WA govt considers helping FMG tax challenge

The West Australian government is considering taking part in Fortescue Metals Group's constitutional challenge to the federal government's Minerals Resource Rent Tax (MRRT).

Fortescue lodged a High Court challenge to the tax on Friday, saying it believed it had a good case for challenging the MRRT on constitutional grounds.

A spokesman for WA Premier Colin Barnett told AAP the state government believed there were grounds for a challenge.

"The West Australian government would consider participating in the High Court challenge by way of intervention," the spokesman said.

"This (is) in order to try to protect the ownership of the assets of the state-owned natural resources of West Australians."

Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (AMEC) chief executive Simon Bennison said members would like to see the challenge succeed and the tax rescinded.

The AMEC board was scheduled to meet later on Friday and would discuss the matter after gleaning some more information from Fortescue.

Mr Bennison said it was not yet clear if Fortescue would be joined in the court action by other miners.

"At this stage, they're going it alone," Mr Bennison told AAP.

He said he imagined Fortescue would receive support from the industry in some form.

"They'd like to see the government acknowledge the fact that there's a case here," Mr Bennison said.

"At this stage, AMEC will be in there trying to provide all the moral support it can."

Fortescue chief executive Nev Power said in a statement on Friday the tax gave preference to one state over another and restricted a state's ability to encourage mining, which were both contrary to the constitution.

Greg Craven, vice-chancellor of Australian Catholic University and constitutional law expert, said discriminating between the states contravened Section 51 of the constitution.

"This is going to be a state-rights type case," Professor Craven told ABC Radio.

"What Fortescue will argue is that the minerals tax basically contravenes the federal character of the constitution; that it imposes a whole series of burdens and restrictions on state powers, that that's inconsistent with the constitution and therefore the tax is invalid."

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