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$17 billion economic fraud reveals Australia Institute’s true agenda
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The Australia Institute has been caught out publishing blatant misinformation, with a $17 billion black hole revealed in their recent attempt to attack the mining industry.
A new independent analysis of the Australia Institute’s ‘Mining in the Age of Entitlement’ report, in which it was claimed the mining industry receives $17.6 billion in government subsidies, has shown that the Australia Institute has significantly misrepresented the facts.
The analysis by Castalia Strategic Advisors Managing Director and former NSW Treasury Secretary Michael Schur, has revealed that the Australia Institute ‘grossly exaggerates the level of subsidy to the mining and resource sector’ and that the groups analysis of State and Territory budgets was ‘fundamentally flawed’, with actual government subsidies ‘amounting to no more than a few percentage points of the $17.6 billion claimed by the Institute.’
“The Australia Institute have been clearly caught attempting a massive economic fraud to attack the mining industry.
This should confirm once and for all that the Australia Institute is an antimining campaign organisation masquerading as a think tank,” NSW Minerals Council CEO, Stephen Galilee said today.
“The revelation of this $17 billion fraud means that the economic credibility of the Australia Institute is now in tatters.”
“The Australia Institute should now apologise to the hard working miners of NSW and their families for campaigning against their jobs, and drop once and for all their attempts to put working people into unemployment.”
The Castalia analysis states: ‘Our analysis shows that the Institute has applied a flawed analysis – based on a distorted understanding of public sector accounting that grossly exaggerates the level of subsidy to the mining and resources sector.’
The economic credibility of the Australia Institute has now been separately exposed by two nationally respected senior economists in the last two months. In August the former head of ABARE Dr Brian Fisher strongly refuted Australia Institute attacks on his economic modelling associated with a mining project in the Hunter Valley.
Former NSW Treasury Secretary and Managing Director of Castalia Strategic Advisors, Michael Schur said that while exposing corporate welfare was important, the Australia Institute’s report on mining subsidies was unfounded.
‘Shining a spotlight on corporate welfare is a good thing; Australia can illafford it. However the Australia Institute’s claims are based on a flawed analytical framework and are in the main unfounded.’
The full Castalia Strategic Advisors report can be found in the publications section of our website.
Today’s opinion piece in the Daily Telegraph by NSW Minerals Council CEO Stephen Galilee can be found here.
Contact: Brad Emery