Mining tax makes a comeback in desperate WA Labor’s tax grab

And somebody needs to tell Hillary Clinton to move on. Please somebody tell her.

Mark McGowan rails against a ­mining tax. The West Australian Labor leader’s media statement, ­October 28 last year:

The Nationals want to introduce a mining tax that will destroy jobs without delivering any benefits to our state. The tax is a direct attack on our mining industry.

But now, WA Labor wants the ­miners’ money, The Weekend West, Saturday:

The cash-strapped state government is eyeing a multi-billion-dollar lump-sum payout from Australia’s two ­biggest mining companies as it seeks to reduce state debt and repair the budget ... But rather than increase the rental payments, Rio and BHP would be called on to “cash out” their lease agreements by paying them in ­advance in a one-off settlement.

But he swears this is not a tax. McGowan speaking at Perth airport, yesterday:

The payments are not technically a tax, or a price hike.

Your government is taking money from someone without a choice. That’s the definition of a tax, Mark. Oxford English Dictionary online:

Tax: a compulsory contribution to state revenue.

McGowan has recently changed his tune on the mining tax proposed by former WA Nationals leader Brendon Grylls. The premier speaking in Perth:

(He) did actually tap into a sentiment that some people have, which is anti-mining. I think the mining industry needs to be very aware of that ...

Not that it did much good for Brendon Grylls. The Australian, March 15:

The one-time kingmaker of West Australian politics, National Party leader Brendon Grylls, has lost his seat after taking on the power of the mining industry with his plan to force BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto to pay billions of extra dollars into state coffers.

And the mining tax’s mother, Julia Gillard, cost McGowan the top job in the 2013 state election. ABC News online, March 10, 2013:

A senior Western Australia Labor ­figure is calling on Julia Gillard to ­resign as prime minister, warning Labor faces an “absolute massacre” in the federal election if she stays on ... Some ALP figures have said the unpopularity of the federal government contributed to the loss ...

So why is the Premier drinking from this poisoned chalice? Oh ... that’s why. The Australian, May 16:

The West Australian Treasury is weeks away from running out of money for basics including public servants’ wages, state Treasurer Ben Wyatt said yesterday as he explained plans to borrow ­another $11bn.

Still, nobody can tell McGowan he wasn’t warned ... McGowan’s media statement, October 28 last year:

The policy will cost local jobs but most of the money raised will be sent to the eastern states ...

And Hillary Clinton compares Trump to Nixon. The failed Democratic nominee speaking at Wellesley College, Massachusetts, Friday:

We were furious about the past presidential election, of a man whose presidency would eventually end in disgrace with impeachment for obstruction of justice — after firing the person running the investigation into him at the Department of Justice!

Get over it, Hillary. Cameron Stewart in The Australian, May 3:

She ignored the Middle American workers whose votes she needed most.