I got a little skepticism about Greg Buck’s interview yesterday about his reference to the corporate welfare queens. But one day later mainstream news confirms what Greg was talking about – that the welfare queens are gobbling up huge amounts of tax payers money. “Across Australia, state government assistance totals $17.6 billion (to the mining industries) over the past six-year period, not including significant Federal government support and subsidies,” according to a report from The Australia Institute (here)
“Of all states, Queensland taxpayers are providing the greatest assistance to the mining industry, with a staggering $9.5 billion over 6 years. This is comparable to amounts budgeted for disability services and capital expenditure on hospitals”, and “It’s stunning to think this is the first time that the assistance provided to the mining industry by state governments has been quantified and Queensland taxpayers will be shocked at its massive scale.” and “I’m not surprised governments have kept it quiet”.
“Queensland allocated more in its 2013-14 budget to minerals and fossil fuel assistance than it did to disability services”, with $561 million in coal mining assistance.
Two important points to highlight – the profits leave the country; and the subsidy is environment-damaging industries.