Plastic bags, climate change, renewable energy,

Haakon

Keeps on digging
I don't think it quite works like that from first-hand experience, just look at the housing downturn in places like Mackay, Moranbah and WA when mining collapsed. I also used to do the running around for a contracting company that done jobs in mining, and they never questioned things like a shifting spanner that cost $30 at Bunnings that was charged $70 at Blackwoods to them. I also sub-contracted for a contracting mining company in Brisbane, for a small fabrication job they would pay double the amount of any local and it wasn't even questioned.
Knock on jobs can be said of other sectors too. X jobs in the health sector, x+lots in supporting industries just like mining.

Doesn’t matter where you draw the boundary, mining just isn’t as big a deal as it’s made out to be. Which is not to say it’s nothing, just that gets more attention than it deserves.
 

Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
What flow is trying to explain is that there are a lot of towns that only exist because of the mines. There is nothing else there. Take away the mine then the workers and then the town has no need of schools or other infrastructure because there is nothing to sustain any society. Nothing. Even the downturn which saw projects shelved or cancelled had a huge impact. Then the support workers in nearby towns and cities lose their jobs and the downward spiral continues. Same with the towns that ramped up for lng, take away the exploration and development and all that infrastructure is redundant. Most of these towns had some agriculture so they fell back to that level of sustainability and quite a few have managed to milk grey gonads to again become prosperous. Mine areas though? They got shit other than carbon.
 

Haakon

Keeps on digging
What flow is trying to explain is that there are a lot of towns that only exist because of the mines. There is nothing else there. Take away the mine then the workers and then the town has no need of schools or other infrastructure because there is nothing to sustain any society. Nothing. Even the downturn which saw projects shelved or cancelled had a huge impact. Then the support workers in nearby towns and cities lose their jobs and the downward spiral continues. Same with the towns that ramped up for lng, take away the exploration and development and all that infrastructure is redundant. Most of these towns had some agriculture so they fell back to that level of sustainability and quite a few have managed to milk grey gonads to again become prosperous. Mine areas though? They got shit other than carbon.
Thats true, and sucky for those towns. But, at the risk of seeming callous (not intending to be) you need to take a bigger picture view. Those towns wont hav been the first and they wont be the last to have lost the reason they exist. Things change, people need to relocate for their jobs all the time - hell, I had to move to bumfuck nowhere for the job I wanted dont see me complaining oh right yes well anyway....

New towns will spring up around the next thing, hopefully it will be more economically sustainable and longer lived.
 

Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
Thats true, and sucky for those towns. But, at the risk of seeming callous (not intending to be) you need to take a bigger picture view. Those towns wont hav been the first and they wont be the last to have lost the reason they exist. Things change, people need to relocate for their jobs all the time - hell, I had to move to bumfuck nowhere for the job I wanted dont see me complaining oh right yes well anyway....

New towns will spring up around the next thing, hopefully it will be more economically sustainable and longer lived.
Go visit Moronbah, take the alfa. Yeah. Nah.
 

Haakon

Keeps on digging
What’s the alternative? Keep propping up communities and industries that are unsustainable for reasons not necessarily in their control until they crash anyway?

Or plan for a more orderly transition.

Yeah it will suck for people who have made their lives in those towns. It will suck more if we pretend their supporting industry is still a thing....
 

Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
What’s the alternative? Keep propping up communities and industries that are unsustainable for reasons not necessarily in their control until they crash anyway?

Or plan for a more orderly transition.

Yeah it will suck for people who have made their lives in those towns. It will suck more if we pretend their supporting industry is still a thing....
Genocide.
 

Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
Problem is while some skillsets are easily transferable others arent and I am not sure what we can do. Dont get me wrong, I am happy to shut down mining, air travel, alfa services, the lot but you have to look after the people displaced. The country has many examples of the fucktangular mess that is created when industry shuts and the skills specific to that industry are not easy to translate or there is simply nothing for them to do.
 

Haakon

Keeps on digging
Problem is while some skillsets are easily transferable others arent and I am not sure what we can do. Dont get me wrong, I am happy to shut down mining, air travel, alfa services, the lot but you have to look after the people displaced. The country has many examples of the fucktangular mess that is created when industry shuts and the skills specific to that industry are not easy to translate or there is simply nothing for them to do.
Absofreakinglutly. Its totally on governments to help these communities - its what a rational and inclusive society is all about.

Shit happens, things change - its how we deal with the change and help those effected that matters. Stringing them along telling them coal is fine and you can keep doing what youre doing is a terrible disservice to these communities...
 

pink poodle

気が狂っている男
Social evolution is kind of a thing. Playing on those heart strings about saving communities is the kind of shit these soulless mining companies have done forever. At the same time they'll fuck those people in the face the second it is good for the balance sheet.

Or W can look at how good they are for communities in some other countries with less stringent regulations. How many fucks did/does BHP or Rip Tinto give for villages in PNG?
 

downunderdallas

Likes Bikes and Dirt
What’s the alternative? ...
Make every coal town a MTB town! Well WA's only real coal town is Collie and it is trying to reinvent itself as an MTB town anyway. The hills close to town are modest but the ones between there and Bunbury are good and apparently, the new stuff being built is great according to the trail builders.

Collie has recognised a while ago that it does need to transition from Coal to something else. It is fortunate in that it's in a nice area of the state. I'm not sure about other states I'm guessing some places in Queensland at least would find it very difficult to get people to live there if not for the mine. Much like goldfields in WA or iron ore towns of the Pilbara, pretty much nobody would live there without the mines.

Not a nice thing to face if you grew up there but a reality for them I expect none the less.
 

Haakon

Keeps on digging
Playing on those heart strings about saving communities is the kind of shit these soulless mining companies have done forever. At the same time they'll fuck those people in the face the second it is good for the balance sheet.
This. All the while paying fuck all tax...
 

Flow-Rider

Burner
Australia is being exploited by large mining corps no doubt.
If we turned the key off on coal mines here other places like Africa and Mongolia would take orders on the spot, it isn't really going to change a thing and pretty much identical to what we have done with manufacturing.

Most minerals that come out of the ground are our top exporters, take that away good luck to Australia.
 

pink poodle

気が狂っている男
[QUOTE="Flow-Rider, post: 3374109, member:
Most minerals that come out of the ground are our top exporters, take that away good luck to Australia.
[/QUOTE]

We may end up being forced to confront that as it is. Iron ore is still pretty steady, but not much else. A lot of our primary industries are facing a similar issue. We have, once again, shown a distinct lack of economic foresight and burried our heads in the sand.

The machinations of economies is on the verge of significant change as it is. Why not take the reins and drive ourselves into a new paradigm rather than pretending it won't happen and we can just do things how we always have happily? We don't often do smart, but this is one of those opportunities.

Or we could be Tasmania and get pushed into a typhoon of closed mining/logging towns and high unemployment for he next however many years...they got lucky that the rest of Australia was experiencing a high level of disposable income and leisure time and they had a means to capitalise on it. Can a whole nation take that chance?
 

Flow-Rider

Burner
We may end up being forced to confront that as it is. Iron ore is still pretty steady, but not much else. A lot of our primary industries are facing a similar issue. We have, once again, shown a distinct lack of economic foresight and burried our heads in the sand.

The machinations of economies is on the verge of significant change as it is. Why not take the reins and drive ourselves into a new paradigm rather than pretending it won't happen and we can just do things how we always have happily? We don't often do smart, but this is one of those opportunities.

Or we could be Tasmania and get pushed into a typhoon of closed mining/logging towns and high unemployment for he next however many years...they got lucky that the rest of Australia was experiencing a high level of disposable income and leisure time and they had a means to capitalise on it. Can a whole nation take that chance?
You'll have to start a new creative line of work, Pink Poodles Newcastle MTB escort agency, no more coffee machines for you lad.
 
Top