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Independent MPs David Pocock, Allegra Spender, and Kate Chaney are leading renewed calls for a mining rent tax to ensure Australians receive a fair share of profits from the emerging critical minerals boom. Their intervention follows the announcement of a significant A$13 billion Australia–US critical minerals partnership, aimed at securing supply chains and fostering industry growth across both nations. The MPs warn that without appropriate tax settings, Australia risks repeating past policy failures seen in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) sector, where generous export terms and weak tax regimes enabled multinational corporations to extract vast wealth with limited return to the Australian public.
David Pocock highlighted how the offshore gas sector, despite generating significant revenue, contributed only modestly to the national budget through the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT), which brought in just $1.45 billion in 2024–25. “These are our natural resources, they belong to all of us, and if they’re going to be exploited, then we need to get a fair cut of that,” Pocock stated. He intends to request that the Parliamentary Budget Office cost a mining super profits tax to provide a factual basis for further debate.
Kate Chaney, the member for Curtin in Western Australia, echoed this sentiment, emphasising that taxpayers should benefit directly from the critical minerals boom. “Given the rate of change needed to be competitive in the critical minerals market, it makes sense for taxpayers to invest in de-risking investments upfront, ensuring projects get off the ground efficiently,” she said. “In return, everyday Australians must see the economic benefits of the new resources boom – we can’t keep giving our natural resources away to foreign-owned companies. We have a narrow window of remarkable opportunity to ensure the tax settings and regulatory structure for critical minerals set the nation, and Australians, up for prosperity.”
Spender, MP for Wentworth and a vocal advocate for tax reform, also criticised the PRRT and called for a modernised tax regime that ensures long-term public benefit. She stressed the need for a structure that balances investor incentives with robust public returns. “Australia’s wealth of critical minerals and rare earths is an important strategic and economic opportunity,” Spender said. “The government must establish a tax base that incentivises investment while ensuring a fair share of Australia’s resources and mining profits, especially during price spikes, for Australian citizens.”
The debate recalls earlier political clashes over mining taxation. Kevin Rudd’s proposed 40% mining super profits tax in 2010 faced fierce opposition from industry and the Coalition, contributing to his political downfall. His successor Julia Gillard introduced a diluted version—the minerals resource rent tax—which was eventually abolished by the Abbott government in 2014. Since then, successive governments have been reluctant to revisit the issue, despite recommendations from experts like former ACCC chair Rod Sims.
A spokesperson for Treasurer Jim Chalmers responded that the Albanese government is pursuing a “broad and ambitious tax reform agenda,” including PRRT adjustments in 2023, income tax cuts, and superannuation changes. The Minerals Council of Australia declined to comment.