IMO Eastern Australia has/is certainly enjoying the fruits of coal mining. We are fortuenate that we have (a) a resource; (b) infrastructure to extract, process, deliver; and (c) a geoghraphical advantage to the markets.
What we need to be mindful is that (a) and (b) are available / replicable elsewhere in the world and customers need surety of supply. Many countries are envious of our prosperity ...
I understand one of the consequences of the QLD floods last year was customers (a) questioning the lack of diversity of their sourcing strategies ; and (b) redirecting at least some of their purchases to places including good 'ol USA.
The point I suppose is that a punch up in a lull market might seem good timing, but in reality continuing uncertainty over a long period in terms of capacity & willingness to supply will come at a long term price of customer [dis] loyalty.
Unions need to be balanced in what they wish for IMO.
