Media Release

KAP Federal Member for Kennedy Bob Katter today led the growing calls for an inquiry into the iron ore industry and pricing arrangements, announcing plans to introduce legislation into Parliament as early as next week.

“We’ve issued instructions to Parliamentary draftsmen today to seek a Commission of Inquiry into iron ore pricing.

“We want the Commission of Inquiry to establish whether the increases in production by certain corporations have been a conscious effort to eliminate their competitors or simply a callous disregard for the interests of their shareholders and the countries in which they operate.

“Finally, we want to know what the effect would be of Government initiatives, along with those of other iron ore producing companies, to scale back production.

“It is a dreadful waste of the planet’s resources to continue to produce metal when there is no one out there who wants to buy it,” Mr Katter said.

Mr Katter attacked the free-market fundamentalist Governments that had allowed companies to ramp up production in the face of ever decreasing demand for iron ore.

“Iron ore is relatively price inelastic and howls from the free market fundamentalists would be silenced if they had the brains to understand other countries have done the same thing in times of massive over production.

“Brazil did it with coffee; Australia and Cuba did it with sugar; the Americans and others did it with aluminum; tin producing countries did it with tin; in fact every sane country on earth at one time or another has recognised the insanity of massive over production and the instability it creates for everybody.

“The greedy ‘I’ll be the last man standing’ mentality of the giant mining corporations needs to be reined in by a public inquiry,” Mr Katter said.

Mr Katter also praised Andrew Forrest for unrelentingly pursuing the unpopular concept of less production.

“The Government would be better spent pulling their competition attack dogs off Andrew Forrest for the very sensible proposal that we produce the amount of iron ore that the world needs rather than producing twice that amount.

“If I was to pick out the ten greatest living Australians, then Andrew Forrest would be in that ten,” Mr Katter said.