WHILE Australia ponders the implications of the federal mineral resources rent tax, the Hunter finds itself a potential loser - the meat in the sandwich between state and federal governments scoring political points off one another.
It's worth recounting the moves in the game so far, because they reflect no credit on either side of politics and suggest that Hunter people matter little in the thinking of either Canberra or Sydney.
For a start, consider the Gillard government's moves to placate the big mining corporations after the political assassination of former prime minister Kevin Rudd. Pressed by the miners during negotiations over the watered-down mining tax, Labor agreed - incredibly - to indemnify the corporations against any and all future increases in state mineral royalties.
This naive error amounted to handing a blank cheque to state governments, which could raise their royalties in the knowledge that Canberra would foot the bill.
NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell, singing from the anti carbon tax song sheet of his federal Liberal leader Tony Abbott, wasted little time seizing the opportunity. When the state government lifted its royalty rates on coal it noisily insisted it had to do so to recoup losses caused by Labor's carbon tax.
At this point it must be recalled that the federal government had promised that the Hunter would receive a proportionately fair allocation of the $6 billion regional infrastructure fund that is being financed by the new minerals tax.
Given that history has amply demonstrated the NSW government's apparent abhorrence of the idea of returning to the Hunter any of the royalties it takes from the region - currently $3.5 million a day - the federal promise represented an improvement for Hunter fortunes.
That dream may be dashed, however, by the federal government's response to Mr O'Farrell's royalty rise stunt.
Labor has threatened to retaliate against NSW by withholding the state's share of the regional infrastructure fund.
That would mean the money that Canberra should have allocated to the Hunter would be effectively transferred direct to Sydney, thanks to the naivety of federal Labor and the machinations of Macquarie Street.
It is a bitter reflection that both sides of politics in both the relevant major capital cities appear prepared to permit the Hunter Region to become collateral damage in their clumsy partisan warfare.
Treat for art lovers
MANY wonderful items in Newcastle Art Gallery's enviable collection are too seldom seen, for the well-known reason that the gallery lacks the display space to show more than a fraction of its holdings.
Next month's exhibition in the city of 20th century Australian masterpieces will bring some of the best works into the light to hang alongside counterparts from the collection of the Art Galley of NSW.
This will be an exciting opportunity for Hunter people to see some of the finest works in public ownership in NSW side by side in Newcastle's own gallery. It's a coup for the gallery and a treat for art lovers.
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