Last week, the former NSW Treasurer and Minister for the Hunter Michael Costa attacked current Opposition Leader John Robertson for his comments suggesting the Labor Party was planning to phase out coal mining. Mr Costa labeled the move a betrayal of the party’s traditional voters. Michael Costa’s concern for the jobs of devout Labor voters is very selective. Where has he been for the past decade while the mining boom was decimating jobs in manufacturing? And what about the hundreds of local jobs the coal industry is already shedding?
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