Residents think industry employs four times as many as it actually does as survey reveals misconceptions

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

Residents of a New South Wales coal mining region assume the industry employs four times as many people as it really does, according to a poll that also illustrates misconceptions about contributions to state government revenues.



The Hunter Valley, which includes Newcastle, will be the focus of a report to be released on Friday by the Australia Institute, a progressive think-tank.

The report suggested that long-running political and industry assertions about coal's importance to the region had influenced public attitudes.

When 1,001 residents were asked what percentage of workers in the Hunter Valley and Newcastle were employed in the coal industry, the average response was 19.8%.

The report said, however, the true figure was only 5%, or 13,140 people out of a total workforce of more than 260,000 people.

Australian Bureau of Statistics industry classifications suggested mining was the ninth largest employing industry, behind industries including healthcare, retail, manufacturing, construction and education.

Rod Campbell, the Australia Institute researcher who wrote the report, acknowledged the mining industry also argued it produced indirect jobs in areas such as constructions.

But Campbell said all sectors had an impact on indirect jobs. He said people in the Hunter also had an inflated view of the industry's contribution to state government revenues.

"I guess the most surprising thing for me is the extent to which most people understand the size of the coal industry and its contribution to NSW state revenues," he said.

"Royalties from coal only make up about 2% of NSW state government revenues and respondents to our survey put it at about 20% on average, and there's a significant part of the population that thinks that nearly half of the state government's revenue comes from the coal industry. There's pretty heavy misconception out there."

Campbell said the figures showed "what a great job the NSW Minerals Council does" in promoting the industry.

He said despite people's inflated estimates of the actual worth of the coal industry, nearly half of respondents did not believe the benefits outweighed the costs.

The poll showed 47% disagreed that "the economic benefits of coal mining outweigh effects on health, the environment and other industries", while 36% agreed and the rest were not sure.

Of mining industry workers who participated, 60% viewed the benefits as outweighing the risks.

The broader sample was also asked what they would like to see happen with coal mining in the Hunter Valley. About 40% wanted to see it stay "about the same", a further 17% would like to see it increase, while 41% would like to see it decrease or phased out.

Support for the coal industry was greater among older than younger respondents, and among coal industry workers than the broader sample. Residents of urban Newcastle or Lake Macquarie were more likely to favour a decrease or phase-out of the industry than those from rural areas.

Campbell said he wanted policy and decision makers to understand that "the future prosperity of the Hunter doesn't rely on an ever-expanding coal industry".

The poll - commissioned by the Australia Institute - was conducted by an automated phone polling company in November with responses weighted against population estimates.