b'Canberra observed Canberra observedbecause of the demand. It was a case ofAfter reaching a peak price of $1943/too little too late. The Commonwealthoz in August 2020, the price of gold has could have, and should have, been moresteadily declined to $1787 at the end of prepared, instead of allowing situations2021. It is still well above pre-2020 prices to deteriorate before belatedly takingso at this stage it should not be a major action. concern.Fortunately, because of the highThe iron ore price was volatile vaccination rate (46 million administeredthroughout 2020-21. After several years to date) the peak of the infection ratewhen the price was in the $60-90/t range, should be in the next few weeks. We willit rose steeply from mid-2020 to reach have to see how this plays out, becausea peak of $214/t in July 2021. These nobody wants to re-impose restrictions. changes were mostly dependent on David Denham AMChina and its economic health. As long Associate Editor for Government I think the worst decision theas the politics of Australian relationships denham1@iinet.net.au Government made on Omicron was towith China are strained, the future of the charge for the RATs, except for those withprice of iron ore will be uncertain.concessions. Most other countries suchThe price for thermal coal is no longer 2021 in review: COVID-19 stillas the US and UK do not charge for thesein steady decline, and the $50/t price tests and to date the PCR tests have beenin August 2020 seems a long time ago dominates health free, so why the parsimony? The health of the nation should be a national priority,after it reached over $200/t in October By January 2021 90 million people hadbut when you can spend billions on2021. The rapid increase is mainly due to been infected globally with COVID-19,buying tanks when none of our currentChinas rapid growth, insatiable demand and two million had died. In Januarytanks have ever been used in action, onefor energy, and a shortage of coal supply. 2022, according to Johns Hopkinsmust question the priorities. Its thermal coal production grew by University, there have been 324 million6% in 2021, and its demand for thermal cases, 5.5 million deaths and 9.6 billionenergy grew by about 14%. Chinas ban vaccine doses administrated (https:// 2021 in review: Commodity prices on Australian coal imports appears to coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html). Not ahave had little or no effect on global good read. Figure 1 show how the prices of fourdemand. Consequently, the coal miners key commodities; gold, oil, iron ore andare proceeding with applications to We thought, in the middle of 2021, thatthermal coal, changed during 2021. expand their activities and in NSW five the Delta strain had been conquered. Then along came Omicron. It spread relentlessly around the world and became out of control in Australia. From July through to the first week of December the weekly number of cases were steady at about 10 000, then in early January it leaped to more than 500 000. Those who forecast 25 000 cases per day were accused of scaremongering, but in NSW alone the number rose to more than three times that amount. Case numbers took off after some of the States and the Commonwealth decided to lift restrictions on wearing masks, social distancing and curfews in early December.We now have a situation where supply chains are breaking down, thousands of aged-care residents and people with disabilities have become infected, and the whole health care system is in crisis, with elective surgery postponed and ambulance waiting times going from minutes to hours.The Australian Government did notFigure 1.Prices in $US for gold, petroleum, iron ore and thermal coal for 2018-2021. Data foresee this situation, and as a resultsources: https://ycharts.com/indicators/wti_crude_oil_spot_price, https://www.indexmundi.com/many people cannot access rapid antigencommodities/?commodity = iron-ore&months = 120, https://www.gold.org/goldhub/data/gold-prices, tests (RATs), or PCR tests and vaccines,https://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity = coal-australian&months = 60.FEBRUARY 2022 PREVIEW 26'