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Citizens Electoral Council of Australia

Media Release  20th of April 2010

Craig Isherwood‚ National Secretary
PO Box 376‚ COBURG‚ VIC 3058
Phone: 03 9354 0544 Fax: 03 9354 0166
Email: cec@cecaust.com.au
Website: http://cec.cecaust.com.au
 

Nationalise resources to stop Rio-BHP iron ore extortion


The British Crown’s Rio Tinto/BHP Billiton iron ore cartel is extorting the world, having recently leveraged their cartel power to force Chinese and Japanese steel makers into short-term contracts on the London-centred iron ore spot market, to push up iron ore prices by 80-130 per cent.

This price shock endangers both the steel-making industry worldwide, as well as heavy steel-consuming industries in machine building, auto manufacturing, and construction, which face steel price hikes of at least 25 per cent.

Citizens Electoral Council leader Craig Isherwood today reiterated his 2008 call for Australia’s resources to be nationalised:

“By allowing the Anglo-Dutch oligarchy’s raw materials cartel to control our nation’s resources, we are letting them hold the whole world to ransom—with our iron ore,” Mr Isherwood said.

“We are getting screwed like everybody else: it’s our iron ore, but we’ll have to pay the higher prices for the steel we import from Japan and China.

“Our miners seemingly get paid big bucks to dig the ore out, but get screwed by $1600 per-week rents in the Pilbara, because the mining companies are just there to loot-and-run, and have no interest in developing the region.

“And worse, all Rio and BHP pay to buy the iron ore off us is a pathetic 3.75 per cent ‘royalty’ to the WA government—the Queen and her uppity minions in the City of London must enjoy a good belly-laugh about the ‘colony’ over that one.”

For forty years, the world’s international iron ore market worked on a simple, rational and fair basis. The world’s largest mills would negotiate with the miners a price for iron ore at the beginning of the year, and that price, set by 1st April, would govern all iron ore transactions for the coming year, with allowances for ore quality and shipping costs.

Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, together with Brazil’s CVRD, control 70 per cent of world iron ore production, and the new short-term contract system is expected to push up their profits by at least $5 billion this year.

Furthermore, the banks and brokers in the City of London are gearing up to exploit the new pricing régime by developing a multi-billion dollar derivatives market, similar to the derivatives markets for oil, coal and aluminium; the iron ore derivatives market is projected to grow one thousand-fold by 2020, from $300 million today, to $200 billion.

“They are about to launch the same kind of derivatives looting in iron ore, that caused the global economic breakdown crisis in the first place,” Mr Isherwood said.

“To reverse it, we must nationalise our resources, enter into long-term, government-to-government agreements to supply strategic resources on a mutually-beneficial basis, and restart our own domestic steel industry, both for our own needs and to supply our iron ore customers the finished product, which is more efficient.”

He concluded, “That approach, is in our national interest.”

To find out how Australia can develop in the context of a “Four Powers” alliance, rather than continue to be looted, click here to receive a free copy of “Australia’s Mission: The Shift to a Pacific Centred World”, in DVD and pamphlet form.

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