West Australian Treasurer in Action

www.ferro-alloys.com: (Mabroor Ahmed, Country Head, Pakistan)

31 May 2017

Ferro-Alloys.com:News coming from West Australian where the Treasurer Ben Wyatt says he will not give up on a push to get BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto to "cash out" the production levy despite the miners telling him in meetings over the past 48 hours that they are not on board with the plan.

Treasurer Ben Wyatt in meetings with senior members of the state government on Monday and Tuesday, BHP and Rio are understood to have raised concerns about the Government's suggestion that they pay billions upfront to "cash out" the 25¢ per tonne production levy they pay the state. Levy was the target of a fierce campaign by the WA Nationals Party in the lead-up to the March state election, with the Nationals arguing the decades-old charge should be increased to $5 per tonne.

New Labor government's suggestion the miners cash out the levy to help repair the state's finances is not new – it was offered by the Liberal Barnett government last year – and would only go ahead if the miners agreed and the federal government was willing to exclude it from the goods and services tax (GST).Mr Wyatt told further that because the proposal had a lot of moving parts he did not expect "any overnight success on it" but for it to be an "ongoing conversation".

"I think to be fair their position probably hasn't changed from last year but I will keep that door open," Mr Wyatt said.

"Ultimately they may come to a position it is something they might like to enter into a dialogue over but I am certainly not taking it off the table."

It is understood Rio suggested that the government should consider taking up a suggestion from the Minerals Council of Australia to exclude 25 per cent of Western Australia's mining royalties from the federal government's GST allocation process.

The source could provide the state with an extra $1.6 billion a year.

• [Editor:Zhao Xiaobo]