His replacement, Julia Gillard, came up with a mining tax so watered-down that two of the biggest mining companies operating in Australia have paid nothing to date.
The Government of Flanders and the Tides of Time partnership have provided more than USD 3 million to date to help States and site managers face the growing challenges of pollution largely posed by underwater mining and drilling as well as maritime transportation.
Asked what the EU has achieved there to date, spokesman Andy McGuffie points to its pre-independence work to reform essential services, from telecoms to mining.