The Queensland Government is expecting to earn $2.8 billion in coal royalties in 2011-12 (Budget Strategy and Outlook, p. 94). Shutting down the coal industry would obviously have a large impact on Queensland’s Budget and economy, as well as the federal Budget and the Australian economy more broadly. But I don’t think there is any chance of that happening, and the PM, Treasurer and Resources Minister all support Australia maintaining a coal industry. Hence I am a little surprised at this recent study speculating as to what might happen if Australia shut down its coal industry:

Push to can coal puts 200,000 jobs at risk

The study’s findings may be reasonable, given the research question, but the research question didn’t make sense in the first place.