First published on The Drum: 21/06/2011

While all the focus is on the first anniversary of the knifing of St Kevin, another milestone is slipping through largely unnoticed: the scrapping of his contentious plan to impose a Resource Rent Tax on the mining industry.

It almost seems like ancient history now. In the face of the mining industry’s $20 million blitz, the new Prime Minister sued for peace, settling on a far more modest package that is still working its way through the legislative process.

Twelve months on, for all the self-interested tub-thumping and slick promotional ads from the mining lobby, this week’s Essential Report suggests very few Australians see themselves deriving any personal benefit from the boom.

Read more »

First published on The Drum: 22/02/2011

If there is any silver lining from the mining industry’s 20,800 per cent return on investment for knocking over the Rudd Government’s Resource Rent Tax, it’s that the punters are beginning to wise up.

As interest groups around the nation hone their scare campaigns in expectation of a price on carbon, this week’s Essential Report suggests the mining industry has dealt themselves out of any credible role in the debate.

With record profits the size of many sovereign nation’s GDPs and ongoing plans to extract even more of the national wealth, a majority of the public say they support forcing the mining industry to pay a greater share of their profits in tax.

Q: Would you approve or disapprove of higher taxes on the profits of large mining companies?

Read more »

The last time a determined interest group took on a federal government, EMC was behind the wheel – driving the ACTU Rights at Work campaign.

This time the attack is coming from the mining industry, and if reports are to be believed, the miners are forking out in three months $100 million – about four times the three year budget for the Rights at Work campaign.

Having worked on a campaign that most agree shifted government, it’s worth asking – is the Miners campaign as effective? Are the winning the hearts and minds of the battlers? In short, are they going to change the government?

Here are few lessons we learned from Rights at Work, and my initial reactions on how the mining lobby is faring. Read more »

When the Australian Workers Union decided to inject itself into the national debate on the resource Rent Tax, they called EMC with a challenging brief.

With a 48 hour turn around we were asked to script produce and deliver a 30 second TV ad that would rebut the increasingly shrill complaints of the mining lobby.

Working with Milko Productions, EMC adapted a concept we had been working on for some time – the notion that the mining industry is defined by what it takes out of Australia. Read more »