Miners 'don't own' the minerals: Australia

Australian mining firms on Thursday denied overplaying the impact of taxes after a strident speech by Prime Minister Julia Gillard warning resources companies that "you don't own the minerals." Gillard said Australians did not begrudge the mining industry its boom and "we admire your success", but she said governments "only sell you the right to mine the resource, a resource we hold in trust for a sovereign people". "You don't own the minerals, I don't own the minerals," she told a mining industry dinner on Wednesday night. "They own it and they deserve their share." Gillard's centre-left Labor government has been at odds with miners over new taxes on iron ore and coal profits and corporate pollution -- major reforms which contributed to the downfall of her predecessor Kevin Rudd. The Minerals Council of Australia (MCA), which bankrolled an advertising blitz against the new mining levy, which comes into effect on July 1, said the industry had never argued that the minerals belonged to it. But they urged Gillard against misusing the mining boom's gains, calling for the resulting taxes to be invested in productivity reforms instead of returning them to the public as welfare benefits and personal income tax breaks. "We pay the taxes and royalties for the privilege of developing what is Australia's natural endowment," council chief Mitch Hooke told ABC radio. "We've never cried poor." MCA president Peter Johnston added that "endless dialogue about redistribution" was the wrong approach. "All governments need to shift gears from spreading the benefits of the boom through higher taxes, ad hoc spending and increased regulation, to tackling the real challenges of fiscal sustainability and productivity growth," Johnston said. Australia dodged recession during the global financial crisis due to the resilience of its minerals and energy exports to Asia, particularly fast-industrialising China. The mining sector expects to invest around Aus$450 billion in the coming years.