Guest contribution by Eric Worrall
Both parties support gas? Another blow to Biden’s global climate ambitions appears to be pressure from voters and unions on the opposition Australian Labor Party to support well-paid mining jobs, to press politicians into bipartisan support for fossil fuel projects.
Workers in new dispute over gas support
By David Crowe
Updated June 1, 2021 – 3:51 p.m.
Labor MPs have split over a federal plan to develop new gas reserves to unlock a new sign of disagreement over climate change and whether Australia should phase out fossil fuels.
The debate included significant interventions by former leader Bill Shorten and former resource spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon to support policies that would tap gas reserves to power homes and businesses.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese did not speak during the group’s discussion on gas but will support the mining industry in a speech to be given on Wednesday commending sectors such as gas and coal for creating jobs.
“The five most important raw material exports of our country are iron ore, LNG, gold, metallurgical coal and steam coal. “ he says in a draft speech to the Minerals Council of Australia.
“These industries provide jobs for Australians. They provide economic activity in regional Australia. And billions of dollars in revenue for governments. Australia will continue to export these raw materials. “
However, Albanese warns that markets will change and demand for some resources will decline, with growth shifting to resources that electric vehicles and batteries can support.
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Read more: https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/labor-in-new-row-over-whether-to-back-gas-20210601-p57x2y.html
Labor, which identifies with workers but also flirts with urban greens, suffered a major loss in a recent by-election of a mining district in the Hunter Valley. Many people who live in the Hunter Valley work in coal mines. In addition, a recent major Australian blackout affecting people in multiple states, caused by a single catastrophic outage, has highlighted the fragility of Australia’s underinvested controllable power grid.
What about future career prospects for fossil fuel workers?
I don’t think anyone needs to worry about a decline in demand for Australian coal and iron ore in the next few decades.
China completely dominates global steel production. But while China is openly redirecting its enormous industrial capacity to trying to build a fleet that can rival the U.S. Navy and challenging U.S. supremacy over the Pacific Ocean, India, Vietnam, and the Philippines have their own military spending and steel production booted up quietly to counter the growing Chinese threat. Steel foundries across Asia are vying to manufacture armaments for a much-anticipated war in the Pacific.
Australia reaps huge profits from all this militaristic madness, selling iron ore, coal and other minerals to anyone who asks.
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