Thread: Keeping the West. Aus. mines open may have saved our economy

Originally Posted by JDNSW

In export value - but not in royalties paid directly to state governments!

Then we need to take into account subsidies and tax breaks afforded various industries.
It becomes really tricky then.

Originally Posted by trout1105

WA also produces ALL of those other commodities with the exception of coal

We also can add lithium , Diamonds & Peals , Did i mention Iron Ore . .

Originally Posted by trout1105

WA also produces ALL of those other commodities with the exception of coal

Don’t we have coal coming out of Collie

Oh yeah the other major export out of WA ...... GST

GST redistribution delivers boosts to WA and Victoria, but NT and Queensland set to lose out - ABC News

I don't recall any whinging when there was more Commonwealth funds going into WA than coming out..

Originally Posted by trout1105

And yet the tree huggers still insist on shutting down the coal mines, I wonder if they are going to dip into their own pockets to replace this revenue

Really, what coal mines have actually been closed down by "tree huggers"?

FYI, as part of my Masters I did some research into Abbott Point and the Adani mine at Carmichael - the reason the Adani mine hasn't got off the ground isn't because of Bob Brown, it's because it's what's bankers call "unbankable" - that is, it's numbers are so bad that no bank will lend money to it because there'd be little chance that they'd ever get repaid. To be clear - it's completely financially unviable.

On top of that, banks don't want to fund what are called "stranded assets" - and a coal mine is very much a stranded asset. As an example, a new coal mine built now might take 30 years to pay back its loans: the problem is that it's likely that in 30 years no-one will be buying or using coal. So, billions of dollars tied up in an asset that has no value at the time that the banks are supposed to be finally repaid.

Ditto for coal-fired power stations - had you noticed that no-one has taken up the Liberals in Canberra on their invitation to build coal-fired power stations? Would you like to guess why no-one has jumped in and started building them?

The other issue is that international banks, and Australian banks, have to abide by agreed sets of environmental rules - e.g., The Equator Principles. Coal is at best borderline and the problem is that Queensland and the Commonwealth have been so busy bending the environmental rules for mines like Adani that there's a serious risk that in the future international financiers will conclude that the clearances provided by State governments and the Commonwealth are worthless - and then the projects just won't get funded, or if they do, at a much higher premium.

In terms of revenue, you may have missed how much money the Tesla battery in SA has been making, and the new energy fields being developed in the Wimmera and Mallee - solar power plants and wind farms. Very much this country's future direction. And distributed generation too.

Originally Posted by trout1105

That's OK as the crops have yet to be planted this year, We can always grow a different cereal crop especially if barley is only going to fetch $40 a tonne

And there are probably going to be food shortages in the Northern Hemisphere this year, so there will probably be other buyers.

Originally Posted by V8Ian

I don't recall any whinging when there was more Commonwealth funds going into WA than coming out..

Or the fact that for most of the last 100 years it's been Victoria and NSW that have been subsidising the other States - the Commonwealth transfers by head have always favoured the smaller States. That means that, for example, people in Old get whiz-bang hospitals whereas people in Vic and NSW get underfunded ones.

Really, what coal mines have actually been closed down by "tree huggers"?

none that I know of But that doesn't stop them from trying.

The Tesla battery and the solar/wind generation is Not an Export commodity and it never will be considering the distance to our nearest overseas customers.