Union Power Strikes Again: Saving Jobs… That Were Never in Danger
Labor’s policies create chaos, the unions swoop in, and suddenly we’re told a crisis has been averted. Coal supply threatened. Jobs supposedly hanging by a thread. Miners and their families anxious. Cue the “victory” narrative: government blunders corrected by heroic unions.
Except Origin Energy was never going to let Myuna Colliery fail. The infrastructure is already in place. No other company could realistically supply the coal these plants need. What the media celebrates as a rescue? It was business as usual, dressed up as heroism.
Dan Repacholi now claims 300 jobs “secured” at Myuna, and a thousand more protected across the Hunter and Lake Macquarie. He talks about apprentices starting their careers, mums and dads paying mortgages, small businesses surviving. Heartwarming words—but these jobs were never truly at risk.
He praises Origin for “responsible corporate citizenship” and applauds the unions for their “unity and determination.” Everyone pats themselves on the back. Meanwhile, Labor quietly sits on the policies that caused the uncertainty in the first place, hoping no one notices who actually controls the outcome.
The Hunter has powered New South Wales for generations. Miners keep working. Families keep paying mortgages. Communities keep moving forward. There is no miracle here—just the same coal, the same infrastructure, the same deals, with a carefully packaged narrative for cameras and press releases.
NSW deserves honesty. The only thing “saved” in this story was the storyline itself.
