Market will decide if thermal coal mines are built in Australia: Albanese
Labor leader says markets will decide if new thermal coal mines are built in Australia.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese says international markets, rather than governments, will decide whether new thermal coal mines are built in Australia.
While Mr Albanese did not directly address Adani’s controversial Carmichael coal projects, which has become a lightning rod for activists and a bone of contention for the Labor Party in recent years, he noted that the private sector was already making its own decisions on the direction of the thermal coal industry.
“A lot of that will be determined essentially by international markets,” Mr Albanese said when asked about Labor’s position on new thermal coal mines.
“The job of government is to provide a framework that transitions through to a clean energy economy. The indications are when you look at global trends is what’s happening is a shift away from fossil fuels.”
Mr Albanese’s comments followed a speech in Perth on Tuesday in which he signalled a shift in Labor policy away from a tax-and-spend agenda towards a focus on wealth creation.
His speech also stressed the need for a healthy Australian resources sector, with Mr Albanese highlighting the importance of coking coal in the production of wind turbines.
Speaking after his address, Mr Albanese called for a more sophisticated debate about the role of Australia’s resources sector.
Using the example of a hospital, where x-ray machines and scalpels would not exist without metallurgical coal, he said the blanket anti-mining argument from some corners did not reflect the complexity of the global economy and the response to climate change.
“Some of the debate that has gone on in a really unsophisticated way,” he said.
“It worries me where we are at that it’s just ‘mining is bad’. Mining is something that has produced our advanced economies.”
Mr Albanese’s comments came amid violent scenes on the streets of Melbourne on Tuesday, with several climate change protesters arrested outside a mining conference.
He noted it was unlikely that a new coal-fired power station would ever be built in Australia, not because of any government decision but as a result of decisions in the private sector.
“Metallurgical coal will continue to play a role and the demand for thermal coal on international markets will be determined by what settings are put in,” he said.
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