There's a post-coal scenario for the Hunter's mining towns that no one wants. This scenario is called welfare dependence. When a district becomes reliant on welfare it's very difficult for the district to crawl its way back to prosperity. Welfare dependence is intergenerational, as we see in many communities worldwide.
Of course, it's not actually a district that is welfare dependent, rather it is households in a district. There are three main types of welfare dependency in Australian households. One is reliance on the age pension. The others come from unemployment payments and disability benefits.
