Originally Posted by
Icarus2001
I think the revenue to state and federal governments gets overstated. By far the biggest source of federal revenue is personal income tax.
WA as the major resource state looks like this.
So the best way to ensure government revenue streams is have people working and paying tax. So is a small cafe or restaurant, bicycle shop or bar less important to revenue than a minesite? I would say no, expecially since the federal government now has to hand out short term welfare to those businesses that are closed.
If it is okay to get on an aircraft, check in at a terminal and eat at the mine site mess then it must be okay to do the same in a city restaurant with careful consideration to how close tables are to each other.
We know there is a lot of smoke and mirrors here. Just look at school children, they cannot have four friends over to play or celebrate a birthday but they can go to school with hundreds of children and teachers.
Yeah all well and good, but there is an issue with this assumption, the balance of numbers, whereby your diagrams clearly illustrate, that a very few workers - namely mining and resource workers, (comparatively) pull way above their weight in the BIG picture / scheme of things. Simple to see that is why the pressure has been on to create continuity of supply for this part of the economy, and has just been mentioned here, A LOT easier to implement controls than say, in a food court at a shopping center employing people.