We didn’t lose our coal mining industry in Australia but it has actually become a bit of a rod for our backs in the move to decarbonise the economy for the sake of climate change.
The coal mining industry and its workers are a powerful voting block and lobby heavily to resist any moves towards the phasing out of coal power stations in favour of renewable energy sources. The Labour Party often try and ‘ride two horses’ by telling their inner city voters all about their great ideas for renewable energy, only to head off to the coal mining regions promising their industries will not be touched.