A statement from Greg Evans, Executive Director – Coal at the Minerals Council of Australia responded to a stated policy the Greens that will seek to impose a levy on the coal industry, stating that it is “economically reckless and an attempt to cause harm to our second largest export industry and destroy vital jobs in regional Australia.”
“It illustrates once again why the Greens occupy the radical fringe of politics and offer no sensible policy prescriptions for mainstream Australia. The Greens need to be held to account and explain the impact of this new tax on domestic electricity prices and the harmful economy wide impact. The Greens would know there already exists strict requirements for former mine sites to be rehabilitated with security deposits provided by coal producers. Further, funds are not returned until regulators are satisfied all environmental conditions are met.”
He adds: “Taxpayers are not exposed – in fact in the last financial year coal royalties contributed A$3 billion in the eastern states of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, and are expected to contribute A$15 billion over the next four years. Contrary to the wishes of industry detractors coal demand remains strong in our key export markets with the Department of Industry expecting Australia to be the world largest coal exporter in 2017.”
“The Greens party’s assertion that coal exports are in decline is plain wrong. Export volumes of both thermal and metallurgical coal have grown over the past five years, with steady growth forecast by the Department of Industry in the next five year period. In addition the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimate an additional 1 billion tonnes of coal will be used in 2019 compared with today and by 2040 global coal trade will increase by 40% with Australia capturing the largest share of that growth.”
“An energy transformation is taking place in Asia including South East Asia, and earlier this month the IEA Clean Coal Centre released a report showing some 1,066 clean and efficient coal fired power units are under construction or planned in the region representing 24 times Australia’s current coal fired capacity. This is the fastest expansion and modernisation of coal fired generation in history and high quality Australian coal is well positioned to supply to these growing markets.”
He concluded his statement saying: “The very latest data shows Australian coal export volumes increasing with figures from NSW showing that demand for coal remains strong with export volumes increasing by 3.6% from Newcastle over the past financial year. In Queensland, coal shipments from the Dalrymple Bay coal terminal increased by 10.6% from July 2015 to August 2015, from 5.67 Mt to 6.27 Mt. The Australian Greens need to leave the anti-economic development ideology behind and embrace the opportunities that affordable, cleaner coal based energy is providing to the populations of developing economies of our region.”
