Bigger than the gold rush, but taxpayers have little to show for
it.  Australia is in the midst of the greatest mining boom since
the gold rush. This time it is black gold - coal - and rust-
coloured iron ore. The largest contract in Australian history
was recently signed to export gas to China from Gladstone in
Queensland. And companies are flocking to the diggings just as
they did to Ballarat, Bendigo and Kalgoorlie a century and a
half ago.  There is a buyer with an insatiable appetite, and our
resources of coal, gas and iron ore will last a lot longer than
the narrow seams and alluvial gold deposits ever did. The China
boom has increased our terms of trade by 30 per cent since 2004.
When the Coalition was in government, it was common to hear
Labor critics complain that it had ''wasted'' the China boom.
Compared with today's prices, it was never a boom at all. The
rise in prices in 2004 has been dwarfed by those in the past
three years.  From 2004, Australia finished paying off
government net debt, establi