Yes P, but these jobs are only for the construction phase and, once finished, what then.

These projects, although not directly effects by the MRRT, were instigated prior to any talk of such taxes ad, given that tax has to be on the agenda of any future government, any forthcoming ventures will be very cautiously viewed.

Furthermore, mining is very close to running their mines with mechanical operators, another huge worry as this technology has been driven largely by the uncertainty caused by the labor government.

Now we can all dream on as much as we like, however, the stark reality is, we are screwed and I will bet it will take some type of miracle for us to not be in complete dire straights within the next ten to twenty years.

Now if you don't agree, I suggest you cast your mind back to where we were just six years ago, and where we are today.

<< Luddy you've got no chance of getting that up old mate. Particularly as you think labor. >>

Yes Haz, especially under Rudd.

But under Gillard, or Carr, it could have worked.

The key thing about it is how much it would potentially have appealed to the voters.

A new way, based on the immediate large-scale lowering of immigration and sold as the first move towards a sustainable nation, in which we would be able to steadily improve our infrastructure and services instead of forever duplicating them for more people, would have gone down very well.

It could easily have been sold in a manner that would have garnered huge support.

I don’t think that it as politically untenable as you make out. And indeed it will have to happen sooner or later.

I agree Ludwig. A sustainable economy is not just desirable it is inevitable.
The only question is do we get there with planning or does Mother Nature
force it upon us ?

There is no new way! We would do much better to return to the regulations of the Bretton Woods era which provided 45 years of global economic stability and growth which remains unprecedented in history.

When Australia de-regulated its economy, thanks to Hawke, Keating and Howard they joined us to the resurgence of the global freedoms which led to the 1930's depression and which have historically always underpinned the boom and bust cycles which have bedevilled capitalism.

We do not need constant reform, what we do need is for government to re-establish the control mechanisms which can isolate us from the instability of the current global economic dynamic.

Currently our political leaders are powerless in the face of the enormous financial power of the huge transnational corporations. The rhetoric of either Abbot or Rudd will make no difference to the country, they are merely arguing over which way to handle a contracting economy over which they have little control and are utterly powerless to improve.

Our politicians seem blindsided in the belief that we now have a modern economy; they are wrong! we have merely been sucked in by the repackaging of a worn-out and historically disproven economic model.

Our workforce has been undermined by the influx of cheaper product, our tax base has shrunk, our social security bill has blown out and we cry out for foreign investors to give us the crumbs from their table. We are being gouged by the resources sector and bled to death in the retail sector.

When we see a few of our politicians acknowledging some of these simple truths then we might have cause to hope. In the meanwhile with Rudd we'll get much of the same and with Abbot probably a bit of austerity, take your choice.
Den71

There will be no real employment growth in Australia until we throw up the tariff barriers and slow down the imports. Block the bogie work and study visas and give our kids the jobs they deserve.Until we get back to manufacturing and making things here in Australia and that will never happen while we have union dominated governments.
Get rid of the foreign owned cash economy and reintroduce Australian history and heritage back into the school system.

Rechub,
It is not just the mining itself being automatedit is even the
big dump trucks that are often featured.
They will be removing the drivers.
They are almost ready to make them driverless.
The whole operation from digging it up to loading the ship will be
controlled by the site computer and overseen and programmed from an
office in Perth.

We will get back to local manufacturing either by being forced into it
by the cost of energy making imports too expensive or we restrict
imports deliberatly to encourage local manufacture because we manage
to convince the politicians that there really is a sustainabilty problem.

There already is a very significant movement in the US for "Insourcing" as they call it.
A little while back there was a BBC TV series on "Insourcing" in the US.

For exactly the same reasons we could expect the same to happen here,
but the government will have to improve the IR from the employers view.

I don't know how many of those here saw Dickie's $10 a litre on
ABC TV. He only got one thing wrong, it was never about running out
of oil, it was only ever about the maximum level ever of production.
All the new oil is expensive up to $90 per barrel.
As it is mixed with a declining amount of cheap oil prices must rise.
It will affect mundine things like food and whether a new Sydney airport is justified.

It is already affecting me in visiting my son & family in Melbourne.
The car is more expensive still and the train slightly cheaper.
I think the train fare will rise more slowly than the air fare.
The rise in video conferencing will affect business travel also.

These are just a few of the sustainabilty areas to which Ludwig refers.