Marathon despoilers want "safe haven" for investment.

All thinking is stamped with the brand of a class.

The owners of capital think according to the needs of capital. Their personal values, their morality, their interpretation of religious teachings, their political social and environmental outlooks are determined by what serves the interests of the capital they personally represent, and of the interests of the capital owning class in a more general sense.

Marathon Resources is a junior mining and exploration company heavily backed by Queensland Coal Mining magnate Ken Talbot and the Chinese sovereign fund China International Trade and Investment Corporation.

Talbot is currently facing charges of making $300,000 in corrupt payments to former Queensland Labor politician Gordon Nuttall. That is an indication of his class thinking and personal values. (Nuttall, 56, was jailed in July 2009 for seven years after he was found guilty of 36 charges of corruptly taking payments from businessmen Ken Talbot and Harold Shand.)

China correctly exhibits great sensitivity over any threats to its sovereignty and regularly criticises other countries for "harming the feelings of the Chinese people" when anti-China actions or statements are made.

Long aware of the controversy surrounding Marathon's despoliation of the Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary, CITIC appears not to be bothering with the feelings of the Australian people who overwhelmingly reject exploration and mining at Arkaroola.

Arkaroola is famous for its unique flora, fauna and geological formations. It is internationally recognised as a unique museum of rare geological features, as well as being essential to the survival of creatures such as the yellow-footed rock wallaby and the short-tailed grasswren.

Its spectacular scenery and remote location have made it an Australian tourism icon.

So what view does Marathon Resources, which wants to get into Arkaroola and rip and tear the guts out of the place, have of sanctuaries and refuges?

To my great surprise, it is all in favour of them!

Providing, that is, that they exist as a sanctuary and refuge for capital.

In a strangely-worded response to a State government plan for management of the Arkaroola region (itself a cop-out and capitulation to mining interests), Marathon warns that the draft plan "could have a significant unintended consequence that would seriously damage South Australia's reputation as a safe haven for investment" (my emphasis).

So we can have safe havens for investment, but not for rare and endangered species.

The irony of the Marathon statement is entirely lost on company executives because their class outlook determines that they look at issues solely from the point of view of the capital which they possess and need to expand.

And they are panicking and making mistakes because they struggle to raise capital and their share prices drop below 40 cents most days before making a minor recovery to the 40 cent mark by the end of day's trade.

Let's hope it declines even further.