “billions of dollars in investment in oil and gas development”.  If this sounds familiar, it’s because you’ve definitely heard it before. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/do-petrol-companies-need-our-charity-i-dont-think-so/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/do-petrol-companies-need-our-charity-i-dont-think-so/#item8217 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 I’ve been told that some people don’t associate the Greens with money, people or facts. So I’m starting this piece on the Great Barrier Reef with some facts about money and people: 5.1 billion dollars. This is how much Great Barrier Reef tourism contributes to the Australian economy every year. 54,000. That’s how many people are employed full-time in Great Barrier Reef industries, mostly tourism. 3 million. That’s the number of visitors who come to see this World Heritage icon every year, about 2.1 million domestic and nearly 900,000 international visitors to gateway towns. 5 billion dollars. This is the Government’s estimated value of the “ecosystem services” the Reef provides every year – cleaner air, cleaner water. And we get it for free. Extraordinary, isn’t it? And this awesome economic powerhouse is just sitting on the doorstep of Queensland. Here are some more Great Barrier Reef numbers, which you might find extraordinary for different reasons: http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/calling-occupants-of-interplanetary-bob/ It is becoming increasingly clear why the Greens are never going to poll more than 10 per cent of the vote, and why they are facing a national rebuff along the lines seen in Queensland last Saturday where their vote collapsed in an unprecedented conservative whitewash. It’s because they’re barking mad. The more voters see of the Greens demanding and enjoying power in a minority government, the more obvious it becomes that their views on the economy, jobs, the cost of living and pretty much everything the average person really cares about are completely out of this world. Quite literally. As an easy listening fan I have always enjoyed the work of The Carpenters but like many bands late in their career they had a shark-jumping moment with the song featured above, Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/calling-occupants-of-interplanetary-bob/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/calling-occupants-of-interplanetary-bob/#item8134 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 I’ve been told that some people don’t associate the Greens with money, people or facts. So I’m starting this piece on the Great Barrier Reef with some facts about money and people: 5.1 billion dollars. This is how much Great Barrier Reef tourism contributes to the Australian economy every year. 54,000. That’s how many people are employed full-time in Great Barrier Reef industries, mostly tourism. 3 million. That’s the number of visitors who come to see this World Heritage icon every year, about 2.1 million domestic and nearly 900,000 international visitors to gateway towns. 5 billion dollars. This is the Government’s estimated value of the “ecosystem services” the Reef provides every year – cleaner air, cleaner water. And we get it for free. Extraordinary, isn’t it? And this awesome economic powerhouse is just sitting on the doorstep of Queensland. Here are some more Great Barrier Reef numbers, which you might find extraordinary for different reasons: http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-mining-industry-could-graduate-to-a-whole-new-level/ Reflecting on the responses to my original piece in The Punch Instead of sandstone unis, what about iron ore ones? I was struck by the extent to which the respondents viewed university education stereotypically; on the one hand as an elitist institution, out of touch with society’s needs; on the other, as a factory for young people who should be trained to do useful stuff, like engineering. The thought that an Arts education had anything to offer was broadly dismissed. People seemed more interested in comparing the philanthropic culture of individuals in the United States business sector to Australian philanthropy, but the notion that a company could also be a social actor was not accepted. Support university incomes and you guarantee university flexibility to respond to the expectations of their community. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-mining-industry-could-graduate-to-a-whole-new-level/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-mining-industry-could-graduate-to-a-whole-new-level/#item8069 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 I’ve been told that some people don’t associate the Greens with money, people or facts. So I’m starting this piece on the Great Barrier Reef with some facts about money and people: 5.1 billion dollars. This is how much Great Barrier Reef tourism contributes to the Australian economy every year. 54,000. That’s how many people are employed full-time in Great Barrier Reef industries, mostly tourism. 3 million. That’s the number of visitors who come to see this World Heritage icon every year, about 2.1 million domestic and nearly 900,000 international visitors to gateway towns. 5 billion dollars. This is the Government’s estimated value of the “ecosystem services” the Reef provides every year – cleaner air, cleaner water. And we get it for free. Extraordinary, isn’t it? And this awesome economic powerhouse is just sitting on the doorstep of Queensland. Here are some more Great Barrier Reef numbers, which you might find extraordinary for different reasons: http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/nutty-miner-makes-a-crazy-tax-more-popular/ This time a month ago the debate around the Gillard Government’s mining tax was still largely centred on the economic wisdom of using the tax system to target the one industry sector which was keeping the Australian economy humming along. Most Australians are smart enough to know that the chief reason we have weathered the global economic storm is because every time you lift up a rock in Western Australia someone in China wants to give you half a million dollars. Despite the role of mining in our own little economic miracle the Gillard Government had set out to demonise the mining sector, or more accurately the biggest players in the mining sector, as being driven by a lust for profit off the back of natural riches belonging to all Australians. There is a logical flaw at the centre of this argument, namely that while all these natural riches might belong to all Australians, most Australians have neither the resources nor the know-how to get them out of the ground. The companies that take the economic risks, tackle massively complex and dangerous issues of occupational safety, employ thousands of people in the process and return millions of dollars to shareholders – I’d say they have every right to be a bit peeved that they are suddenly being treated as self-interested villains. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/nutty-miner-makes-a-crazy-tax-more-popular/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/nutty-miner-makes-a-crazy-tax-more-popular/#item8076 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 I’ve been told that some people don’t associate the Greens with money, people or facts. So I’m starting this piece on the Great Barrier Reef with some facts about money and people: 5.1 billion dollars. This is how much Great Barrier Reef tourism contributes to the Australian economy every year. 54,000. That’s how many people are employed full-time in Great Barrier Reef industries, mostly tourism. 3 million. That’s the number of visitors who come to see this World Heritage icon every year, about 2.1 million domestic and nearly 900,000 international visitors to gateway towns. 5 billion dollars. This is the Government’s estimated value of the “ecosystem services” the Reef provides every year – cleaner air, cleaner water. And we get it for free. Extraordinary, isn’t it? And this awesome economic powerhouse is just sitting on the doorstep of Queensland. Here are some more Great Barrier Reef numbers, which you might find extraordinary for different reasons: http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/clive-palmers-truth-is-really-out-there/ Writer and activist Susan Sontag said: “I envy paranoids. They actually feel people are paying attention to them”. People were quick to call mining giant Clive Palmer a ‘crackpot’ and a ‘nutjob’ for his bizarre claim that the Greens are a tool of the CIA being used to undermine mining. And they are wacky claims. But the human mind is an amazing thing and comes up with sophisticated ways to protect itself from the real world. He’s not simply ‘wacky’. Conspiracy theories are a protective mechanism. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/clive-palmers-truth-is-really-out-there/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/clive-palmers-truth-is-really-out-there/#item8056 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 I’ve been told that some people don’t associate the Greens with money, people or facts. So I’m starting this piece on the Great Barrier Reef with some facts about money and people: 5.1 billion dollars. This is how much Great Barrier Reef tourism contributes to the Australian economy every year. 54,000. That’s how many people are employed full-time in Great Barrier Reef industries, mostly tourism. 3 million. That’s the number of visitors who come to see this World Heritage icon every year, about 2.1 million domestic and nearly 900,000 international visitors to gateway towns. 5 billion dollars. This is the Government’s estimated value of the “ecosystem services” the Reef provides every year – cleaner air, cleaner water. And we get it for free. Extraordinary, isn’t it? And this awesome economic powerhouse is just sitting on the doorstep of Queensland. Here are some more Great Barrier Reef numbers, which you might find extraordinary for different reasons: http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/cia-conspiracy-undermines-clive-palmers-credibility/ It looks like Wayne Swan was onto something after all when he started his bad-tempered battering of mining billionaires. Maybe they aren’t like the rest of us. But if Mr Swan was right in theory, it took Clive Palmer to prove it by claiming the President of the United States was using spies to recruit Greens to wreck Australian coal mining. Mr Palmer, one of the three billionaires the Treasurer has been taking swipes at, has started something that others might find extremely difficult to finish. If the mining industry was worried the newly-passed Minerals Resources Rental Tax would deter investors, what sort of disincentive would come from an influential magnate claiming undercover agents in the open-cut mines? penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/cia-conspiracy-undermines-clive-palmers-credibility/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/cia-conspiracy-undermines-clive-palmers-credibility/#item8052 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 I’ve been told that some people don’t associate the Greens with money, people or facts. So I’m starting this piece on the Great Barrier Reef with some facts about money and people: 5.1 billion dollars. This is how much Great Barrier Reef tourism contributes to the Australian economy every year. 54,000. That’s how many people are employed full-time in Great Barrier Reef industries, mostly tourism. 3 million. That’s the number of visitors who come to see this World Heritage icon every year, about 2.1 million domestic and nearly 900,000 international visitors to gateway towns. 5 billion dollars. This is the Government’s estimated value of the “ecosystem services” the Reef provides every year – cleaner air, cleaner water. And we get it for free. Extraordinary, isn’t it? And this awesome economic powerhouse is just sitting on the doorstep of Queensland. Here are some more Great Barrier Reef numbers, which you might find extraordinary for different reasons: http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/The-big-fat-tax-on-mining-is-crucial-to-the-budget-surplus/ At some point late in 2011, Julia Gillard and Wayne Swan decided to firm-up their language on delivering the small surplus as outlined in that year’s Budget papers. A projected $3.5 billion positive return for 2012-13 was to be revised down before Christmas in Treasury’s mid-year economic and fiscal outlook, MYEFO. The new 2012-13 target would be a vaporous $1.5 billion - tiny in a budget of $350 billion or so, and well less than the annual margin of variation between forecast and outcome. But its actual value was more psychological because, as thin as it was, it remained on the right side of the ledger. Just. For Labor, looking ahead to the 2013 election year, it was non-negotiable - a case of this way or the slipway. penberthyd@newsltd.com.au (David Penberthy) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/The-big-fat-tax-on-mining-is-crucial-to-the-budget-surplus/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/The-big-fat-tax-on-mining-is-crucial-to-the-budget-surplus/#item8014 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 I’ve been told that some people don’t associate the Greens with money, people or facts. So I’m starting this piece on the Great Barrier Reef with some facts about money and people: 5.1 billion dollars. This is how much Great Barrier Reef tourism contributes to the Australian economy every year. 54,000. That’s how many people are employed full-time in Great Barrier Reef industries, mostly tourism. 3 million. That’s the number of visitors who come to see this World Heritage icon every year, about 2.1 million domestic and nearly 900,000 international visitors to gateway towns. 5 billion dollars. This is the Government’s estimated value of the “ecosystem services” the Reef provides every year – cleaner air, cleaner water. And we get it for free. Extraordinary, isn’t it? And this awesome economic powerhouse is just sitting on the doorstep of Queensland. Here are some more Great Barrier Reef numbers, which you might find extraordinary for different reasons: