EITI is the global standard for natural resource revenue management. Its central objective is to reconcile payments to government made by resource companies with those received by government. There are currently 48 countries participating in the EITI worldwide.

The Minerals Council of Australia CEO Brendan Pearson said: “Many Australian mining companies already participate in EITI-compliant reporting processes around the world.

“Today’s announcement follows an extensive EITI pilot program conducted in Australia between 2011 and 2014. The Minerals Council of Australia was an active participant in the pilot’s Multi-Stakeholder Group which confirmed a high degree of accuracy and integrity in company reporting and governance systems.”

The announcement underlines the strong commitment of the minerals sector in Australia to revenue transparency, according to Pearson.

Since 2011, the MCA has conducted an annual tax survey in conjunction with Deloitte Access Economics.

Transparency International consistently ranks BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto near the top of its worldwide ranking of companies in its Transparency in Corporate Reporting Analysis.

In 2013, the then Assistant Treasurer in the Gillard Government, David Bradbury (now Head of Tax Policy at the OECD), acknowledged that Australia’s largest mining companies disclose ‘a vast array of information about the tax they pay and their tax affairs’

More recently, the MCA has been a constructive participant in the development of the voluntary tax transparency code released by the Federal government in last week’s Budget.