Coal industry: Jobs spin holding back progress in Australia

However, as cringeworthy as our representation at the UN Climate Change Conference was, I don't think this result surprised anyone.

Perhaps the perfect summation of our climate performance came on Monday morning when Senator Matt Canavan declared the Glasgow climate summit a "great result" for the Australian coal industry, stating: "Given the fact that the agreement did not say that coal needs to be phased down or taken out, it is a green light for us to build more coal mines."

The NSW Minerals Council released figures in August that showed coal continues to be NSW's largest export earner, bringing in around $16billion in exports in the 2020-2021 year for the state, as well as $1.6billion in royalties to the NSW government, and fossil fuels accounted for approximately 76 per cent of Australia's electricity generation in 2020.

Climate change is a contentious topic of conversation for people who rely on coal for their livelihoods - not just for the states, but for the workers.

I come from mining stock, myself. My grandfather was a coal miner. My great grandfather was a coal miner. Even my husband was a coal miner and I used to be a recruiter for the coal mining industry. I understand first-hand the panic felt (literally) at the coal face of this issue and it's a stress-point that our government seems to enjoy jumping up and down on as it resists international pressure to commit to net zero emissions in our lifetimes, spouting apparent concern for the frontline workers: what about the jobs? Won't somebody please, think of the children?!

However, mining jobs have never been secure. Especially coal mining jobs. The industry is heavily casualised in the Hunter Valley and those without a much-coveted permanent job, find themselves not working - and not paid - when it's raining, when it's foggy, when it's too noisy, and the labour needs of the mine fluctuate with demand, so a casual operator could find themselves without a job without notice. Furthermore, automation is reducing operational jobs in the industry, with Western Australian iron ore mines using autonomous drilling and haulage, and companies marketing the same automation technology to coal companies. While mining pays well (when you get the hours), it's far from ideal, secure work.

Industry transition is not new. We've seen the death of industries and the emergence of new technology and sectors throughout the industrial age, and we've adapted. The emergence of the motor car for example, changed demand for blacksmiths, farriers and grooms, not to mention wagons and carriages, and trains minimised the need for stagecoaches. Change is the cornerstone of progress, and yet our government seems hellbent on holding us back, giving us saddle sores as they force us to stay on horseback while the rest of the world zooms into the future in their electric cars.

If it's the people losing work that is the true source of concern, it's important to acknowledge that jobs in fossil fuel industries only account for 1 per cent of jobs in Australia and this share has been on a declining trajectory over recent years.

A report by Dr Jim Stanford published in December 2020 through The Centre for Future Work at the Australia Institute, Employment Aspects of the Transition from Fossil Fuels in Australia, has concluded that the capital-intensive nature of the fossil fuel industries means that they "produce far fewer direct jobs for any given level of output than other sectors," thus Dr Stanford points out that "if the goal is genuinely to create and sustain employment, fossil fuel production is one of the worst ways to go about it."

Dr Stanford outlines eight key principles for supporting a transition away from fossil fuels in this report, with examples from around the world demonstrating how it can be done successfully. Thus the problem of industry transition for jobs is a problem that can be addressed, with support provided to the people and communities affected.

However, it seems that the loss of employment is really just a PR cover-story that sounds better than "won't somebody think of our corporate sponsors?"

Afterall, how good is global embarrassment while holding a lump of coal?