Australia could lose $66.2 billion in revenue contributed by the coal sector as a result of “unsupportive” governmental politics, major mining players have warned.
According to The Australian, a recent economic research compiled by Lawrence Consulting has found that the coal exporting states of Queensland and NSW have injected that sum to their economies in 2013-14 through direct and flow-on contributions. The report also found that the coal sector in those two states supported 381,815 full-time employees.
Seamus French, CEO of Anglo American said the numbers testified to the importance of the sector for the overall economies of Queensland and NSW. He said regulatory policies posed just as big a threat to the sector as environmental groups looking to shut the industry down.
“Unsupportive governments and challenging market conditions teamed with ill-informed anti-coal sentiments in the public space make doing business harder and harder, and it’s not just the mining communities under threat, it’s the people of Australia and their future opportunities that will suffer in the long-term,” he said.
Glencore’s head of global coal assets, Peter Freyberg, underlined the importance of the sector for the economy but pointed out the high cost of doing business in Australia and the challenges posed by the low world prices as major problems for domestic coal producers.
“The spread of misleading and false information by the anti-coal movement does the Australian public a disservice, can further impact real jobs and distracts from a genuine public debate about important policy issues,” he said.
“Given the current political volatility in Australia it is important federal and state governments set and maintain stable policies that enable our industry to compete in a global marketplace and maintain investor confidence.”
Chris Salisbury, managing director of Rio Tinto’s Australian coal operations, said the regulatory policies endangered the future of the country’s coal industry.
“Increasing regulations, delays in government approvals and anti-mining activists pose a very real risk to the future of the Australian coal industry, the tens of thousands of jobs its provides and the communities it helps to sustain,” he said.
NSW’s Green movement recently called for an end to the coal industry in the state, which was characterised as “nonsense” and dangerous to the country by NSW Minerals Council Chief Executive Stephen Galilee.
“We saw the last federal government rely on the Greens to stay in office and there is no reason that couldn’t happen again at a state or federal level in the future. That would be a very poor outcome for any of the major parties to have to pander to that sort of economic nonsense to stay in office,” he said.
“It is unfortunate that not enough people appreciate the contribution that the coal industry is making to our country, not just in economic terms, but to our way of life through the energy it provides and the products that it delivers to our society.”
