Joel Fitzgibbon: "When people start talking about closing down, if you like, the coal mining industry, they’ve got to think not only about the thousands who work in the industry but the very, very many manufacturing industries in the Hunter Valley that feed the coal mining industry. We’re now talking of tens of thousands of people, and of course it’s not just restricted to the Hunter. Many people in our capital cities are also indirectly employed by the coal mining industry. And people don’t appreciate the community contribution. You go to watch the footy in the Hunter Valley and you’ll see Extrada, Rio Tinto, BHP on the strip. You go to the schools and see a new building, a new canteen, for example, paid for by one of the coal mining industries. Everywhere I go on a daily basis I find the coal companies making a contribution in our local communities."

Categories: Australia Energy Issues, Coal in Australia, Economy, Jobs
Author: The Hon Joel Fitzgibbon MP