Foreign interests own 83 per cent of Australian mining, Greens says

Jun 29, 2011, 10:12 GMT

Sydney - Foreign interests own 83 per cent of Australia's booming mining industry, according to a report prepared for the Greens and released Wednesday.

Party leader Bob Brown said the report prepared by a private consultant concluded 50 billion Australian dollars (53 billion US dollars) would leave Australia in dividends to the foreign owners over the next five years.

'I think Australians simply have been left in the dark about the rapid takeover of ownership offshore of Australia's minerals,' the senator said in Canberra.

Brown is pushing to raise taxes on mining companies' profits and argued Australians would be more supportive of the tax if they knew they were 83-per-cent foreign-owned.

The Greens are to assume the balance of power in the Senate Friday when new senators take their seats, raising the Greens' numbers in the chamber from five to nine. They are to be in a strong position to influence the Labor government's legislation.

The Minerals Council of Australia said there were holes in the Greens' research. Council spokesman Ben Mitchell said foreign investment was vital for mining and the Australian economy.

'Over the last 10 years, 98 per cent of cash flow generated from mining has been either paid in taxes, in royalties or reinvested back in mining,' Mitchell told the national broadcaster ABC.

The focus on foreign ownership followed press reports that foreign companies backed by governments including China and Qatar have been buying up large tracts of farming land.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard said Wednesday that she was waiting for a report on the extent of foreign ownership of farming land before making a statement on the issue.