Australia seems to have had an irrational exuberance about the mining industry ever since the colonial gold rush days. There seems to be little appetite for asking 'what if' questions. What if the Chinese bubble bursts? What if there are severe restrictions on using coal for electricity or steel smelting? Where will future generations find rich near-surface mineral deposits? No doubt there will be an influx of migrant workers to build the offshore gas wells and associated infrastructure. What happens to these migrants and their families when the work is completed? I strongly suggest that urban youth in Australia's eastern cities be trained for these jobs as they are already in the system.

While some minerals may never run short other resources like water, phosphate and oil are already showing signs of strain. That will place a check on what seems like insatiable demand for commodities like iron ore and gas. So here's the next question; what happens then?

I doubt whether Sarah would be sitting in her air conditioned comfortable office if it was not for the Mining boom. Aboriginals have received more money than most would want to believe through Government hand outs due largely to mining. Their poverty has nothing to do with lack of opportunities or resources. It has everything to do with a totally dysfunctional way of life.

It is not rocket science to work out where Yamatji Marlpa Aboriginal Corporation (YMAC) get their funding. It certainly does not come out of thin air.

It's true that not everyone benefits equally from the mining boom, and some may not benefit at all. But that doesn't mean that it's a bad thing.

On balance, economic wefare measures for WA - unemployment rates, employment growth, average earnings, private consumption, government spending etc - have been better than the national average in recent years, and the mining boom is largely responsible

Is that what private enterprise is all about. Some of you people want the best of both worlds. Limit mining because it may be no good for your health. Or let mining go full boar because it is good for the economy. If we don't sell it some other country will.
Do you want como rule or free enterprise.

poverty has nothing to do with lack of opportunities or resources. It has everything to do with a totally dysfunctional way of life.
Runner,
careful, you're risking being branded for stating fact.

Sarah Burnside asks "Do we really expect mining companies - whose primary purpose is the generation of wealth for their shareholders - to further an egalitarian state or “solve” ongoing post-colonial problems, without some kind of regulatory nudge in the right direction?"

Yes this identifies the problem very precisely. It is not the mining industry as such that is the issue. It is the lack of government regulations to push the industry to take on a more social role. The government is there to serve the people not the mining industry. They seem to need to be reminded of that.

There are benefits of mining - although with global warming these may be more questionable now. The real question however that Sarah fingers is that of distribution. The market is simply not concerned about issues of distribution - that is the job of governments. They seem to have forgotten that.

We also see the influence of the mining industries in our universities and at two levels. First these are increasingly becoming training grounds for the industry and thereby distorting priorities both in teaching and research. Second with money from the mining industry helping to prop up WA universities, how possible is it for WA academics to use their academic freedom to take part in reasoned open debate about the pluses and minuses of the mining industry?

Gavin Mooney