Reader Response - Jan 17 2013 edition

Delaying major projects a costly overreaction to ore price shifts

Articles on the iron ore price and the Australian dollar, and the federal government’s admission a budget surplus is unlikely, were among those to attract responses to our website: www.wabusinessnews.com.au

I STILL find it incredible that, ‘super peaks' aside, the average resistance price per tonne has been .

And while it is predicted the upcoming average price will settle around , every major iron ore miner has panicked and pulled the pin on expansion projects they had in the pipeline, projects that would be producing when the price had gone up, not at the $90 slump.

When all is said and done, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto in particular can produce ore at about $55/t; therefore when the price rises to $120 AUD, these expansions become a very profitable exercise. On the other hand, panicking and closing them loses an extraordinary amount of time and money.

Adam Gregory
Perth

No surplus surpise

With regard to the article: Swan admits surplus unlikely after revenue blow"...

TELL us something we didn't know, Mr Swan. The only time this government, or any politicians, say anything truthful is when figures and facts are so
transparent and available to the public that to lie is impossible. What a fiasco your leaders have become.

Mark Pontague
Perth

THE quality of mercy is not strained, however in the case of Julia Gillard and Wayne Swan it has been severely tested.

We all knew that the promise of budget surplus was false so why the conversation?

Mr Swan will probably procrastinate since there was some financial argument in the need to return budget to surplus that he was damned
if he did and damned if he didn't.

W Srisaeng
Parkwood

I LOVE how Mr Swan tries to blame revenue shortfalls. At the time, everyone said the government's revenue projections were based on fantasy so it shouldn't come as any real surprise that it hasn't been able to meet them. As usual the government is on the back foot; had it acted earlier to cut expenditure, it could have actually been able to achieve a surplus.

Stuart Campbell
Perth