{"id":455950,"date":"2026-02-03T15:44:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T15:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/455950\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T15:44:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T15:44:11","slug":"epstein-files-reveal-peter-mandelson-supported-campaign-to-undermine-then-australian-pm-kevin-rudds-mining-super-profits-tax-australian-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/455950\/","title":{"rendered":"Epstein files reveal Peter Mandelson supported campaign to undermine then-Australian PM Kevin Rudd\u2019s mining super profits tax | Australian politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

A former UK Labour<\/a> minister supported a campaign to undermine the Rudd Labor government\u2019s proposed mining super profits tax in Australia, a document published in the latest tranche of the Epstein files reveals.<\/p>\n

Lord Peter Mandelson, once one of British Labour\u2019s most powerful figures, was sacked last year as the UK\u2019s ambassador to the US over his links with the disgraced financier, rapist and human trafficker Jeffrey Epstein<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This week, Mandelson resigned from the Labour party altogether as further revelations in documents released by the US Department of Justice show the pair\u2019s close links, even after Epstein was convicted of child sex offences.<\/p>\n

Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/a><\/p>\n

Mandelson is facing a possible police investigation<\/a> into his alleged leak of market-sensitive information from inside the Brown government to Epstein at the height of the financial crisis.<\/p>\n

The latest Epstein file documents also contain an email Mandelson sent to Epstein in June 2010, when Australia\u2019s mining industry was waging a coordinated campaign against the then Rudd Labor government\u2019s proposed 40% mining super profits tax.<\/p>\n

At the time Mandelson had just lost his post as the UK\u2019s first secretary of state, a position often equated to deputy prime minister, after Labour was defeated in the May general election.<\/p>\n

Mandelson\u2019s email \u2013 first sent to a redacted recipient on 8 June, then shared with Epstein five days later \u2013 contains a private analysis written by the then XStrata chief executive, Mick Davis, on the mining industry\u2019s strategy to fight the tax proposal.<\/p>\n

Mandelson exhorts the recipient of the original email: \u201cyou need to build the broadest possible coalition\u2026\u201d to pressure the Australian government, then led by Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd<\/a>, to back down on the proposed tax.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pressure which the industry has applied, with the strong focus on jobs and social impact, is clearly having an effect on a government which is already under pressue.(sic)<\/p>\n

Lord Peter Mandelson in November 2009. Photograph: WPA\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cThis pressure needs to be maintained so that everyone understands the clear consequences of the govt\u2019s proposals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mandelson said the mining companies\u2019 campaign should avoid becoming seen as a proxy debate about government capture by powerful business interests.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou do not want to turn it into an issue of \u2018who governs Australia\u2019, the voters and their elected representatives or the mining companies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mandelson said the fundamental rationale for the mining super profits tax \u2013 allowing all Australians to benefit from the country\u2019s resources boom \u2013 was difficult to argue against.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no ideological reason why the industry should not be making a greater contribution to society, especially given the constrained economic times,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mandelson said the Rudd government should be given the opportunity to compromise on the tax.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Rudd government will want to (or at least give the impression) that they are conceding from a position of strength, not weakness. I think you will want to secure a compromise before this issue is thrown into the heat of the election battle.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is not clear from the released documents whether Epstein had asked Mandelson for his assessment of the Australian super profits tax, or what he did with the information. Epstein died in prison in 2019.<\/p>\n

Rudd had proposed a resources super profits tax in May 2010, which would have taxed the profits reaped by mining companies at 40%.<\/p>\n

The measure would have generated $9bn annually, according to government forecasts.<\/p>\n

In response, the mining industry mounted a concerted campaign to kill off, or weaken, the tax. The campaign succeeded, particularly in destabilising the Rudd government.<\/p>\n

Julia Gillard replaced Rudd as prime minister in June 2010, less than two weeks after Mandelson emailed Epstein. She replaced the super profits tax with the significantly more modest minerals resource rent tax (MRRT). This was later repealed by the Abbott government.<\/p>\n

The latest Epstein disclosures show Mandelson appears to have leaked a sensitive Whitehall document to Epstein, who was still under house arrest at the time, detailing the UK government\u2019s tax plans<\/a> and intention to sell \u00a320bn in assets.<\/p>\n

He forwarded the document in June 2009 with the comment: \u201cInteresting note that\u2019s gone to the PM.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emails had already emerged over the weekend that suggested Mandelson had received three payments of $25,000 each from Epstein when he was a backbench MP in 2003 and 2004. Others showed that his partner had received thousands of pounds in 2009 and 2010 when he was business secretary.<\/p>\n

In response, Mandelson said in a letter to the UK Labour party on Monday: \u201cI have been further linked this weekend to the understandable furore surrounding Jeffrey Epstein and I feel regretful and sorry about this.<\/p>\n

\u201cAllegations which I believe to be false that he made financial payments to me 20 years ago, and of which I have no record or recollection, need investigating by me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not wish to cause further embarrassment to the Labour party and I am therefore stepping down from membership of the party.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to take this opportunity to repeat my apology to the women and girls whose voices should have been heard long before now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UK prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, said on Monday that Mandelson should lose his title and seat in the House of Lords<\/a>, and launched an inquiry into his \u201cconduct during his time as a government minister\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Guardian has approached Mandelson for comment about the leaking of information to Epstein.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former UK Labour minister supported a campaign to undermine the Rudd Labor government\u2019s proposed mining super profits…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455951,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-455950","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455950\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}