Mining lobby attack on WA Nationals leader
1. The mining lobby launched a media campaign against Brendon Grylls and the Colin Barnett Government, because Grylls had fronted a campaign to increase the fees charged to BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto on their two largest iron ore deposits in the state.
2. Grylls was arguing that the ‘lease rental’ fee should be increased to $5 a tonne, to take into account inflation and changing conditions. The current ‘special lease rental fee’ of 25 cents per tonne was set in the 1960s and has not been altered in the half-century since.
3. The special lease rental fee would also bring in an additional $3 billion for the state, which could be used on public infrastructure, education and other services
4. The mining lobby launched a $5million advertising campaign against the proposal to increase the ‘lease rental’ fee. The mining lobby’s media campaign against the proposal might be said to be effective, as it has been credited with securing the loss of Grylls’ seat (which he had held since 2003). Ian Cook, a political analyst from Murdoch University, said that Grylls’ loss went beyond the statewide swing to Labor. In relation to the mining lobby campaign, Mr Cook also said that the campaign was very extensive, that it would have been seen by a lot of people in the Western Australia community.