LIKE most people, I find it a real struggle to keep up with the extent of the resources boom in Australia.
A new small book that is packed with up-to-date information should be seen as essential reading by all of us.
The book is Mine-Field - the dark side of Australia’s resources rush by Paul Cleary. It has nine easy-to-read chapters that clearly outline the sheer scale of these mining enterprises and the huge profits they generate.
The book’s title also reminds us of the negative effects this boom is having on the land and on communities. Try to get hold of this book and read it from cover to cover.
P.S. In his 1976 Boyer Lectures, Manning Clark said: “We had the institutions and the values to promote the use of our country as quarries for foreign powers, but neither the institutions nor the belief to make our country a paradise for the people.” I suspect that is still the case in 2012.
Keith Curry,
Orange