A new study today captures the defensiveness that appears to have seized Australian coal whining, from Dad’s Army:
AUSTRALIA’S coal sector contributed $66.2 billion to the east coast economy in one year, a figure top miners warn is at risk from “unsupportive” governments stifling growth.
The coal exporting states of Queensland and NSW provided that significant boost to their economies in 2013-14 through direct and flow-on contributions. The economic research, compiled by Lawrence Consulting, also highlighted that the sector in those two states employed, directly and indirectly, 381,815 full-time employees.
Coal has become the No 1 enemy to a growing chorus of groups that are determined to shut the industry down, but miners also fear regulatory policies are hurting jobs and growth.
And on it goes with an impressive line-up of coal whining executives all with their hand out.
We must ask ourselves: are Australian governments unsupportive? Let’s take a recent inventory:
- scrapped carbon tax;
- scrapped mining tax;
- RET hobbled;
- stream-lined federal environmental approvals;
- Prime ministerial campaign in favour;
- QLD state co-investment to get uneconomic new mines into operation, and
- no suggestion that the diesel rebate should be scrapped despite Budget woes and petrol excise rises for punters.
Australia coal whining is currently enjoying its greatest boom in policy support in living memory. If there’s a “chorus of groups” rising against coal then perhaps it has something to do with this.
We all know that the future of Australian thermal coal is dour owing to the science of climate change. The future of Australian metallurgic coal is less dreadful but faces a long shakeout owing to global peak steel.
Both of these problems have exacerbated by the industry’s own overly-aggressive investment. Fastening at the public teat can only delay the inevitable.
