Creditors send debt collectors to Tinkler

Mining magnate Nathan Tinkler has left a trail of debt-devastated business owners from the upper Hunter to Queensland, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Dozens of businesses, mostly small start-ups, are chasing debts totalling more than $1 million from Tinkler's companies.

Some people have been forced to re-mortgage their homes, while others have had to increase overdrafts or sell their cars.

BHP pressed on mining tax liability

The federal Treasury pressed the world's biggest miner, BHP Billiton, to detail its liabilities under the mining tax just days after releasing budget forecasts estimating the tax would raise $13.4 billion in the budget, previously secret documents reveal, according to The Australian.

A Treasury executive minute dated May 16 shows Wayne Swan was briefed to ask BHP chief executive Marius Kloppers about the impact of the minerals resource rent tax at a meeting scheduled for the following week.

Review to consider changes to renewable energy target

An independent review of the renewable energy target will examine whether it should be changed in response to $10 billion of new government investment in clean energy projects and falling demand for electricity, according to the Australian Financial Review.

An issues paper from the newly appointed Climate Change Authority says the review will cover a broad range of topics including limiting the contribution of household solar panels to the target, which has been a factor in rising power prices.

Separately, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott conceded the carbon tax was not the only factor driving up power prices. In a speech to an Australian Industry Group conference in Canberra, he retreated from a claim last week that heavy investment in transmission networks by state governments was not responsible for price increases.