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| Julia Gillard, Australia’s prime minister, center, walks with Craig Emerson, minister for trade, left, and Wayne Swan, treasurer. Swan on Friday singled out three of his country’s billionaire mining magnates by name in an unusual and high-profile attack on what he called “vested interests.” |
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Sydney.
Australia’s Treasurer Wayne Swan on Friday singled out three of his country’s
billionaire mining magnates by name in an unusual and high-profile attack on
what he called “vested interests.”
In an
opinion piece for The Monthly magazine, Swan argued that a minority of the
country’s wealthiest were using their power and money to oppose good public
policy and economic reforms designed to benefit the majority.
Politicians,
he said, had a choice “between standing up for workers and kneeling down at the
feet of the Gina Rineharts and the Clive Palmers”.
Rinehart is
the wealthiest woman in the Asia-Pacific with a fortune estimated at $18
billion built on her iron ore projects while Palmer’s wealth comes primarily
from coal.
Last month
Rinehart increased her stake in press group Fairfax to 12.8 percent, while
Palmer has also said he would consider a Fairfax investment amid fears they are
attempting to expand their influence.
Swan also
took aim at Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest, executive chairman of Fortescue Metals and
one of the country’s richest men.
“A handful
of vested interests that have pocketed a disproportionate share of the nation’s
economic success now feel they have a right to shape Australia’s future to
satisfy their own self-interest,” he said.
“This
poison has infected our politics and is seeping into our economy. Though these
vested interests have not yet prevailed, every day their demands get louder.”
The Monthly
is one of Australia’s most highbrow publications.
Swan
highlighted the “ferocious and highly misleading” campaigns waged against the
Labor government’s mining tax and carbon pricing plans.
Australia’s
controversial tax on the country’s mining boom is due to start on July 1 with
the proceeds put towards funding infrastructure, pensions and tax cuts for
small businesses.
The
government originally wanted a 40 percent tax on all extraordinary profits
generated by resources firms as the nation enjoys unprecedented demand for its
vast mineral deposits.
But that
was scrapped in favour of a 30 percent tax only on iron ore and coal
super-profits after a furious and intense campaign from the powerful and
wealthy mining industry.
The
country’s tax on pollution also met fierce resistance. The scheme will levy a
price of Aus$23 (US$24.85) per tonne on carbon pollution before moving to an
emissions trading scheme in 2015.
“I fear
Australia’s extraordinary success has never been in more jeopardy than right
now,” Swan said.
“We must
fight a pitched battle against the influence of vested interests that seek to
shape public policy to their own excessive benefit and at the expense of our
middle-class society.”
Agence France-Presse
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