The NSW Minerals Council is out spruiking the benefits of the mining industry in the Hunter region in a new economic study. Using the same old tricks to inflate their numbers and ignoring any economic downside they manage to spin the result into a rosy picture that reaches the epic proportions of claiming that the mining industry is responsible for a quarter of the economic output of the Hunter region. The Minerals Council has said mining companies spent $4.6billion on wages, goods and services and community contributions in the Hunter in 2011-12. They go on to claim that this figure can be increased to $9.3billion when indirect spending is taken into account. But indirect spending is simply an economic sleight of hand employed by industries that can afford to pay economic consulting firms to inflate their numbers.
Related documents
Between the Lines Newsletter
The biggest stories and the best analysis from the team at the Australia Institute, delivered to your inbox every fortnight.
You might also like
Donald Trump cannot make the Epstein files go away. Will this be the story that brings him down?
Conspiracy theories are funny things. The most enduring ones usually take hold for two reasons: first, because there’s some grain of truth to them, and second, because they speak to foundational historical divisions. The theories morph and change, distorting the grain of truth at their centre beyond reality. In the process, they reinforce and deepen
Ensuring workers’ safety in the climate crisis
As I watched the fires in Los Angeles unfold in January this year, my mind of course reflected on the 1999-2000 Black Summer bushfires in Australia. Both these seasons have wrought significant damage to humans and other animals, and to land, infrastructure and property. There has been a huge personal, collective and financial toll involved.
What have the scientists ever done for us?
Australian scientific discoveries have improved people’s lives and made the economy more productive – so why is the CSIRO being forced to shed workers again?