Regional Queensland road and rail upgrades are expected to be some of the casualties of Kevin Rudd’s great big new tax on mining.

Michael Roche from the Queensland Resources Council has said that the mining tax will reap “in the order of $15 billion to $20 billion” from the mining industry while of this, the Rudd Government “might deliver the princely sum of around $300 million to Queensland.”

This means that billions of dollars is being ripped out of Queensland with only a small percentage reinvested into infrastructure.

Mining industry investment in major infrastructure such as the Townsville to Mt Isa rail line is dependent on the continued success of the mining economy – which is now under threat from the new tax, as mining companies reassess the economic viability of their operations in Queensland.

The great big new tax on the mining industry will effectively rob money from regional Queensland communities, where transport infrastructure improvements are necessary and are relying on private investment from the mining industry for funding.

Ms Simpson said “remote area mining already has additional high costs of transport. Labor’s great big new tax on Queensland mining jobs will kill off the upgrade of the Townsville-Mt Isa rail line and other projects, as investors choose projects where markets have low costs.”