Australia's Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson said Thursday that the Policy Transition Group--the body charged with fine tuning the government's new resources tax--hopes to complete its initial report before the end of December.

"The objective is to finalize our considerations and give a report to the Treasurer prior to Christmas," Ferguson said after an initial round of talks with small mining company representatives in Perth.

"The report will clearly inform the draft legislation" on the Minerals Resource Rent Tax, and will be followed by further consultations, he told reporters.

The MRRT, due to come into effect in 2012, is the result of a compromise deal in July between the government and global miners Rio Tinto Ltd. (RTP), BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) and Xstrata Plc (XTA.LN).

Smaller miners argue they were excluded from the consultation process and that the tax favors the big miners.

Asked whether the government is concerned about the impact of the strong Australian dollar on the mining and petroleum sector, Ferguson said: "The dollar changes from time to time, from a resources industry point of view, it is good for industry.

"But as Minister of Tourism I understand the challenges it creates for the (tourism) industry," he said.

-By Stephen Bell, contributing to Dow Jones Newswires; 61-8-9244-4243; sgbell@bigpond.com
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