Malcolm Turnbull’s Mount Pleasant coal mine objection letter spells by-election trouble

Before his appointment to a climate board, Malcolm Turnbull sent a letter to the government citing his property in objecting to a coal mine expansion.

Malcolm Turnbull wrote directly to the NSW government objecting to the expansion of a coal mine in the Upper Hunter citing his family’s nearby 2700 acre grazing property among reasons for his concern.

The letter was sent before Mr Turnbull’s appointment as the chief of the government’s Net Zero board was publicly announced, and will rile Liberal and National MPs already threatening revolt over his anti-coal stance.

Mr Turnbull and his wife Lucy co-signed the letter which was sent to the NSW planning department last month to object to the Mount Pleasant Optimisation project - a coal mine expansion that would extend the life of the mine to 2048 and create hundreds of local jobs.

Malcolm Turnbull, pictured with his wife Lucy, has been accused of a conflict of interest in his role. Picture: Sean Davey

The letter will be a flash point in the critical Upper Hunter by-election campaign, with One Nation Leader Mark Latham set to visit the Mount Pleasant project on Wednesday criticising Mr Turnbull and the NSW government for failing to support local coal jobs.

Mr Turnbull on Monday said he had made the submission in their private capacity “as long term landowners in the district and in no other capacity”.

He rejected any conflict with his new role chairing the government’s Net Zero board saying the board has “no role in mining approvals”.

“The submission raises very important issues of local concern not least of which is the health impact on the local Muswellbrook community suffering the worst air quality in New South Wales as a consequence of so much open cut coal mining being approved and operating around the town,” Mr Turnbull said.

Malcolm Turnbull's property East Rossgole. Picture: Adam Yip

Malcolm Turnbull at his Hunter Valley property East Rossgole. Picture: ABC TV

Mr Latham said Mr Turnbull should not be in the job.

“Malcolm Turnbull should never have been appointed as the NSW Government’s Climate Chief, because, in reality he is an anti-coal activist with clear property financial interest that have led him to lobby against job-creating coal projects in the Upper Hunter region,” Mr Latham said.

Mr Latham pointed to proponent estimates that the Mach Energy project would create 400 extra jobs, and 500 jobs in the construction phase.

“If the project is not approved, the mine and its current 440 jobs will end in 2026. So all up, 1340 jobs are at stake,” he said.

“If this is how strongly Malcolm Turnbull feels about coal mines, how can he do this new $60,000 NSW job independently and objectively?”

In the letter to the NSW Department of Planning, co signed by Mr and Mrs Turnbull, the pair directly cite their property as a reference point for their concern.

“For nearly forty ears we have owned “East Rossgole” a 2700 acre grazing property which sits on and below the Rossgole Plateau directly to the north of the Mount Pleasant mine and which is adjacent to the proposed expansion of that mine,” the letter says.

An extract from the letter.

“The existing mine, and others in the area, have already done considerable damage to the local environment with worsening air quality, depleting groundwater and rendering much of the beautiful Upper Hunter pastures a blasted lunar landscape.”

Mr Turnbull says in the letter the demand for coal is declining and there is a risk “the proponent may not in the future be able to meet its obligations to remediate the landscape it has already devastated, let alone what it plans to devastate in the future”.

He also addresses air quality and noise, saying the mine “should not have proceeded in the first place”.

He notes the region has the “worst air quality in the state,” citing specific air quality measures taken on March 1, saying the health

Mr Turnbull says the Hunter region plan highlights the significance of other industries including thoroughbred racing.

In his statement to The Telegraph, Mr Turnbull added that allowing new mines to open would “simply cannibalise demand from existing mines” which he said would put mining jobs at risk.

He also said he believed there must be a plan for the future of the Hunter post-coal.

“The objective has to be to ensure that as coal mining declines there are plenty of new, well paid, union jobs in clean energy and energy intensive industries as well as other Hunter industries including horse and cattle breeding, agriculture, winemaking and tourism,” he said.

NSW Energy Minster Matt Kean said in a statement “The NSW Government supports a strong coal mining industry in the Hunter”.

“The (Net Zero) Board will not assess or decide any planning applications,” he said.

“The NSW Net Zero Emissions and Clean Energy Board will provide strategic advice on opportunities to create new jobs, grow the NSW economy and support industry to take advantage of new low carbon technologies and processes.

“Mr Turnbull is entitled to his views and to make submissions on planning applications in the normal process on matters that affect he and his family. However, those views fall outside the remit of this appointment.”

Malcolm Turnbull’s written response to questions from The Daily Telegraph

Q. Is this submission appropriate for a person in his role?

A: The submission is quite clearly made in our private capacities as long term landowners in the district and in no other capacity. The submission raises very important issues of local concern not least of which is the health impact on the local Muswellbrook community suffering the worst air quality in New South Wales as a consequence of so much open cut coal mining being approved and operating around the town.

Q. Has the government made it clear to Mr Turnbull that it does not support a moratorium on coal?

A. The government, through its ministers, has made it very clear that it does not support any moratorium on coal mining development approvals in the Upper Hunter.

Q. Does Mr Turnbull have a conflict of interest here?

A. No. The Net Zero Board has no role in mining approvals whatsoever. The point of my recent remarks, and the submission made some time ago regarding Mount Pleasant, both expressly in my private capacity, is simply this:

Demand for coal from the Hunter has been declining and is likely to decline further as more nations seek to switch to renewable energy. In other words, pursue the same process we have seen in Australia. As a consequence of this, many existing mines in the Hunter have seen operations suspended or considerably curtailed. There is more than enough existing capacity in the Hunter to meet likely demand. At the same time we know that global coal demand is going to continue to decline, driven by concerns to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the fact that in most parts of the world renewables plus storage are a cheaper way to generate electricity. So in that context there are three real threats to coal jobs in the Hunter.

1. Reducing global demand for coal. That is unavoidable and, in any event, there is nothing that we can do to influence it here.
2. Allowing new mines to be opened up in circumstances where they will simply cannibalise the demand from existing mines and potentially push coal prices lower. All of this can only put existing mining jobs at risk. This was the justification the Port of Newcastle supported by Joel Fitzgibbon used to oppose any government support for the Adani mine in Queensland - they saw it as threatening Hunter jobs. See: www.newcastleherald.com.au/story/4626993/adani-threatens-hunter-jobs/is
3. Failing to plan for a future for the Hunter post coal. The objective has to be to ensure that as coal mining declines there are plenty of new, well paid, union jobs in clean energy and energy intensive industries as well as other Hunter industries including horse and cattle breeding, agriculture, winemaking and tourism. This makes enormous sense for the people of the Hunter and it also takes advantage of all the transmission infrastructure that is connected to the old coal fired generators that will, in the near and medium term, close down.

So the proposal made by many local community groups including the Hunter Thoroughbred Breeders Association and Friends of the Upper Hunter for a pause in new approvals is not “anti-coal”; it is simply designed to ensure that there is the time to plan how best to protect existing jobs and how to plan for new well paid clean energy jobs in the future.