December 2014
Mrs. Gina Rinehart
Australian Resources and Investment, vol.8 no.4
Mining is our largest earner of export income generating more than $200 billion in much needed revenue for this country. It provides jobs directly for approximately a quarter of a million Australians in places where there may otherwise not be work. But of course direct employment is only a small part of the story. Mining also creates employment for people in related industries – an estimated one million people in many related industries, and then more in service and other industries who partly work for mining and related industries.
Take it away and Australia would be a very different place, with a much lower standard of living. It would also be a country unable to provide even today’s inadequate level of support for hospitals and current medical equipment, our increasing proportion of elderly, or for our internal or external defence or necessary public infrastructure upgrades. We need our mining and related industries to help pay for all of this.
For an industry that delivers so much, you would think that there would be a little more appreciation in Australia for what the industry provides. In my travels in Asia, this is much better understood. They would love to have the benefits and high living standards we enjoy from our mining and related industries.
They don’t understand the rationality behind us making it so hard for us to compete internationally. However, they do understand that you need to make money before you can spend it!
The industry’s greatest opponents, the far-left Green movement, don’t ever point out how they’d keep Australia going with all the products that owe their existence to mining – and that’s just about everything. Even the service industries rely upon things that use minerals and/or coal. And where would they find the tax revenue that mining provides? Their hands aren’t up saying they will provide sustainable replacement jobs, which don’t rely upon the overburdened taxpayer to fund. They just negatively attack those who invest, work hard and provide revenue, and jobs and opportunities. I fail to see how this negativity benefits our country.
To read the full article, click: Mining_Australia’s_Most_Important_Industry
Courtesy of Australian Resources and Investment