A controversial coal project that could result in more than 1,000 hectares of endangered koala habitat being destroyed or harmed has been approved ahead of the Christmas holidays. Vitrinite’s Vulcan South project is one of four coal mine expansions green-lit by the Albanese Government overnight.
The Greens reacted angrily to the announcement, arguing that approving coal mining on koala habitat should be illegal. “The Labor Government has given coal for Christmas – gifting coal companies a huge win and delivering more pollution and more pain for Australia’s koalas,” Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.
Australia is the world’s largest exporter of metallurgical coal, a material used to create steel. And that’s what will be extracted at the newly approved mine expansions at Boggabri in NSW, and Caval Ridge, Lake Vermont Meadowbrook and Vulcan South in Queensland. According to the government, the mine expansions will support 3,000 jobs.
A spokesperson for Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said the product was an essential construction material, used to create “homes, bridges, trains, windfarms, and solar panels”. “There are currently no feasible renewable alternatives for making steel,” they added.
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Australia’s iconic koalas face extinction in NSW and Queensland where the four new coal mines have been approved. Source: AAP
Pacific island uproar over coal project expansions
The latest quarterly emissions data found emissions remain higher under the current government than they were in 2022 when Scott Morrison was Prime Minister, and conservationists have calculated the mine expansions will result in 850 million tonnes of carbon dioxide being released over their lifetime. But Plibersek’s office argued her decision will not interfere with Australia reaching a target of net zero emissions by 2050.
The expansion approvals came after Tuvalu’s Prime Minister Feleti Teo warned it would be a “death sentence” for small Pacific nations like his if large countries continue to open new fossil fuel projects. “The continued expansion of fossil fuels only fans the flames of the climate crisis,” he said.
Overnight, climate change campaigners in the Pacific whose homes are threatened by rising sea levels and extreme weather caused by fossil fuel emissions reacted with outrage.
Joseph Sikulu, Pacific Managing Director of non-profit 350.org said the four mines would emit 7.5 times more carbon than all Pacific islands produce in a year. “Australia’s commitment to climate destruction makes a mockery of the ‘family’ they claim to call the Pacific. Approving four massive coal mines shifts Australia further away from genuine climate action, and again, it is up to us in the Pacific to spotlight this hypocrisy,” he said.
Rufino Varea, the regional director of Pacific Islands Climate Action Network accused Australia of threatening the survival of his region by siding with “coal billionaires”. “No new coal means no excuses—if Australia refuses to lead, it does not deserve to co-host COP31,” he said.
Rising sea levels caused by climate change threaten the existence of Pacific nations like Tuvalu. Source: Getty
Australia’s nature protection laws described as ‘utter failure’
Plibersek’s office said 240 “strict conditions” had been placed on the mines to ensure the environment is “protected”.
“The Albanese Government makes decisions on a case-by-case basis in accordance with the facts and the law. That’s what happens in every case, and that’s what has happened here,” the spokesperson said.
Back in 2022, when Plibersek took the reigns of the environment department, she argued the country’s approach to protecting endangered species “had not been working” and she promised to overhaul nature protection laws. Key to this was a new Environmental Protection Authority which would be charged with assessing new projects.
Tanya Plibersek (left) had attempted to negotiate an agreement with the Greens to legislate new environment protection laws. Source: AAP
The Government was unable to pass the new regulations in the Senate and needed the help of either the Greens or the Coalition. The Greens said they would only approve the laws if the impact of major projects on the climate was considered – a mechanism called a climate trigger – but Prime Minister Anthony Albanese ruled that out.
After the Greens dropped the climate trigger condition, Hanson-Young and Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek began talks on alternate environmental reforms that would have seen an end to native habitat destruction. Those talks were once again blocked by the Prime Minister, infuriating Hanson-Young who said her moratorium on habitat clearing would have stopped the mining projects.
“Our environmental laws are an utter failure,” she said.
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