Along with its more than 140,000 Friends of Coal, Coal Australia has gathered a network of coal businesses and suppliers who support the movement and the fact that Australia’s prosperity is directly linked to the success of the coal industry.
Steve Green is a key part of a number of companies including being Executive General Manager of Plantco Mining and the Director of Horizon Rental. He’s a former director for Liebherr Australia and also had a considerable career with Komatsu when he came across the ditch from New Zealand many years ago.
His wealth of experience in large mobile mining equipment sales, product support and asset management not only here in Australia but worldwide, has exposed him to just how important the coal industry is to our country’s prosperity.
“I signed up to Coal Australia with our Horizon Rental business. I went to a Coal Australia function last year and met Nick Jorss, who at the time was in charge of Bowen Coking Coal and we had a service truck operating at their Burton mine.
“I remember he basically turned to me over a beer and said, ‘all your trucks are working in coal, you should give something back’ and I thought, yes, he’s right.
“Sometimes you look at the challenges we have to deal with in the coal industry, and the negativity from some sources, but if you were to shut mining down for a week, or a month in Queensland, you’d see what happens.
“We need to support Coal Australia and this industry as much as we can. The team has had the guts to create something to speak out about it, so we have to support them. They are sharing facts that can’t be disputed,” said Steve.
Facts like coal generating 46 per cent of Australia’s electricity.
Coal being Australia’s second largest export, after iron ore.
And Australia’s thermal and metallurgical coal being some of the highest quality in the world.
“At the moment Queensland coal is a little bit flat, and there’s probably more negative sentiment out there than positive, especially with the royalty situation. We know the resources are there and the quality is there, but you can only dig it out of the ground and sell it once so if you can’t make a reasonable return things stay stagnant.
“There’s a lot to fight for and talk about – including the money that gets taken out of our region and spent on projects down south and not on something like upgrading the Peak Downs Highway. It’s disappointing that the majority of the money that comes out of the region doesn’t get invested back into it.
“I’ll do everything I can to bring more members on board with Coal Australia because with the more support we can generate, the more attention it gets, and it helps everyone.
“We’re proud to support them.”
| Join the coal community and help forge Australia’s future at: www.coalaustralia.com |
