Coal royalties: Qld vs the world

At the Australia Institute’s Revenue Summit, former Queensland Premier Steven Miles spoke about how his government raised revenue by increasing coal royalties.

The coal lobbyists and the current Qld Treasurer must have been in the audience and did not like what Mr Miles had to say. Let’s fact check what they told the Courier Mail in their story Mines shut, jobs cut, $2.3bn GST lost, but Miles digs in on coal royalties scheme.

Claim: “Treasurer David Janetzki said “[Mr Miles] will not stand up for Queensland’s fair share [of revenues].”

Fact: Under Mr Miles, Queensland coal royalties increased by billions. Mr Janetzki has just literally given away $400 million in coal royalties to Adani.

Claim: “Treasurer Janetzki said Mr Miles “supports the unfair distribution of GST that is ripping revenue away from Queensland.”

Fact: As Mr Janetzki well knows, GST is distributed to states based on their revenue raising capacity. So when mining royalties go up, some portion (but not all) of the state’s GST revenue is redistributed.

Claim: “The Queensland Resources Council warned the royalty regime had cost more than 1000 jobs and damaged the state’s international reputation as a reliable place to invest.”

Fact: The number of coal mines operating in Queensland increased after the royalty change.

Claim: The Queensland Resource Council said “other states and countries have not followed the former government and raised royalty rates”.

Fact: NSW increased its coal royalty rates in 2024.