The role of mining in the Australian economy

Australia is a resource-dependent economy. The performance of the mining sector affects all Australians either directly, for example, through employment and share ownership, or indirectly, through capital investment and tax revenue. Australia is a global leader in the extraction and export of a range of key minerals, and its relationship with the growing Chinese economy places it in a favourable position for future economic growth. However, the Australian mining industry faces a number of challenges as it seeks to realise the potential which the country's endowment of mineral wealth offers; these challenges range from economic factors such as commodity prices and terms of trade, resource availability, the determination of the economic rent which the sector earns and its subsequent redistribution, to environmental factors including government policy on carbon pricing. How these challenges are tackled will affect the Australian mining industry's competitive position in the global economy. The performance of the mining sector affects the performance of other sectors of the economy through its influence on exchange rates and its demand for scarce resources within the economy; these influences form part of the debate on Australia's so-called 'two-speed economy' or 'Dutch Disease'. The management of Australian economic policy, whether it is the government managing fiscal policy or the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) managing monetary policy, must be grounded on a deep understanding of the current and historical performance of the Australian mining industry and assumptions about future prospects and their key drivers. The second section of this chapter will be a descriptive analysis which examines the direct impact of the mining sector on the Australian economy via its effect on such variables as exports, the current account deficit, investment, the exchange rate and the terms of trade. It also considers the role of the mining industry during the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). The third section presents a simple econometric model of the Australian economy which takes account of the indirect as well as the direct effects of mining in the Australian economy. It illustrates the ubiquity of commodity prices in driving the Australian economy. The fourth section discusses the proposed Mineral Resource Tax and its possible effects on the mining industry

The regulation and impact of eight Australian coal mine waste water discharges on downstream river water quality: a regional comparison of active versus closed mines

Water quality of rivers that received coal mine wastes from four active and three closed mines were investigated, focusing on ecologically hazardous pollutants. Zinc and nickel concentrations were highest downstream of two closed mines, particularly from the Canyon mine that closed 20 years earlier. Coal mine wastes increased nickel concentrations in waterways by an average of 25 times. The average concentration of zinc increased below mines waste discharges from 8.6 µg/L (upstream) to 83.4 µg/L (downstream). All coal mine discharges increased river salinity. Salinity increased by more than 6 times (upstream mean 101.4–741.7 µS/cm downstream). This study provides a reminder that water pollution from coal mines is a major environmental issue for both active and closed mines. The study highlights the need for more stringent and consistent environmental regulation for all mines, including key hazardous pollutants from wastes emerging from both active and closed mines

The logic of collective action and Australia's climate policy *

We analyse the long-term efficiency of the emissions target and of the provisions to reduce carbon leakage in the Australian Government's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, as proposed in March 2009, and the nature and likely cause of changes to these features in the previous year. The target range of 5-15 per cent cuts in national emission entitlements during 2000-2020 was weak, in that on balance it is too low to minimise Australia's long-term mitigation costs. The free allocation of output-linked, tradable emissions permits to emissions-intensive, trade-exposed (EITE) sectors was much higher than proposed earlier, or shown to be needed to deal with carbon leakage. It plausibly means that EITE emissions can rise by 13 per cent during 2010-2020, while non-EITE sectors must cut emissions by 34-51 per cent (or make equivalent permit imports) to meet the national targets proposed, far from a cost-effective outcome. The weak targets and excessive EITE assistance illustrate the efficiency-damaging power of collective action by the 'carbon lobby'. Resisting this requires new national or international institutions to assess lobby claims impartially, and more government publicity about the true economic importance of carbon-intensive sectors. Copyright 2010 The Authors. Journal compilation 2010 Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Inc. and Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

Eco-Justice and destructive mining in Australia: lessons from the New South Wales land and environmental court

Green Criminology refers to criminological research and scholarshipcomprised of a number of distinct theoretical approaches that collectivelydeal with environmental and animal rights issues. As a whole,green criminology focuses on the nature and dynamics of environmentalcrimes and harms (that may incorporate wider definitions of crime thanthat provided in strictly legal definitions), environmental laws (includingenforcement, prosecution, and sentencing practices), environmental regulation(systems of administrative, civil, and criminal law that are designedto manage, protect, and preserve specified environments and species, andto manage the negative consequences of particular industrial processes)and eco-justice (the valuing of and respect for humans, ecosystems,non-human animals, and plants)