Australia's revenue collection from its controversial mining tax has fallen well short of initial expectations.
On Friday, Senator Mathias Corman of the Liberal Party labelled the mining tax implementation a "complete fiasco".
Rudd left after recent vastly unpopular decisions, including imposing a new mining tax and nixing a carbon-reduction scheme.
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Australia's Parliament passed a mining tax on companies that operate in the country, which include BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto.
Growing political risks, such as strikes in South Africa and a possible mining tax in Australia, have kept some investors away.
The centre-left Fairfax papers (which support the mining tax) operate under a charter guaranteeing journalists freedom from management control on editorial policy.
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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 mining tax is likely to be a hot topic of debate in Australia's next general elections which are scheduled to be help in September this year.
Having run a budget deficit of 4.4% of GDP in the last fiscal year, it expects a surplus in the fiscal year ending on June 30th 2013, including the proceeds from a mining tax.
In Africa, the government of Namibia is mulling over a mining windfall tax.
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From 2012, it would tax mining profits at a rate of 40% after they reach a certain level.
Early on, it did not help that her first policy pronouncements were to signal a retreat from Kevin Rudd's mining super profits tax, which made her look weak, and to ditch her predecessor's "Big Australia" policy, which went down well with the tabloids but seemed indicative of a lack of national ambition.
Ms Gillard has promised a 30% tax on iron ore and coal mining companies' profits, a tax on major polluters to help cut carbon emissions by 5% in 10 years and a broadband network for rural areas.
Ms Gillard plans a broadband network for rural areas, a 30% tax on iron ore and coal mining companies' profits, and a tax on major polluters to help cut carbon emissions by 5% by 2020.
But to invest in mines with decades-long lifespans, mining firms want enduring tax and regulatory regimes.
Julia Gillard, Australia's prime minister, has proposed a tax on mining profits but has ruled out a sovereign fund.
The new government is expected to introduce a windfall tax on mining profits.
With other tycoons, Mrs Rinehart has campaigned against a new federal tax on mining profits, which starts in July.
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He found the money by dropping the government's plan to cut company tax by a percentage point, a promise linked to a new tax on mining profits.
She needs the backing of state governments for contentious planned reforms: a national school curriculum, changes to the financing of the health system and a tax on mining profits.
Nevertheless, her campaign has echoed Mr Humala's pledges to levy a windfall tax on mining companies and give Andean Indian communities veto rights over mining and oil projects on their land.
Pauline Marois, the new premier of Quebec, made waves in the mining industry with comments saying she would initiate a minimum 5% royalty on metal production as well as impose a 30% tax on mining earnings above a certain level during the election campaign.
Large mining firms had opposed the tax, saying it will hurt their competitiveness and affect future investment in the sector.
She also said the PQ would add a 30% additional tax on all mining profits over a certain level, which she did not elaborate on.
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Swan said the New Jersey-born working-class hero's musical railings against inequality echoed his own public battle against Australian billionaire mining tycoons who oppose his tax reforms.
But Fortescue, which is part-owned by Chinese state mining firms, said the tax would hit profits before financing costs, leaving it less room to repay debts.
When the tax was unveiled Mr Swan claimed that mining companies only pay 13-17% of their profits in tax.
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Australia's Senate approved the government's new tax on profits from mining iron ore and coal.
It quotes a review in Zambia which found that between 2005 and 2009, 500, 000 copper mine workers were paying a higher rate of tax than major multinational mining firms.
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