The future of coal
I read with interest the comments made by China energy expert Dr Peggy Liu regarding Australia opening new coal mines.
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When asked how regional centres could keep jobs if mines were not approved, she made the point succinctly that those jobs "are going to disappear in 10 years".
Renewable energy use in China hit 38.3 per cent of that nation's total installed power capacity as it moves rapidly away from coal-based energy production.
As a coal basin of both thermal and coking coal production we should be listening to global industry and political warnings over thermal coal.
The economies of scale enjoyed by the joint mining of these products look to be at threat if China's energy redevelopments from cleaner energy sources continue at the same pace.
We need to heed the advice of these experts to ensure our local community's future, and look beyond coal for future "Jobs and Growth" in our region.
Peter Wills,
Breeza
Twenty years of persecution in China to be marked on July 20, 2019
On July 20, 1999, the Chinese communist state began to persecute millions of peaceful people who adhered to the Buddha-school practice of Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa.
There is no justification for what has occurred and what is still occurring in the shadows some 20 years later.
Based on slow exercise and meditation and three core principles of truthfulness, compassion and forbearance then communist leader Jiang Zemin mistakenly saw Falun Gong's popularity as being competition for the hearts and minds of China's population.
It is currently unclear how many innocent people have been killed by the state since 1999 but the savagery of the persecution includes the ongoing credible reports of practitioners being targeted for live organ harvesting.
So, on July 20, please consider pausing to think and even say a prayer for those in China who have been persecuted for their faith over the past 20 years.
Thank you.
James Burke
Bangkok but visiting home town of Tamworth
Santos bill
Short memory's Shooters and Fishers party supported the Santos bill through Parliament a few years back, which reduced the fine for illegal mining activity from over $1 million to a just a couple thousand.
Now they talk words of not wanting to impact local water supplies, the whole time Santos and all other new mines have express parliamentary permission to de-water any local aquifer they see fit.
Chris Gale,
Narrabri