Coal mining advertisements in South Australia slammed for being ‘farcical’ and insensitive

A RADIO campaign by a lobbyist group has been slammed for its insensitive timing after it was announced that South Australia’s only coal mine will close next month.

Worker Peta Jane (PJ) Fee took The Advertiser on a tour of the Leigh Creek coal mine, which is now operated by Alinta and sup...

DEPENDING on who you’re paying attention to, the days of fossil fuels appear to be numbered.

However the Minerals Council of Australia doesn’t think so and has continued to vigorously advertise about the virtues of coal. However the organisation, which represents the minerals industry, has been slammed for the timing of its latest string of radio ads in South Australia.

Radio listeners in the state have been treated to ads espousing the benefits and potential jobs creation of coal mining just a week after it was announced South Australia’s only coal mine will close next month.

The announcement by Alinta Energy that owns the state’s only coal mine in Leigh Creek was a tough pill to swallow for the company’s 440 employees who will soon be out of a job.

The announcement last Wednesday also comes as disheartening news for lawmakers battling to create jobs in the state’s flailing economy. The coal mine is set to close on November 17 with its two Port Augusta power stations shutting down in March next year.

“This can provide endless possibilities … it can create light and jobs … delivering $6 billion of wages for Australians,” the narration of the ad exclaims.

But the ill-timed advert has been heavily criticised with Australia Services Union secretary Joseph Scales labelling it “a bit of a slap in the face for South Australia.”

“At best it’s a bit farcical at worst it is absolutely rubbing salt into the wounds of these workers who have just lost their jobs,” he told Adelaide’s In Daily.

He says the ads which featured on radio station FIVEaa yesterday morning were contradictory to the message sent by Alinta Energy that coal mining was not the future of jobs creation in the energy sector.

Coal campaign hits rock bottom in Adelaide http://t.co/ME58Dw2Va1 #climate pic.twitter.com/SO6ZmJrSn5

— Simon Divecha (@simondivecha) October 12, 2015

The radio ads were a part of the Little Black Rock campaign, also known as Coal — It’s an Amazing Thing which was launched in September to mild controversy. A sponsored message on Twitter at the start of the campaign was rubbished my countless users on the social media.

@MineralsCouncil renewables create jobs and have no emissions at all. Your greed is costing us the planet how do you sleep at night?

— Julian Skinner (@julestw9) September 22, 2015

.@MineralsCouncil this promoted tweet going just how you imagined?

— Sam Regester (@samregester) September 27, 2015

The closure of the Leigh Creek mine highlights the ongoing battle being played out in politics with the Greens, and to a lesser extent Labor, pushing for a much greater shift to renewable energy. An debate that has received copious media attention.

Last week, The New York Times published a story about the NSW town of Dundee which has suffered a population haemorrhage after the government’s promise to build a coal mine failed to materialise in the face of the declining price of coal as China slowed.

The story painted an uncertain future for the coal industry and stood in stark contrast to an article penned by the executive director of the Minerals Council of Australia, Greg Evans, in The Huffington Post last month.

“In Australia, anti-coal activists claim that coal is on its way out but facts do not support this,” he wrote. “Anti-coal thinkers fail to recognise that coal is the world’s fastest growing energy source.”

He may be right that the coal industry is growing world wide, but in South Australia it’s about to take its last breath.