Australia's economy dependent upon extraction of minerals

An article "Axing AWAs to hit resources" in the Business section of the Courier Mail on 21 June 2006 Terry McCann, is frightening for those of us who worry about the future of the planet and the threat that is posed to it by the rapidly increasing rate at which Australia is digging up and exporting its finite endowment of non-renewable mineral resources. This article in itself probably only restates what has been said many times befor and since in business reporting but it bears repeating here. The article takes aim at Kim Beazley for his promise to axe all Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs), the abolition of which he maintains would destroy the economic viability of Australia's minerals resources industry. Abolition of AWAs, he maintains would remove "the industrial relations flexibility and the productivity of mining and minerals processing workforce." McCrann argues that "our basic viability as a broad harmonious society" depends upon minerals resources industry. Whilst this may not be news to everyone, the fact that our "society's basic viability" depends upon the extraction of non-renewable resources, which now imperils the whole planet should be an alarming and sobering to those who had been led to believe that the economic neo-liberal revolution of recent decades was the path to lasting propserity. Whilst some Australians may have achieved prosperity, our economic independance and long term sustainabiity appears to have been lost. We no longer have a viable manufacturing sector. As an example, the last electronics manufacturing firm was closed down earlier this year. John Howard closed down our only domestic computer manufacturing plant soon after winning Government in 1996. We now are dependant upon foreign countries for virtually all manufactured artefacts except for some makes of cars which are still produced domestically. To earn export dollars in order to buy these necessities we have to dig up and export our finite reserves of non-renewable mineral wealth, despoiling ever greater regions of our own country and fueling global warming in the process. McCrann writes, "We already have a $50 billion plus annual current account deficit. And that's after earning nearly $85 billion a year in export income from resources and processed products." He asks, "Do we sincerely want to become the next Argentina or Romania?", which he maintains will occur if Kim Beazley carries thorugh his promise to abolish AWAs. It would seem that we already are. The fact that some Australians are in a position to squander the mineral wealth that rightly belongs to all generations of Australians and not just this one does nothing to change this. The concluding paragrpah states, "We could easily double our export resources over the next few years - reaping all the benefit, with very little additional effort" if only we invested the necessary money and retained AWAs. The word 'easily' sums up just about all that has happened in the Australian economy in recent decades. Those in control of the nations's wealth have chosen only the 'easy' path to increase their ill-gotten gains, with no concern about the loss of this country's economic independence of for the planet's future. The harder path of maintaining a domestic manufacturing sector and a viable sustainable food production sector which offers rewarding and well-paid occupations to all Australian workers, rather than just small numbers of relatively privileged workers, in the mining industry has been eschewed by those in control of our country's economic agenda.

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Sure, the Australian Government is riding on the coal wagon, at present. Farming is knocked for a six with the drought. Took a while for the townies to wake up that the dams were getting lower & lower. I refused to sell up & leave, even if the busy little social workers worked on my friends & associates to nag me into believing I was usless and getting febbler by the day, on my death bed practically, but what better place to die than among your friends & family. Asking rents are up to $680.00 I read a few weeks back for a simple 4 bedroom miners cottage that would be six dollars a week back in mid 1970's even before the treasurer of the day put a tax on the sub. housing. Then there was the 10 weeks strike. My daughter who lives on the land, [where some of the dams have already dried up] informs me that she is really surrounded by mines, and if they say they want their land to mine, you are forced to sell, at acceptable price, as it is too dangerous to stay. Australia is no better than the Congo, or any other place that International Big Business says, "I want," and takes. Costello has said, China & India want our low ash burning coal, and if you do not oblige, they will just take.. I quit with onlineopinion as management removed a comment of mine, and I so strongly believed in what I was saying, best way was out..

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