...The belittling of its critics reached fever point in recent weeks. In June, the NSW Minerals Council – the NSW branch of the big foreign mining companies union – responded with extraordinary spite to a piece written by left-leaning think tank the Australia Institute (TAI). Stopping a smidgen short of Queensland MP George Christiansen – who dubbed green activists terrorists this week – they circulated caricatures of TAI economists Richard Denniss and Ben Oquist as puppets of the Greens political party. Never mind that there are no formal ties, financial or otherwise, between TAI and any political party. The lobbyists played the man as usual, not the ball. TAI had the cheek to ruffle through thousands of pages of state budget papers and tote up the subsidies to the mining industry in Australia. The figure came to $17.6 billion over six years. The mining lobby didnt respond with its own figure; it simply issued abusive press releases claiming gross deception and propaganda on behalf of TAI, saying that this think tank was hell bent on destroying the mining industry and ruining the lives of hard-working Australians. The $17.6 billion put on subsidies was not so much a matter of interpretation – as the Minerals Councils independent expert framed it – but more one of addition... Read more: smh.au/business/comment-and-analysis/minerals-council-should-try-fighting-back-with-facts-not-abuse-20140926-10mdr4.html#ixzz3EYcPbcctsmh.au/business/comment-and-analysis/minerals-council-should-try-fighting-back-with-facts-not-abuse-20140926-10mdr4.html#ixzz3ET8wfjLi
Posted on: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 22:23:31 +0000
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