Michael McCormack says regional Australia will have ‘biggest say’ on future of coal

G7 leaders have announced a commitment that could have big ramifications for coal, but the Acting PM says Australia will look after itself.

Regional Australia will have the “biggest say” over the future of Australian energy despite the G7 committing to ending coal, the Acting Prime Minister says.

Australia has signed commitments with Japan and Germany to boost investment in the hydrogen industry, which it has made central to its plans to cut emissions, after sidelines talks at the G7 summit.

The G7, to which Australia is not a signatory, has committed to “ending all unabated coal as soon as possible” and raising $100bn annually to help developing countries slash emissions.

All G7 nations have also pledged to reach net zero emissions by 2050, a target Scott Morrison continued to eschew despite meetings with US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson this week.

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G7 leaders have committed to phasing out coal, but Scott Morrison is not following suit. Picture: Adam Taylor / PMO

But Acting Prime Minister Michael McCormack insisted Australia was playing a “leading role” in the global push to cut emissions, and its emissions target would be decided in its own interest.

“(It’s) all well and good for other countries in the world to have these outcomes and these determinations; that’s for them to decide,” he said on Monday.

“We will decide what’s best for Australia, in Australia’s national interest.”

Mr McCormack said regional Australia had the “biggest part to play” in reducing emissions and would therefore have the “biggest say” in determining the future of Australian coal.

Michael McCormack says the G7’s commitment is ‘all well and good’ but Australia will decide its own policies. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Mariuz

Mr McCormack said the coal industry provided 55,00 jobs across the country, accounting for $66bn in exports.

“That pays for a lot of hospitals, pays for a lot of schools, pays for a lot of barista machines that produces the coffee that inner-city types (while they) sit around, drink and talk about the death of coal,” he said.

The Prime Minister on Sunday announced Australia would partner with Germany to accelerate the hydrogen industry, days after striking a similar agreement with Japan.

But Labor leader Anthony Albanese said Mr Morrison “has to explain” how the statements aligned with a 2019 federal government commitment to a feasibility study into a new coal-fired plant in north Queensland.

“He says one thing when he’s at an international forum and a different thing here in North Queensland,” he said on Monday.

“The truth is, there hasn’t been a new coal-fired power station built in Australia for a very long period of time, and I’ve said very clearly there won’t be a new coal-fired power station built in Australia. That’s consistent with what the leaders of the G7 are saying.”