cont'd ...

Our future lies not in raping the country but
educating our future generations in modern
technology, scientific development, research
and innovation,
which will build our nation for the future and
not stagnate in the past. Mining is a finite
resource which will not last forever and we need
to look for other ways to guarantee our survival.
We need long term solutions, not short temporary
ones. With mining - a few people in Queensland may
have jobs but what about the rest of the country?
Or are we to dig up everything.

PS: Dreams have been built in grass huts. At least
with a grass hut - you get clear blue skies, fresh
clean water, beautiful forests and grasslands, and
the preservation of native habitats - instead of
pollution, desolation, water contamination, destruction
of native habitats, and a big hole in the ground.

So you really want more mining. And the money going to
foreigners overseas.

Go figure.

ttbn,

I did mention politicians, my wife's extended family boasts three current ones and a number who have retired, as well as a couple of ranking policemen (reticent), a couple of outspoken priests and some very quiet nuns as well as farmers.
I was last in India this time last year and am going again next year.

Have a read here, not perfect but a reasonable coverage.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/sep/15/public-interest-lawsuit-filed-in-india-calling-for-investigation-into-adani-group

Dear Hasbeen,

What bloody drivel.

Manufacturing and services exports result in far more dollars into Australian worker's pockets than mining. For every million dollars of mining revenue earned there are 5 times the number of workers involved in earning a million from exporting Australian manufacturing goods and services.

If you are going to have your weekly whinge perhaps getting your facts right first might be in order. I must admit though I do get mightily sick of you constantly talking down this country and its workers. Perhaps you should give it a break sometimes.

Are you really that stupid Steely? It really doesn't matter how much monopoly money workers have in their pocket, if we don't have the foreign exchange to pay for our imports, they stop coming.

I know ratbag greens still like to believe in cargo cult, but like the Solomon islanders, they are going to be sadly disappointed in that belief. The world doesn't owe us a living, & if we don't earn the foreign exchange, they will stop sending all that lovely stuff.

Foxy sweetie, you do need to get out a bit more. Queensland is a pretty big place. It is almost 8 times the size of little Victoria. We actually have room for a few holes.

The reef is 1500 miles long, room for a couple of wharfs & some tourist destinations as well. Much of it is so far off shore that you can't see the land, let alone any wharfs.

As for agriculture, it's just about shot. Industrial agriculture can still make a quid from Wheat & cotton in favoured areas, but for most of it, forget it.

Even a Vietnamese family on 20 acres of the best river flat country gave up trying to make a living from small crops after 5 years of incredibly hard work. They bought a couple of trucks, & are doing well, with much less work. They found that in today's Australia, owning your own farm is more nightmare than dream.

My cross river neighbour has given up trying to keep his 10,000 acre paddock productive. Over 20 years his carrying capacity has dropped from a beast to 4 acres to one to 9 acres, when he could not get a permit to clear a woody weed invasion of his improved pasture. The last straw was the 8 kilometres of fencing washed away in our last flood. That's another 2 years profit gone.
Continued

Continued
My other neighbour finally managed to earn enough to pay for his kids education & build them a house each by subdividing 300 acres into rural residential blocks.

We are down from 10 to our last dairy farmer, & he is finding it pretty hard. We might as well dig holes in the paddocks, at least it will reduce the area of noxious ferrel weeds we have to control, that city gardeners have imported to take over our grazing.

Foxy writes:

“So you really want more mining. And the money going to
foreigners overseas.

Go figure.”

Well, Australia’s largest export earner is iron ore. The second largest earner is coal.
Mining our abundant resources represents over half of our export income, and even though we’re coming off a boom, that’s still very significant.

But it’s true to say there aren’t a lot of jobs in mining. It’s the nature of the beast and mining has never been a large employer. The public service would outnumber miners many times over and how much net wealth do they produce . .

But if you want to dream about grass huts and no pollution, that’s precisely why the Indians are looking to buy our coal.
There’s 300 million Indians who don’t enjoy living in grass huts and suffer the health impacts of indoor pollution cooking over an open fire fuelled by cow dung with no running water or modern sanitation we take for granted every day.

They want cheap electricity just like we do, so I’d wager they’d be more than willing to swap places so you could fulfil your dream.