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March 19, 2012
I've been photographing in and around Queenstown Tasmania for the past week or so and the postings on junk code have been non-existent. As I haven't had time to read the newspapers online because I've mostly been out on location, I'm kinda out of touch with the various events in the Canberra beltway.
Queenstown, and the south-west of Tasmania in general, is still about mining. Development is mining. Despite the growing tourism, the world from Queenstown is seen through the eyes of the mining industry. Hence the mining tax becoming law is what is significant.
It is taken for granted that the mineral resources rent tax would dent investment in resource development and damage the mining industry. What is is interesting is that the resources boom appears to have little economic impact on Queenstown---the wealth is not being spread around.
The town remains depressed. It desperately needs investment in regional development and skills. There is little investment coming from the state government. So the way the proceeds from minerals resource rent tax (MRRT) will be used with respect to infrastructure investment is crucially important.
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Australia is expanding coal mining at an unprecedented rate.
The rhetoric from old Australia is that If you stop the coal exports, or reduce our reliance on fossil fuel for energy, then the lights will go out, Australia will suffer from a depression, and the population will suffer from starvation.