It probably wasn't the response BHP Billiton boss Andrew Mackenzie had hoped for after he told an audience in London that the 'Big Australian' miner gets treated better by the socialist government of Chile than politicians in Australia.
Hours later, Wayne Swan walked into Parliament and doubled down on his criticism of BHP as a "tax evader", describing Mr Mackenzie's public critique overnight Tuesday as a "dummy spit"
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In what is becoming an increasingly personal stoush, the former Labor treasurer compared BHP's use of Australia's resources to a hotel guest who stays in the penthouse, orders room service but leaves without paying the bill.
BHP is in the political crosshairs at state and federal level, with new Nationals leader in Western Australia, Brendon Grylls, advocating a new $5-a-tonne mining levy on BHP and Rio Tinto to extract $3 billion more revenue a year from their vast WA iron ore operations.
![A recent poll published by the Climate Institute found support for coal power is continuing to collapse among Australians.](/web/20161019130456im_/http://www.canberratimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/r/f/g/y/t/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gs5vva.png/1476869567101.jpg)
Under parliamentary privilege, Mr Swan said: "Given BHP's aggressive transfer pricing, it is little wonder that the government of Western Australia is considering imposing a new royalty levy, given BHP has evaded taxes of in excess of $300 million in royalties in Queensland and an unknown amount in Western Australia.
He also said it was clear that "for over a decade there has been a culture of tax avoidance in BHP".
Mr Swan said Mr Mackenzie's complaints made overnight was "yet another example of how out of touch corporates are with ordinary people".
"This sort of behaviour more than anything is why people have lost trust in politicians and business leaders," he said.
![BHP Billiton chief executive Andrew Mackenzie.](/web/20161019130456im_/http://www.canberratimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/n/k/3/t/0/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.gs5vva.png/1476869567101.jpg)
In London, Mr Mackenzie described the "continual questioning of our economic and social contribution" in Australia as "chilling" when compared to countries such as Chile, where BHP has a majority stake in the massive Escondida copper mine.
"I asked the president [Michelle Bachelet] if there was anything more we could do for the country. And she said, 'not at all just keep doing what you are doing - it is great'," Mr Mackenzie said, according to the Australian Financial Review.
"But in our home country of Australia where we have contributed hugely to employment, and through taxes and royalties, we still find ourselves blamed for problems that we didn't cause and the target, if you like, of people who assume that we are the ones trying to avoid tax."
Last week, again under privilege, Mr Swan accused BHP of shifting untaxed profits of $5.7 billion to its Singapore marketing hub, "gaming the system" in Australia and exaggerating the impact of Labor's mining tax when the company fought a brutal campaign against it.
A BHP spokeswoman said: "For every $1 of pre-tax profit we made in Australia in the 2016 financial year, 57 cents is payable in taxes and royalties to Governments in Australia.
We have paid about A$65 billion in taxes, royalties and other payments to Australian Governments over the last decade ... Our Australian tax and royalty contribution over the last decade would build the NBN twice over, or pay for three years of Medicare for the country."