Too much luck: The mining boom and Australia’s future

Government red tape and bureaucratic inefficiency consume more millions. They can argue logically that the high risks that they take entitle them to an abnormal return.

So, can I ask my mining friends to get a book published in a hurry that tells their version of the benefits that mining brings to Australia. Then, you and I can make a decision on what is right for our country.

My view is that both sides will score telling points and that the final solution will be somewhere between the poles.

I strongly recommend that you buy Paul Cleary’s book right away and get yourself ready for the great debate. Can I warn you that in reading it, you will be profoundly disturbed?

If you want to become even more disturbed, read Geoffrey Blainey’s book, The Rush That Never Ended. Among other things, it tells the story of the Mount Lyell silver and copper mine at Queenstown in Tasmania, which financed the Tasmanian Government for almost a century from 1890. It is now a vast, open, barren crater in what was once a lush rain forest, and its days are over, along with the wealth that it provided for Tasmanians.

The basic matter to be resolved is whether or not Australia will be covered by many holes similar to Mount Lyell, and what we should do to prevent this from happening without wrecking the economy or making Australia uncompetitive in the international marketplace.