Antinuclear

BHP, Rio – relatively small employers, with big political influence

For such an economically important industry, mining is a relatively small employer (the Australian Bureau of Statistics does not rank it in the top 10 industries by employment)….The mining industry, however, is streets ahead in being able to exercise political influence.

Follow the miners in lobbying , Mike Riddiford, The Australian, August 04, 2010“……..Between them, companies such as BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata turn over more than $100 billion a year. This enables them to mobilise huge resources to protect their interests.
The industry, apparently, was ready to commit $100 million to a campaign to oppose the resource super-profits tax, an unsurprising figure given the billions of contested monies at stake.

Mining companies, too, have been able to employ some politically well-connected spokesmen to argue their case: BHP Billiton’s director of public affairs Geoff Walsh is a former national secretary of the ALP, while Rio’s media spokesman David Luff was a press secretary for John Howard……

……For such an economically important industry, mining is a relatively small employer (the Australian Bureau of Statistics does not rank it in the top 10 industries by employment). Mining employment, however, has the good fortune to be concentrated in some key battleground states in the federal election, such as Queensland and Western Australia………..The mining industry, however, is streets ahead in being able to exercise political influence.

Follow the miners in lobbying | The Australian

August 5, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, politics, uranium | antinuclear, Australia, BHP, BHP Billiton, nuclear, nuclear costs, uranium