From Bloomie:
“Where is Turnbull going to get the jobs from?” said Bernadette Heath, 55, at a shopping center in the electoral district of Burt — one of four lower house seats being targeted by Labor around the state capital, Perth. “There are no jobs to be had.” Her 57-year-old husband, Brian, took a 40 percent pay cut in his mining industry job amid the downturn, she said.
…Barnett, who’s been premier since 2008, rode the crest of the mining boom, as Chinese demand for the state’s natural resources drove unprecedented wealth in the region. Unskilled workers earned in excess of A$200,000 ($150,000) as the world’s biggest miners including BHP Billiton Ltd. and Rio Tinto Group ramped up production. Property prices across the state surged, with apartment rents in some remote mining towns exceeding those of Manhattan penthouses.