Australia's mining tax passes lower house

Australia's controversial tax on the country's mining boom, seen by Canberra as a critical economic reform, cleared a key hurdle Wednesday when it passed through the lower house of parliament. Julia Gillard's fragile minority government gained support from the Greens to enable the Minerals Resource Rent Tax Bill 2011 to scrape through the House of Representatives after a marathon session in the early hours.
It will now move to the upper house Senate, where debate will take place next year before it officially becomes law. "The vast majority of those who will be paying the MRRT understand the importance of this economic reform and support it," said Gillard.