TONY Abbott’s Liberal Party might be enjoying the political capital gained from the federal government’s ham-fisted introduction of a resources rent tax, but that isn’t translating into electoral funding – at least not in the major mining centre of Western Australia.
WA Liberal Party state director Ben Morton said calls for campaign funding to fight the resource super profits tax had so far met with a disappointing response from local business.
“We have been underwhelmed by support from the mining industry,” Mr Morton said.
In WA, the Liberal Party has letter dropped marginal seats and engaged in newspaper and broadcast advertising to warn voters about the impact of the tax.
The mining industry has, however, taken up the attack on the government directly. Apart from the public statements by the likes of Fortescue Metals Group chief executive Andrew Forrest and BHP Billiton chief executive Marius Kloppers, major companies have written to hundreds of thousands of shareholders highlighting the potential impact of the profits.
Individual miners, such as Atlas Iron Ore chief executive David Flanagan, have taken out newspaper advertisements appealing against the tax.
At industry level, the Minerals Council of Australia has embarked on a major advertising campaign.
Mr Morton is dismissive of industry led attempts to thwart the tax, believing only political organisations have the wherewithal to fight the kind of campaign that will prove successful.
But he acknowledges that recent trends in industry, including shareholder activism, made it harder for the corporate sector to match the union movement, which was a big funder of the Labor Party.
“Making political donations is not something that is normal for individuals or companies,” Mr Morton said.
“There has been a lot of pressure on companies to stop giving money to political parties.
“Some companies that used to give favourably to the Liberals now give equally to Liberal and Labor.
“The Liberal Party is being priced out of democracy.”
