Jackie Trad tells miners to re-skill amid global coal backlash
Workers in mining districts need to re-skill amid a backlash against coal-fired electricity, the Qld Deputy Premier says.
Queensland Deputy Premier Jackie Trad has warned her state’s coalmining communities to “re-skill” amid a global backlash against coal-fired electricity.
The Labor Treasurer’s comments came amid revelations that former Greens candidates have secured prestigious jobs inside the department assessing Adani’s coal project.
In state parliament, Ms Trad conceded she had not fulfilled an election promise to obtain a study of long-term demand for Queensland coal to inform the government’s “regional transition strategies”.
The International Energy Agency has forecast that global coal demand over the next five years will be stable, with declines in the US and Europe being offset by growth in India and other Asian nations.
But Ms Trad, who leads Labor’s dominant Left faction, told parliament: “Markets are moving away from thermal coal, communities are moving away from thermal coal, nation states are moving away from thermal coal. What we need to do as a coal exporter is understand that and equip our communities with the best possible chance of re-skilling.”
Liberal National Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington said Ms Trad was “out of touch”.
“The coal industry is vitally important to Queensland: it builds our schools, it builds our roads, it puts police on the beat,” Ms Frecklington said.
“It is important we support the coal industry and I will back the workers in this state in their plight to want to work within the coal industry, unlike Labor’s Deputy Premier who believes that all coal workers in Queensland need to re-skill.”
Environment Minister Leeanne Enoch refused to put a timeframe on her department’s assessment of Adani’s plan to protect the endangered black-throated finch, which the government has stalled by ordering an external review by Melbourne University. “The independent regulator has the right to seek out independent, scientific advice in the decision-making processes without political interference,” she said.
The Environment Department’s deputy director-general of regulation, Dean Ellwood, ordered the finch review on December 7, three days after he and Ms Enoch were lobbied by Stop Adani activists.
At the same time, the activists were lobbying federal Labor MPs to obtain “new information” about the black-throated finch and groundwater issues as a legal pretext to revoke the project’s environmental approvals.
LNP frontbencher Lachlan Millar raised alarms about the appointment of Greens candidates by the state Environment Department, each of whom have publicly campaigned against Adani’s Carmichael project.
The bureaucrats include Kirsten Lovejoy, who is now principal policy officer in the state Environment Department.
Gary Kane, a former Greens candidate for Brisbane City Council, is now principal community response officer in the department’s regulatory division, which is assessing the Carmichael project.
And Tim Seelig, a veteran environmental activist, is the principal adviser (strategic policy) to Environment Department director-general Jamie Merrick.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, when asked about the appointments, said: “My understanding is that those positions were on a recruitment basis as they are public service positions.”
