NSW might have been as much as $6.2B richer final yr if it had adopted Queensland’s profitable coal royalty system, a brand new report has discovered.
The newly minted Labor authorities has not dedicated as to whether they are going to undertake such a coverage, insisting the royalties to be collected this yr stay “well-above” the common collected over the previous 5 years.
This is regardless of progressive assume tank The Australia Institute discovering such a measure would have generated one other $6.2B in coal royalties this monetary yr alone.
“This is billions in forgone revenue that could be invested in health, education, transport and a wage rise for NSW workers,” analysis director Rod Campbell mentioned.
In June final yr, Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick introduced a raft of recent charges for Queensland coal after a 10-year royalty freeze ended that very same month.
Royalties had been initially charged at 15 per cent at costs over $150 per tonne.
New charges at the moment are valued at 20 per cent for costs above $175 per tonne and 30 per cent for costs above $225 per tonne.
A most charge of 40 per cent was additionally introduced for costs over $300 per tonne.
In their report – titled Northern course: If NSW had the Queensland coal royalty system – authors Matt Saunders and Mr Campbell are forecast to generate as much as $4.3B in further income over the 2022-23 monetary yr.
They discovered if an analogous system was put in place in NSW, it will have raised between $4.2 and $6.2 billion this monetary yr of additional income this monetary yr.
The report clarified the variations between the excessive and low value situations had been “relatively small” as a result of they each shared the identical traditionally excessive value within the September quarter.
“Even if prices dip back to the low prices forecast in the NSW budget papers the single quarter price spike generates over $3.8B in additional revenue compared to the existing policy,” the report states.
Mr Campbell mentioned each main events in NSW had averted the subject all through their election campaigns.
“This should be a key issue for independents and minor parties in the next NSW parliament,” he mentioned.
“(It’s) an area where the crossbench could push for constructive reform.”
The former Perrottet-led Liberal authorities in February introduced a freeze on mining royalty charges – delaying any promised hike till June subsequent yr.
They had been defeated by the Labor Party, led by Chris Minns, on March 25.
A NSW Government spokesman mentioned they’d begun receiving “departmental briefings” on the subject when requested if there have been any plans to undertake an analogous royalty system to Queensland.
“Labor did not propose any change to royalty rates during the election campaign,” the spokesman mentioned.
“The NSW Government expects the royalties for the next financial year to be more than $3.7B.
“Although down on the expected record levels of this financial year, the forecast remains well above the average royalties collected during the past five years.”
NSW Mining Council chief govt Stephen Galilee mentioned royalty revenues have grown considerably in recent times, rising from $1.4 billion in 2020-21 to $3.7 billion in 2021-22.
He advised ABC Radio that NSW was paying “record royalties”.
Mr Galilee mentioned Queensland’s change was a “shock” to the sources sector because it was “way above” NSW’s present charge of 8 per cent on coal royalties.
“The Australia Institute is calling for increased royalties to be imposed on the coal sector because they want to hurt the coal sector,” Mr Galilee claimed.
“There’s not a coal mine they don’t want to see close … they are a threat to Hunter coal mining jobs.
“They’re hiding behind the facade of the need to transition when what they’re all about is imposing additional cost burdens on the industry to reduce its competitiveness and make it more difficult to operate coal mines in NSW.”
Energy costs over the previous few years have skyrocketed from the continuing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
But earlier analysis by The Australia Institute has discovered coal corporations had been amassing windfall income as the worth of coal exports climbed to $112B over 2021-22.
The report From Russia with love: Coal income from warfare in Ukraine – revealed in December 2022 – estimated windfall positive aspects to coal corporations over 2021-22 had been between $38B and $45B.
Between $13 to $23B of this was “directly attributable” to turmoil in vitality markets from the warfare in Ukraine.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
