The work:

This work refers to Kevin Rudd's 40% mining tax. At the top left of the work is a sign saying Way Out - that was for Kevin as he left power over this issue. The major opposition to this tax came from Western Australia, so this work is placed there on the series map. 

Australian context:

When Kevin Rudd was Prime Minister of Australia, he attempted to impose a 40% tax on the mining industry. This tax (the proposed Resource Super Profit Tax (RSPT)), and indeed any kind of increase in tax on mining, was opposed (by the industry) in a very loud, scaremongering campaign. Key companies campaigning against the tax were BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto Group.

The 'forty per cent tax' effectively ended Rudd's first term as Prime Minister, with Julia Gillard coming to power in 2010. Gillard's government passed the Minerals Resource Rent Tax (MRRT) - a tax on profits 'generated from the exploitation of non-renewable resources' in Australia.The key mining companies did not publicly oppose this tax.

Rudd resumed power in 2013.