Late monsoon weather caused it, maybe climate change had something to do with the late monsoon.

The point Cheryl is that we do not need to replace the value of coal exports instantly but over time as coal exports contract in an orderly fashion – as they will. If they do not contract, if countries which burn coal to meet demand for electricity do not adopt clean energy alternatives, then CO2 emissions will rise and so will average global temperature with the result that the incidence of extreme climate events will also rise.

That is well known, though as a good climate change denier, Cheryl and a dwindling number of like-minded people, would doubtless argue that a little bit more CO2 is neither here-nor-there, will not adversely affect climate and that continued economic prosperity is more important. Science tells us that continued burning of fossil fuels will have a warming effect and climate scientists warn that this will not only result in dangerous climate change but ocean acidification, sea level rise and reduced ability of our species to survive.

It is valid to ask: if the coal industry contracts what will happen to those who loose their jobs as a result? The answer of course is that we have a diverse economy and people will seek other forms of employment. Likewise, would be investors in coal will seek to invest in the most profitable alternatives. Governments of course earn a lot of revenue from coal but they too will find ways of replacing tax lost from contraction of the coal industry by taxing something else.

The dichotomy between Australian government policy and practice does need to be addressed and an obvious way of doing so is to persuade nations which import and burn our coal to switch to renewable forms of energy. Moves in that direction have begun and will gather pace because the alternative is carbon pollution which will make much of the world uninhabitable and destroy the very things we strive for.

Coal exports, hmm.
Turn them off, hmm.
Now where is that tap?
I mean, turn them off, it has to be dead simple, or just like turning off a tap?
No?
It's simply not that simple!
Contracts already written, billions already invested.
Humungus taxpayer funds already spent in/on massive port and infrastructure development!
Cashed up lobbyists, with almost endless election funds to dispense?
If we elected a green govt next election, what might change?
A moratorium on new coal development perhaps?
Will that help?
No!
Our Asian customers will simply start buying their coal from places like Mongolia, where the cost of labour. coal and transport are so much cheaper!
As that occurs, our own returns will likely diminish, as will tax receipts!
Including our total coal exports, we still only contribute 4.8% to total global greenhouse emission!
We are not the problem, nor are our exports.
If the biggest global polluters, China, America, and India keep polluting, nothing we do here will help!
If places like Brazil and Indonesia keep on knocking down a football field of rainforest daily, nothing we do will help!
Nor will preaching to the already converted.
And simply destroying our own modest economy, won't help one iota, unless you consider increased break and enter crime, homelessness and legal/illegal tree felling for fuel, some sort of improvement!
There are solutions, but they ain't solar voltaic or wind power!
They are however, ones that will walk out the door, and or, put huge downward pressure on the four trillion a year fossil fuel bottom line!
And nowhere in the world do we see any politicians, with enough testicular fortitude to take on that fight!?
Might as well whistle in the wind!
Rhrosty.

Ben seems to have forgotten that the world has moved on from the AGW fraud.

While the IPCC makes a feeble last ditch stand with its allegation that it is “almost certain” that human emissions contribute to climate change, the real world shows otherwise.

There is no scientifically measurable effect of human emissions on climate. As when the Minister for Lies About Sea Levels, Greg Combet urinates in the ocean adjoining his waterfront home, we know he has polluted the ocean, but it is trivial, and not measurable.

The developed countries, including Australia, absorb more CO2 than they emit.

The increase in CO2 in the atmosphere is not attributable to human emissions.

Contrary to the predictions of the Fraud Backers, increased CO2 has not resulted in increased warming. There has been no increase in warming of the globe for the past 16 years.

The increased CO2 in the atmosphere has resulted in record crops. Because of the AGW Fraud, governments have subsidised the use of arable land for crops to produce bio-fuel. This has resulted in a world famine, which the UN has called a “crime against humanity”.

Who instigated this crime? The UN, by promoting the AGW Fraud, through its puppet, the IPCC.

God these activists are disgusting cherry pickers, aren't they?

I even notice some of the so called scientists activists are claiming cold is hot. With most of Europe frozen solid, that are claiming that is global warming too.

It is almost fun to watch these fools doing their impersonation of a chook, that just had it's head cut off.

Surely, the correct address for dealing with the nonexistent problem of coal and its nonexistent contribution to a global warming that hasn't even shown its face for 16 years would have to be "to Santa, C/- The North Pole"

There, Ben, the problem has been addressed. Now get a job.