South Australia will benefit from the historic climate action package which finally puts a price on carbon to cut pollution, the Australian Greens said today.

Some $50 billion reaped from Australia's mineral resources will be sent overseas as dividends to foreign owners over the next five years, according to a report released by Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown during his press club address today.
Key findings of the report Foreign ownership of Australian mining profits are:
*In the next five years foreign owners will earn about $265 billion from their investments in Australia's mineral resources;
*Increasing foreign ownership is creating a significant drag on Australia's current account balance;
*Over the last few years, Australia's net income balance has broken below its long-term floor of -3% and is forecast to deteriorate to -6% by 2013, worsening Australia's current account deficit in years ahead;
*BHP Billiton's profit margin has almost doubled in the past eight years, from 25% in 2002 to 45% in 2010. BHP's profit margin on iron ore is 62%;
*For every dollar of sales, mining companies make an after-tax profit of 26% versus the average across all industries of 8%;
*Employment costs (including all contractor expenses) are lower in mining at 12% than the average across industries at 17%;
*Net profit margins for copper and gold are 23% and 27% respectively, and yet they have been excluding from the government's mining tax; and,
*Australia's 83% foreign-owned mining industry will ship $50 billion in dividends offshore over the next five years.
"Amid a mining boom, while the federal government faces budget pressures and as the Reserve Bank of Australia prepares to raise interest rates, parts of the economy are wallowing," Senator Brown said.
The report, which shows Australian mining companies are 83% foreign owned, underscores the need for the Government to reconsider the Mineral Resource Rent Tax and the tax cut planned for big business. Senator Brown will again move to expand the MRRT, oppose the company tax cut for big business, and push to set up a sovereign wealth fund.
"The mining boom is creating massive problems for other parts of the Australian economy. If the country's minerals wealth is not properly managed, many Australians will actually be worse off and Australia's prosperity will be put at risk."
"Treasury's mining super profits tax would have preserved about 20% of forecast foreign profits for Australians. The government should have adopted the Greens' proposal for a sovereign wealth fund to store this wealth for the needs of future generations," Senator Brown said.
"Instead, under Labor's feeble mining tax and the Coalition's even more irresponsible prescription to let the foreign mining giants off the hook, Australians will be left in future cribbing on health, education and funding for key infrastructure such as high speed rail."