The Australia Institute’s Confused Relationship With Coal Continues

“

The Australia Institute (TAI) seem confused as to whether they support coal mining in NSW or not.

Today, TAI has claimed that a proposed Queensland coal mine will hurt the NSW economy by reducing coal mining royalties and impact jobs, through potential mine closures in this state.

In the ‘research paper’ Royalty Flush released today, TAI states: “The Galilee Basin represents a threat to NSW coal royalties, potentially costing the state hundreds of millions per year through reduced royalty revenue. These risks should be fully and transparently assessed by NSW Treasury and Department of Industry to enable NSW representatives to protect the interests of their state.”

However, in a previous ‘report’ released in August 2016 entitled Never Gonna Dig You Up, TAI claimed that phasing out coal mining would have very little impact on NSW. The report claimed that the coal industry ‘accounts for a small portion of government revenues’ and upon releasing the paper, TAI spokesperson, Rod Campbell stated: “Our modelling shows that the NSW economy would not be affected at all in the short term…”

So which is it TAI? Is coal important to the NSW economy or isn’t it? This embarrassing flip-flop shows that TAI will do and say anything to talk down NSW mining and the jobs it provides, even if they don’t really know what they actually stand for.

It also shows that when it comes to TAI and economic credibility, you just can’t take them seriously.

Contact: Harry Stutchbury