The fate of MRRT

Comments on Matthew Stevens “Scrap MRRT and start again”, 22/12/2010, http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/opinion/scrap-mrrt-and-start-again/story-e6frg9lx-1225974669534

Maybe the proposed tax summit next year could provide a useful and convenient opportunity for changing the course of the current MRRT, to make it better and have the effect of scraping it and starting "designing this thing all over again".

That could provide a compromise for everyone currently involved, and also could meet the demand of the Greens.

But people need to guard against the Greens push for a higher effective mining tax than the current MRRT. The Greens have a wider agenda and tend to ignore the practical side of common economics in their single minded pursuit of environmental objectives.

A higher effective mining tax would be very much detrimental to the nation’s interest by killing off the mining industry in Australia and force it to move overseas, or at least to reduce their investment in Australia significantly.