Reads page quizzically

Obscene photograph

I read with interest this article by Tim Costello, former CEO of World Vision Australia, and now a fellow with the Centre for Public Christianity at Macquarie University, Australia. 

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/22/if-scott-morrison-acted-on-his-strong-christian-faith-he-would-phase-out-coal

I have heard Costello speak in person a couple of times, and have read one of his books, Tips from a Travelling Soul Searcher, published in 1999. I also knew about his work with the poor and homeless in Melbourne, as a Baptist minister and former mayor of an inner city council. Having said that, I am confused about his opposition to the Australian coal industry.

Back in the mid 1990s, Victoria was governed by the Kennett government, which held office from 1992 to 1999. Part of its agenda was to privatize public utilities. The State Electricity Commission was a government owned electricity supply company. The Kennett government split the commission up into smaller companies, which were then sold to private enterprise. 

Costello, who then, as now, was a highly sought after social and political commentator, giving regular media interviews, opposed its privatization because he believed that electricity, and the coal used to produce it, presumably,  that should be available to anybody, regardless of their capacity to pay for them, and not controlled by private companies beholden to shareholders. I don't remember him saying anything about renewable energy and climate change back then. 

If I remember correctly, he was also very concerned about the adverse impact that electricity privatization would have on the La Trobe Valley economy. This is precisely what happened. It resulted in thousands of job losses, business closures, a drop in home prices, and an exodus of people, as those with transferrable skills were forced to relocate to find new employment opportunities. The economic impact of this rationalisation is still felt to to the present day. As recently as 2019, these were the findings of analysis of demographic data carried out by the Victorian Department of Education, the census, and demographer, Bernald Salt. 

If Costello had compassion for the La Trobe Valley back then, why does not express it in this article now? He has worked directly with impoverished people both in Australia and overseas, so this is what I can't get my head around. What are the thousands of coal industry workers supposed to do for a crust if Australia's coal industry is shut down, as he argues for here? Where are the alternative jobs they are supposed to transition to? How will welfare services, health, and education be funded without taxation revenue from the coal industry? In short, the impact of closing the coal industry will be more severe than that of privatization, not just in the La Trobe Valley, but in many similar communities all over Australia. 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-15/figures-show-latrobe-valley-youth-population-drop/11000784