News: New Hope says looking for more coal acquisitions in Australia, page-4

Farming communities are one of the greatest beneficiaries of Australias coal and iron ore exports. Around about half of the income that Australia earns comes from iron ore and coal exports. Without them Australia would be a third world country.

If we stopped exporting coal, most of which comes from Farming areas, towns and communities that are largely supported by the coal companies would become cash strapped and the government could not afford to subsidise the farming communities that you are concerned about.

These are facts that no serious politician can ignore.

Although I sympathise with your support of farming communities, I think that you will find that if you look at the figures on our exports you may understand that all of Australia and its farming communities would suffer badly if coal mining were to cease.