Western Australian Liberal Party has come out swinging against mining heavyweights BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto in the lead up to election with the party’s leader Mr Colin Barnett threatening to impose higher mining royalties on the two miners if they merge.

He said that a merger is not in the WA’s interest and would be a clear cost for the state if more than half of the mining and petroleum industry was owned by one mining giant. He added that “If they want to merge, then other things would come into play. For example, why would they receive a concessional royalty rate? It would be time to get rid of that. The current rates fall well below the normal rates for mining royalties. It would be one of the issues we would have to discuss.”

Mr Barnett said that if his party won the election, he would look to renegotiate various state agreements that governed the operations of BHP and Rio in a bid to get rid of royalty concessions enjoyed by both parties if a merger took place.