THE Queensland mining industry gets about $1 billion a year in government subsidies while nationally the industry was given about $18 billion over the past six years, according to a report from The Australia Institute.

The left wing think tank, which has previously released anti-mining claims, said over the past six years the figure for the Queensland industry would total about $9.5 billion.

“Across Australia, state government assistance totals $17.6 billion over the past six-year period, not including significant Federal government support and subsidies,” its report said.

Executive director Dr Richard Denniss said almost $18 billion dollars has been spent over the past 6 years by state governments, supporting some of Australia’s biggest, most profitable industries, which are sending most of the profits offshore.

“That’s $18 billion dollars that could have gone to vital public services such as hospitals, schools and emergency services,” he said

“Of all states, Queensland taxpayers are providing the greatest assistance to the mining industry, with a staggering $9.5 billion over 6 years. This is comparable to amounts budgeted for disability services and capital expenditure on hospitals.

“It’s stunning to think this is the first time that the assistance provided to the mining industry by state governments has been quantified and Queensland taxpayers will be shocked at its massive scale.

“I’m not surprised governments have kept it quiet.

“Queensland allocated more in its 2013-14 budget to minerals and fossil fuel assistance than it did to disability services.

“These figures also expose as fallacy Premier Newman’s claim that the mining industry benefits Queensland and helps public services.

“The $9.5 billion dollars in taxpayer assistance to the mining industry could have delivered 9 major hospitals in Queensland.

“Government budget figures show that Queensland will repay an astonishing 60 per cent of the value of royalties it anticipates receiving from the mining industry in 2013-14, in the form of assistance back to the industry.

“Our research raises some important questions about the allocation of public money to private businesses — taxpayers might assume they are contributing to public services but the reality is starkly different.

“It’s clear that in certain sectors, the age of entitlement and taxpayer assistance to private companies rolls on.

“The major expenditure in Queensland is on rail infrastructure that is wholly dedicated to the coal industry, which means that there aren’t any flow-on benefits for other industries,” Dr Denniss said.

In the surveyed budget period, the Queensland government provided:

•Over $7.6 billion in coal transport expenditure and concessions

•$6.4 billion dollars in “wholly dedicated” expenditure to the minerals and fossil fuel industries — that is, assistance that specifically supports the development, extraction, processing or transport of mineral and fossil fuel commodities

•$561 million in coal mining assistance

•$100 million to the minerals processing industries, largely through infrastructure provision

Queensland concessions:

Queensland has provided $835.7 million in ‘concessions’ to the minerals and fossil fuel industries in 2013-14. To put this in context, concessions for other sectors over the same period:

•Education and Training: $818 million

•Electricity and gas: $781 million

•Housing: $513 million

•Health: $314 million

•Water: 351 million