July 17, 2015 - "For the foreseeable future coal is the foundation of prosperity"
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/17/for-tony-...
That just about sums up the amount of vision in Australian politics.
So, pending catastrophic climate change, I'm going to guess Tony will turn out to be right.
And besides, politicians aren't selected for their 'vision', they're selected for some other set of characteristics, whoever knows what. P.J. O'Rourke has plenty to say on this subject.
I take that to mean 'Coal will provide the prosperity that takes Australia forward', rather than 'Coal will continue to provide our electricity'.
i.e. We should invest in Coal, train our children to mine for it, research new ways of producing it, at the expense of other fields like high tech.
The mininig industry has very deep pockets and huge influence on policy, so in turn other industries miss out.
[1] http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-13/coal-is-good-for-human...