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If you could get those millennials off their devices for a few minutes and stop them preening their beards and admiring their designer tattoos, you might be able to convince them that over-zealous environmental regulators are actually doing them out of high-paying coal mining jobs.
This week we learnt the NSW Department of Environment and Planning has handballed the decision over the Rocky Hill coal mine project near Gloucester over to the PAC after roundly rejecting an amended proposal for the open cut coal mine.
Hogsback is not a gambling man but he thinks it a sure bet the PAC will never contradict the DPE if the DPE seeks to reject a coal mining project.
If that proves to be the case, it will mean another coal mining project in regional NSW will bite the dust, denying many people in Gloucester and the surrounding districts employment and business opportunities.
Young people with few skills seeking to make a decent living and earn enough to put a deposit on an overpriced home will be denied that opportunity because the aesthetics of coal mines do not quite fit in with the cultural streetscape of the town.
We’ve heard these arguments before when Anglo American’s proposal to extend Drayton South was knocked on the head by the PAC after nearby billionaire horse stud owners claimed coal mines would clash with their manicured lawns.
Other states in Australia that have a fairer attitude to mine developments are enjoying the benefits of a mining industry hitting its stride again.
The mining, resources and energy industry has, for the ninth consecutive month, taken top spot for annual growth in job ads on Seek, up 60% year-on-year this September.
Most demand for workers on Seek this September were mining engineering & maintenance, mining operations, and health, safety & environment.
It would be a shame for a whole generation of NSW workers to miss out on the benefits of a viable coal mining industry to satisfy the ideological posturing of minor parties such as the Greens which is calling for a stop to new coal mines in the state.
