And now for the good news. It looks like we really are the lucky country. That we've dodged that fatal bullet, escaped the worst of the global financial crisis.
You'd never think it now, but a year ago, the outlook was grim. The experts were predicting a terrible recession, if not a full- on depression, with catastrophic job losses.
Sure many Australians are still hurting but, where it counts most, there are jobs galore.
From the coal mines of Queensland, across to the huge gold, iron ore and natural gas fields in the west, the mood is buoyant, the opportunities are endless and the good times are rolling all over again.
For further information on the minerals and energy sectors in Queensland, click on the Queensland Resources Council’s website: www.qrc.org.au
Full transcript:
STORY -
MICHAEL USHER: In Far North Queensland, it's another hot and dusty day on the Coppabella coal mine.
MICHELLE OSBORNE: 220 tonne is his target.
MICHAEL USHER: 220 tonnes of dirt?
MICHELLE OSBORNE: Yeah. That's a lot of shovels, isn't it?
MICHAEL USHER: It's a whole lotta digging! It's a giant and precious hole in the ground that's helped drive our economy through the toughest of times. You do love it, don't you!
MICHELLE OSBORNE: I do.
MICHAEL USHER: And right there at the coalface is Michelle Osborne.
MICHELLE OSBORNE: I love showing people what we do out here, and seeing the look on your face when these trucks go past, just how big it is - the sound, the look, the dust.
MICHAEL USHER: Three years ago, Michelle quit her city job in health care and headed bush. With no mining experience, no special licence, she had no problem getting a gig behind the wheel of a massive earth-moving truck. What were you like when you first got behind the wheel?
MICHELLE OSBORNE: Oh, can I swear? I was shitting myself. I was nervous.
MICHAEL USHER: Have you ever put the truck sideways?
MICHELLE OSBORNE: I have. I have. In the wet, they do go out from underneath you and that's a moment for brown undies. This is my baby.
MICHAEL USHER: These are your wheels?
MICHELLE OSBORNE: These are my wheels.
MICHAEL USHER: But at 33, Michelle's career gamble is paying handsome dividends, and she's just one of an army of miners striking it rich in a resources boom that has defied the global financial crisis. If it's not a rude question, if you don't mind me asking, how much do you earn?
MICHELLE OSBORNE: Just a little over $100,000 a year.
MICHAEL USHER: Wow!
MICHELLE OSBORNE: Yeah, it's nice.
MICHAEL USHER: It's double the average wage.
MICHELLE OSBORNE: Yeah, it is. I worked on the average wage for a good eight or nine years and, yeah, this is nice.
MICHAEL USHER: From the coal fields of North Queensland to the rich iron ore deposits of the Pilbara in WA, the good news story's the same. David, how much do you love this stuff?
DAVE FLANAGAN: Mate, look at that. Look, you could just about eat it. It is beautiful. You could roll around in this stuff. It's not caviar - it's steak and eggs - but there's a lot of money in it and a lot opportunity.
MICHAEL USHER: Dave Flanagan runs Atlas Iron. He might be just a small player in this massive industry but, he's not only survived the credit crunch, he's flourished. David, I thought there was meant to be a recession on!
DAVE FLANAGAN: Yeah, well, it missed us. It missed the Pilbara. There's no recession here.
MICHAEL USHER: In just a few years, he's built from scratch an $800 million company that employs 130 people, all thanks to China's insatiable appetite for these rusty rocks.
DAVE FLANAGAN: We found 130 million tonnes of iron ore in the last 3.5, 4 years. Imagine what we can find in the next 10?
MICHAEL USHER: It's pouring down.
DAVE FLANAGAN: This is just the beginning. This resource boom that is actually running now is enough to build hospitals and schools and roads and bridges for the whole country for the next 30 to 40 years.
MICHAEL USHER: There's a pace of development out here that's hard to measure, unless you get out to these remote corners and take a good look at what's really in our backyard - boom towns, like Port Hedland.
DAVE FLANAGAN: It's actually Australia's biggest export port. Right now you're seeing it at work and, have a look at that - it's not standing still, is it? It's going gangbusters. Within the next three years they reckon they'll double export capacity here - double it!
MICHAEL USHER: From the red earth of the north-west to the green pastures down south, the mining boom is turning up in places you wouldn't expect, like Boddington, deep in rich farming country just an hour-and-a-bit out of Perth.
WOMAN: I haven't even felt the recession. Not at all.
MICHAEL USHER: Is that true? You've been living in a bubble out here?
WOMAN: Yeah, probably.
MICHAEL USHER: The locals here have got plenty to cheer about. You've struck gold! MAN: Close enough!
MICHAEL USHER: Nearly 0% unemployment and a booming township, all thanks to one of Australia's most ambitious mining projects. This is Australia's largest gold mine, and they've really only started digging. Pretty soon, it's going to be 4km long and, down there, it's going to be five times as deep. Standing here, you can't help but be overwhelmed by the sheer size of it. But what's even more impressive is the impact these giant quarries are having on our economy. Holes in the ground like this have single-handedly saved Australia from a crippling recession and, when you have a look at what's happened to the rest of the world, you've got to say, we really are the lucky country.
QUENTIN HARMER: Well, we try and put through 110,000 tonnes of dirt in a 24-hour period, A normal gold mine would probably do about 800 tonnes a day. So, it's huge, it's massive.
MICHAEL USHER: The biggest?
QUENTIN HARMER: Yes. The biggest and the best, and that's not just 'cause I'm here!
MICHAEL USHER: Quentin Harmer was a local schoolteacher, but when mining giant Newmont rolled into Boddington, he quit the classroom to take up a traineeship. That's a big step to make - to turn around and completely change your career and life.
QUENTIN HARMER: It is, but we had an opportunity on our doorstep that we couldn't refuse. It was something that was less stress, and probably less hours than teaching and, it's great - it's a fantastic place to be.
MICHAEL USHER: Less stress and less hours than teaching?
QUENTIN HARMER: I, yes, I would say so - in the job that I was in, yeah.
MICHAEL USHER: Quentin and his wife, Linda, who also works at the mine, love Boddington because of its location. They're getting all the benefits of the boom, without the isolation of remote mining areas like the Pilbara.
LINDA HARMER: Quint's got the beauty of a fly in, fly out job, but he's home every night as well.
QUENTIN HARMER: I get to see my kids every night and I get to spend a week with them every second week. It's fantastic.
MICHAEL USHER: You're pretty happy, aren't you?
QUENTIN HARMER: To say the least, yeah.
MICHAEL USHER: Just last week they poured their first gold. Newmont plans to produce $1 billion worth of gold a year for at least the next five years. This single bar weighs 12 kilos and is worth about $400,000. That's about the price of your average suburban family home. And, I gotta tell you, when you hold onto this, it really feels like it's worth every cent. Demand for this precious metal has never been stronger. It's used in just so many things - jewellery, of course, but you'll also find it in your laptop, even your mobile phone. We are on the cusp of a new gold rush, one that will help keep Australia wealthy for decades to come. It really is pure gold. I'm just a dirty old diesel mechanic, mate, simple as that, but I've got money in my pocket and a pretty good life, so there's nothing to complain about, is there? If you want to have a go at anything, you will, and the opportunities of being here still are here, and it's just a matter of people getting off their arse and getting amongst it, mate.
WOMAN: I just started me own spray tan business.
MICHAEL USHER: So, there's a market for spray tans in a mining town?
WOMAN: There IS a market for spray tans in a mining town!
MAN: Yeah - you gotta wear long sleeves all day!
MICHAEL USHER: Back in Mackay, coal truckie Michelle Osborne isn't afraid to spend her hard-earned, either.
MICHELLE OSBORNE: There is a time I know I'll have to settle down a bit more and put it towards more worthwhile things but, at the moment, I'm just enjoying myself and I've reaped the benefits of what I've been doing and it's time to, yeah, just enjoying it.
MICHAEL USHER: Splurge?
MICHELLE OSBORNE: Splurge.
MICHAEL USHER: Why not?
MICHELLE OSBORNE: For now.
MICHAEL USHER: She's a one-woman stimulus package and, for local businesses, that's great news. How much was that? SALES
WOMAN: $599.85.
MICHAEL USHER: 600 bucks! What have you dropped here?
MICHELLE OSBORNE: I got three pairs and an apron for that - I think that's pretty good. And a bag. It's Melbourne Cup season coming up, it's the races season, so, a girl can't have too many shoes.
MICHAEL USHER: This is what happens in these stores when women come in and start spending.
MICHELLE OSBORNE: Yeah - scary, isn't it?
MICHAEL USHER: Extraordinary!
MICHELLE OSBORNE: Thank you very much, Leonie. Would you like to carry those for me?
MICHAEL USHER: Here we go, I'll carry the bags. That's my job, is it?
MICHELLE OSBORNE: Onto the next shop.
MICHAEL USHER: But the rewards come with sacrifice. The shift work is tough. Every five days, Michelle packs up and drives two hours from Mackay to the mine. For the next week, home is in a miner's camp and she'll do 12-hour shifts - night and day. And there's not a lot of time for love. You see, Michelle's boyfriend, Tommy, also drives one these big rigs.
MICHELLE OSBORNE: How are you doing?
MICHAEL USHER: And the rosters aren't kind. They can go weeks apart but, tonight, between shifts, there's a chance for a quick kiss and catch-up.
MICHELLE OSBORNE: Sometimes we don't even get to see each other, so, this is a good night.
TOMMY: It's a treat.
MICHAEL USHER: This is a treat, is it? Are you proud of what Michelle does?
TOMMY: I'm stoked with what Michelle does, yeah, and I'm very proud of her, but what they say is behind every good woman is a good man, so...
MICHELLE OSBORNE: Oh, yeah!
MICHAEL USHER: We'll leave you be for a second. I think you've got to get on the bus.
TOMMY: Yeah, I've got to get going.
MICHELLE OSBORNE: See you, babe.
MICHAEL USHER: And we headed off, too, over to the west, to see WA's next big thing. Gold, iron ore and coal - for decades, our natural mineral wealth has been dug up from dirt like this. But, way out there, deep beneath the ocean lies what could be our richest discovery yet - natural gas. One project alone is about to tap into $500 billion worth of the stuff. $500 billion! It's hard to get your head around it. But what it means is 10,000 jobs to get it up and going and a gas reserve they reckon will last for 60 years.
DAVE FLANAGAN: All the numbers are just massive - the biggest mobilisation of capital outside of any government project. That's $50 billion. That is just huge!
MICHAEL USHER: This is gas - you can't see it. It's at the bottom of the ocean out there.
DAVE FLANAGAN: Yeah, it is, it is, but I tell you what, we will see the schools, we will see the hospitals. And, I tell you what, we should expect to see that, because there'll be a lot of money going into the hands of the governments, and that's the opportunity that they've got.
MICHAEL USHER: After a year of financial doom and gloom it takes a while for all this to sink in. But it's not just one pocket of Australia preaching prosperity. We left the cities, crossed the country top to bottom, and the message of supreme optimism was the same everywhere in regions rich with resources. And we found people like Michelle Osborne, who's just one of thousands of Australians to seize the moment.
MICHELLE OSBORNE: There's many opportunities there and it's only going to get bigger.
MICHAEL USHER: Good on you. We'd better let you get back to it, I think.
MICHELLE OSBORNE: Alright. Copy that.
MICHAEL USHER: It's a busy shift!
MICHELLE OSBORNE: See you later.
