Aussie Coal Miners Demand Compensation for when Internet Zero 2050 is Declared – Watts Up With That?
Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Coal miners are demanding handouts when the $50 billion / year export earning pits are closed, coal plants are receiving handouts to stay open, to stabilise the grid, renewable operators are demanding handouts and special treatment to build more renewables. One question nobody is asking, where is all the money supposed to come from?
‘We don’t want to be collateral damage’: Coal country concerns grow as climate reality hits
By Maeve McGregor
August 30, 2021 — 5.00am
For more than 25 years, Mark Richards worked at the coal-fired Hazelwood Power Station in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley until it closed in 2017.
Mr Richards said the majority of his co-workers, family and friends acknowledged the reality of climate change. However, they also feared that they increasingly would be saddled with the “heavy lifting” for climate change through job losses and economic sacrifice.
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The survey of 15,000 Australians, commissioned by environment organisation the Australian Conservation Foundation, was conducted by research company YouGov in July to shed light on whether voters believe Australia should do more to reduce carbon emissions.
The results suggest Australians overwhelmingly believe the federal government is doing too little to address climate change.
Mr Richards said federal and state governments needed to ensure “genuine replacement industries” existed for people who would lose their jobs as a result of coal-fired power station and mine closures.
“We need bipartisan support for climate change policy which includes factoring in jobs for communities who have had their livelihoods displaced by climate change,” he said.
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Read more: https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/we-don-t-want-to-be-collateral-damage-coal-country-concerns-grow-as-climate-reality-hits-20210829-p58mvw.html
Only an economic illiterate could think Australia, right now, could afford to abruptly shut down coal. At 11% of export earnings, coal is a major pillar of the export earnings which are keeping our currency afloat.
So why would globalists want so badly to damage Australia’s export earnings?
The answer in my opinion is very simple – its a smash and grab raid, on Australia’s mineral wealth.
Australia produces 37% of the world’s iron ore, more than double our nearest rival Brazil.
Iron ore is currently very expensive, down from its July high, but still near the top of historical price ranges. Part of the reason China is so interested in Afghanistan, is Afghanistan has one of the few large untapped iron ore deposits in the world, and for China this glittering pile of mineral wealth is just over the border. But to say China is having big difficulties exploiting Afghanistan’s iron ore resources would be an understatement.
Smashing Australia’s coal industry might be a more immediate path to lowering the global price of iron ore.
First, smashing coal exports could destabilise Australia’s currency, driving down the real value of Aussie miners’ wages.
Second the collapse of the Aussie coal export industry would release a significant number of skilled coal miners on to the market, who would compete with workers currently in the iron ore and other mining industries, further driving down mining wages.
Thirdly if government resource revenues are disrupted, Australia could have more trouble servicing foreign owned public debt – especially with everyone involved demanding more handouts from the Australian Government. Distressed debtor countries are more willing to make sacrifices, like cutting very favourable deals with foreign mining companies, in exchange for debt renegotiation.
Of course, if renewables advocates succeed in building a green hydrogen export business or whatever to rival Australia’s coal exports, that would completely change the dynamic. But so far this is all talk. The renewables industry is apparently expecting the Aussie government foster the industry, which once you translate the PR gibberish probably means they want even more handouts.
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