Mining industry group warns Parliament of delays
Super-profits tax must be reviewed--Group
The Association of Mining and Exploration Companies has threatened to continue with their advertising campaign against the Australian government's proposed super-profits mining tax beginning next week should new negotiations buckle down.
Simon Bennison, chief executive officer of the association, said in an interview with Bloomberg: "The association is giving them two weeks from last Friday to resolve this matter or we will restart our ad campaign. We hope there are issues resolved by July 9. We are concerned the government is going to have an election, and there won't be a resolution on this tax for quite a number of months."
Since Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard, assumed the post after ousting Kevin Rudd last week, BHP Billiton Ltd. and Rio Tinto Group, two of the world's largest mining companies, suspended their anti-tax advertising campaign as a sign of good faith to PM Gillard.
In an interview over Broadcasting Corp. radio today PM Gillard said: "The government is negotiating and is very focused on reaching a genuine outcome about the resources super profits tax."
"The mining industry wants to see us strong and prosperous into the future and we want to see Australians getting a fairer share. I think we can find a meeting of minds here."