Garth Hamilton, Federal Member for Groom, joined Lee for Breakfast to talk about the demise of the New Ackland Coal Mine.
The mine is down to just 20 caretaker staff currently and he says the Oakey township is struggling dearly.
"Its future ripped away from it, by a government that... just doesn't care" he said.
Stage 3 expansion of the mine has been challenged and delayed for over a decade, with concerns about the mine's environmental impacts on the Darling Downs region.