Feel pain but no gain from boom
THE mining boom in Queensland might be big but it certainly isn’t broad. While the mining industry tries to suggest otherwise, the simple fact is millions of Queenslanders bear the pain of the mining boom without receiving any of the gain. Yes, the mining industry employs people and yes, they spend some of their money in local shops and yes, the mining companies even pay some tax, but that does not mean the average Queenslander is benefiting from the boom.
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
Fossil fuel subsidies
When governments subsidise fossil fuels—coal, gas, diesel, petrol—they not only waste public money, they also make climate change worse. Subsidies and tax breaks make fossil fuels cheaper, making it harder to switch to renewable energy and cleaner technologies. Ending fossil fuel subsidies is common sense and good policy.
New figures show capital gains now outstrip wages – and yet mostly they go to the rich and untaxed
The latest figures on Australian wealth reveal that inequality is being driven by capital gains that overwhelmingly go to the wealthiest and are mostly untaxed.
The mining industry is the biggest whinger in the country
The mining industry is now surely the biggest whinger in the Australian economy. This week it launched an all-out assault on the federal government at Minerals Week in Canberra, with chief executive of the mining industry’s chief lobby group the Minerals Council, Tania Constable, warning the government: “Undermine it at your peril.” Relative to its