By Phil Gorman
Let the facts speak for themselves.
Queensland’s workforce
- 2.36 million people are employed in Queensland.
- The tourist industry directly or indirectly employs 217,000 Queenslanders.
- Coal mining directly or indirectly employs around 20,000 Queenslanders.
- Adani’s mine would directly or indirectly create about 1,500 jobs.
Tourism
Key state government statistics reveal that, “The tourist industry directly and indirectly employs 217,000 Queenslanders – or 9.1% of all people employed in Queensland.
Tourism contributes $12.8 billion directly to the Queensland economy, accounting for 3.9% of Queensland’s gross state product (GSP).
“The industry indirectly contributes an additional $12.5 billion to the state’s economy, making the total contribution $25 billion, or 7.8% of total Queensland GSP.” (i)
Coal mining
- Coal mining employs less than 1 percent of Queensland’s workers. (ii)
- From a high point of 30,000 in 2013 coal mining currently employs around 20,000 people.
- All mining (coal, gas and other resources) are projected to shed 7,400 jobs by 2020.
- The Carmichael Mine would create only 1,500 new jobs.
- The Carmichael Mine would mean an unknown number of job losses in other industries.
According to Commonwealth Department of Employment projections Australia’s coal miners will cut their workforce by a further 21 percent by the end of 2020.
The Australia Institute’s “Facts on jobs, and coal in Queensland” shows, “The coal industry has always been a minor employer in Queensland. At its peak it employed fewer people than the arts and recreation industry, but in recent years it has shrunk further, shedding 10,000 jobs in Queensland and now representing less than 1 percent of the state’s workforce.”
Coal industry lobbyists and the Murdoch media unduly influence most politicians and misinform the people. Despite the industry’s increasing displacement of workers with new technology many Queensland voters still believe the “jobs, jobs, jobs” propaganda. Declining investment has already meant a 35% cut in the coal workforce.
At the same time Queensland has experienced a growth in employment. “This is a practical demonstration of the fact that jobs and growth come from a broader range of industries, in particular health, education and services,” Executive Director of The Australia Institute, Ben Oquist said.
Adani: impacts, lies, boasts and damned lies
Adani has an international history of flouting the law, of bribery, corruption and ignoring its environmental commitments. It has created environmental havoc abroad without redress. It has already ignored the interests and desires of many local Aboriginal people.
The Carmichael Mine would destroy local ecosystems, including the habitat of a rare finch. It would accelerate global warming, spreading coral die-off on the Great Barrier Reef. This threatens Queensland’s tourist industry. Any damage to local ecosystems and water tables can have wide ranging consequences for agricultural, pastoral and fishing industries. These impacts have yet to be fully accounted for by Adani’s researchers.
Despite continuing reservations expressed by the CSIRO and Geoscience Australia the government has pushed through another environmental permit to placate the Queensland right in the elections.
In 2015 Adani’s economic adviser, Jerome Fahrer of ACIL Allen consulting, told the Queensland Land Court, “Over the life of the Project it is projected that on average around 1,464 employee years of full time equivalent direct and indirect jobs will be created”.
These job projections would include Adani’s own employees and indirect job creation flowing from the economic benefits to local business. (iii)
Under oath Mr Fahrer was forced to reject Adani’s claim of 10,000 direct and indirect jobs being created by its mining operation over the projected lifetime of the Carmichael Mine. He said; “It’s not many jobs. We can agree on that.”
At the 2017 Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit, Adani Mining CEO Jeyakumar Janakaraju, boasted that the operation is to be fully automated. “When we ramp up the mine, everything will be autonomous, from mine to port. In our eyes this is the mine of the future.”
Adani and its loyal proponents still falsely claim that 10,000 direct and indirect jobs will be created by its mining operation over the projected lifetime of the Carmichael Mine.
The undue influence of the extractive industries in this country has corrupted due process and distorted the economy. It has led to massive environmental damage, accelerated global warming and undermined the public good. It is to be hoped that the new Commonwealth Government will put the environmental and public good first for a change.
Adani must be stopped. This would be a first step towards restoring a degree of trust in our democratic institutions.
Sources
i Queensland Bureau of Statistics: Key Torim Statistics 2018 https://www.qld.gov.au/Key tourism statistics
ii Australia Institute “Facts on jobs, and coal in Queensland”. ABS Cat no. 6291.0.55.001 – Labour Force, Australia, Detailed, 2 ABS Cat no. 6202.0 – Labour Force, Australia,3 Department of Employment (2016) 2016 Industry Employment Projections – five years to November 2020, 4 Department of Employment (2016) Regional.
iii Adani sticks with 10,000 jobs lie. Leith van Onslen in Macrobusiness, 2018-02-07, Unconventional Economist in Australian Economy.
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