ghost towns, page-23

My mates wife is a subsea engineer of some description. As soon as woodside announced the cancellation of Browse she had to sack 20 engineers. Many had moved their families here and uprooted kids from schools so there is a human cost to downturns which is sad. There has definitely been a quite sudden downturn in available work in the mining industry in WA. In particular I am hearing that almost all the small exploration companies have zero chance of getting funding for projects. Gold, Nickel, Copper and base metal miners are struggling big time. Most are barely profitable and many aren't. Iron Ore is plodding along okay but for how long?
The problem is there is no plan b for the Aussie economy. I read the other day that of the top 30 oecd economies Australia's manufacturing comes in at 30th. Mining has hollowed everything out and we have staked the house on it. What happens if it busts as historically it always has?

Anyway I have no idea how this relates to housing. I suppose it will go down although it has proved remarkably resilient all through the gfc. However as i work in mining cheap houses won't help me much if i don't have a job...