AUSTRALIAN businesses enjoyed a record profit surge in the latest quarter, with mining profits ballooning by nearly two-thirds, thanks to soaring commodities prices.
Profits across all industries leapt by 19 per cent to $68 billion in the three months to June, the Bureau of Statistics said yesterday.
Driving the increase was a 63 per cent explosion in miners’ earnings, which struck $25 billion after contract prices for iron ore and coal were upgraded sharply.
The jump in miners’ income also came as the industry mounted its fierce campaign against a ”super profits” tax designed to capture the windfall flowing to the sector.
The other big winners were in construction, where profits rose 30 per cent, and financial services, which grew by 29 per cent.
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