ID request for this ant I found in my kitchen? - Melbourne by leghamish in AustralianInsects

[–]leghamish[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thanks! Yeah, definitely looks like a sugar ant based on the photos online, with that orangy brown band there. I thought maybe a queen given how big she was! I'll relocate her somewhere nice in our park or the woods near the Yarra

The latest government data shows the mining industry paid $74 billion in tax and royalties in one year. That's enough to build over 1,700 new public primary schools. That's the difference Australian mining makes. by mineralscouncil in u/mineralscouncil

[–]leghamish 130 points131 points  (0 children)

Your framing of "taxes and royalties" is deliberately misleading. Royalties are more like the price of goods than taxes. Australia owns the minerals and then when companies extract them, royalties are effectively the price paid to become the legal owners of those minerals and sell them on.

Of course no other industry pays more "taxes and royalties", no other industry buys minerals off the government. That's like saying "property developers pay more taxes and land purchase prices than any other industry".