‘Ill-informed’: David Crisafulli angers greenies, Labor with coal comments
The Premier has angered greenies and Labor after talking up coal and promising ‘no more’ royalty surprises. See what’s got people stirred up.
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Queensland premier David Crisafulli has angered greenies and Labor after talking up coal and promising ‘no more’ coal royalty surprises on a recent trip to Townsville.
Speaking at the Future Townsville event hosted by the Bulletin, the Premier threw his total support behind Queensland coal and criticised the former Labor government forspringing the largest coal royalty tax in the world on the mining industry with ‘no consultation’ in 2022.
Cameron Dick, former Queensland treasurer and the man behind the coal royalties, said the notion that the royalties were increased without any consultation with the mining industry was a “big fat lie”.
“Labor absolutely committed to and agreed to a 10-year royalty freeze … we kept our promise to the coal industry … and when that 10 year freeze came to an end I spoke to Ian Macfarlane the head of the Queensland Resources Council and I opened discussions about the future of coal royalties,” he said.
Mr Dick said after that very first discussion, Mr Macfarlane turned around and launched a “campaign” against the Labor government.
What Crisafulli really said
“The future for this place has never been brighter,” Mr Crisafulli said at the Future Townsville’s event.
“We should be excited by the coal industry … because we’re open for business.”
Premier Crisafulli said Queensland coal was mined “with the highest environmental standards and the best workers rights” in the world, which made Queensland coal the best.
“I want you to be optimistic for this region. The agendas we are driving fit beautifully for this part of the state,” he said.
Mr Crisafulli said he understood why the mining industry wanted the coal royalty removed, but the income generated from the tax was “embedded in the forwards” of the state budgets and so it needed to stay.
However, he assured miners there would be no more “government breathing down your neck” and assured mine owners they wouldn’t “wake up one day” and be ‘whacked’ by the government.
“I believe in the mining industry, I want to continue to extract coal and we should because our coal is the best, our workers are paid the most, and it’s the cleanest.”
His words angered Queensland Conservation coal and gas campaigner Charlie Cox, who said it was “concerning” Mr Crisafulli was repeating “dangerous and ill-informed” ideas that Queensland coal was basically ‘clean and green’.
“There is no such thing as environmentally sustainable coal,” the Kuranda-based Ms Cox said.
“If the Premier wants to support regional Queensland, he should be investing in renewables, energy storage, and jobs of the future instead of locking us into outdated infrastructure and decades of climate pollution.”
Steven Miles said coal royalties paid for people’s power bills
Former Queensland premier and current opposition leader Steven Miles disagreed with the implication that the LNP were going to fix coal royalties by using the money better.
“The big difference between Labor and the LNP is we took those coal royalties and delivered them back to Queenslanders on their power bills, David Crisafulli wants to collect those coal royalties and not give them back to Queenslanders,” Mr Miles said.
“It won’t surprise you to know the mining industry prefers to pay less taxes … but these resources belong to Queenslanders and we were determined to make sure at a time when these multinational companies were making record profits, that Queenslanders shared in that dividend.”
How does Queensland coal royalties work?
The coal royalties introduced by Labor in 2022 sit in a similar vein as the Alaska Permanent Fund – however in Alaska the tax is paid out as a $1000 to $3000 annual payment every Alaskan resident receives courtesy of a 25 per cent mineral royalties tax on oil producers.
In Queensland the coal royalties are collected by the state government and used at the government’s discretion.
Current QLD coal royalty system
20 per cent royalty rate on coal selling at $175-$225 a tonne
30 per cent royalty rate on coal selling at $225-$300 a tonne
40 per cent royalty rate on coal selling over $300 a tonne
The creation of the 30 per cent and 40 per cent royalty ‘tiers’ made Queensland the highest coal royalty region in the world.
The previous coal royalty which had been locked into place for 10 years in Queensland taxed 15 per cent at maximum.
You can watch the entire speech for yourself on the Townsville Bulletin livestream of the event.
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