We will boost the economy by approving New Acland mine

Signs express frustration over New Acland stage three. Picture: Kevin Farmer

Remember faxes? The last fax I ever received was from Alan Jones containing handwritten notes he had prepared for his radio show that morning. I was the campaign director for Queensland Labor and the Sydney broadcaster had come back to work early in January 2015 to turn his anger towards then-premier Campbell Newman. Jones had never really been a factor in Queensland politics until that second-last week of the election campaign when he ripped into Newman every morning. As a first-time listener to Jones, I enjoyed these morning diatribes against Newman and no doubt it was a blow to the LNP campaign.

Within a fortnight Annastacia Palaszczuk stunned everyone by winning the election and becoming Premier. There are always many factors in an election win, and no one deserves more credit than Palaszczuk.

Jones attacking Labor would hardly have been newsworthy, but Jones attacking the conservatives, and Newman personally, dominated a couple of days of the campaign. The future of the New Acland mine was part of Jones’s motivation — yet the mine has been in limbo ever since.

More than two years later in July 2017 and in my role as a senator for Queensland, I visited the mine, to get a sense of its geographic location, rehabilitation efforts, mood of the workforce and gauge its future. Talking to local media after the visit I supported the continuation of New Acland. But no progress has been made on the stage-three approval that is now critical. They are fast running out of other coal to mine and jobs have already been lost. The company started the stage-three expansion approvals 13 years ago — surely all sides would agree that 13 years is too long to wait for such a process. Let me be clear, the company has made mistakes throughout the process and must accept some of the responsibility for the position it is in, but there are jobs and livelihoods at risk, at a time when every job is vital to our economic recovery.

I understand why people would oppose the opening up of a new coal basin, but the case of New Acland should not be an issue. Coal was first mined in this area in 1913; indeed, the town of Acland was largely established to help service the development of mining in the area. Mining and farming have happily coexisted in the region for more than a century. The mine also has existing customers in overseas markets; about 90 per cent of the coal is exported to the Asia-Pacific, with Japan being the biggest customer. New Acland also supplies the nearby, state-owned Tarong Power Station, which is due to be in operation for at least another 17 years. Vitally, the New Acland coal is used by Tarong because its low sulphur content is needed to help it keep within its environmental limits when mixed with other lesser-quality coal.

The Queensland government has been cautious in its handling of the New Acland approval, preferring to wait until all legal issues have been resolved. That’s understandable, but circumstances have changed and decisive action is required. Without the go-ahead more jobs will go. The government needs to find a way to enable the mine to start its expansion while being respectful of the legal process. It would then be on the company to accept the financial risk if it cannot satisfy the legal impediments for the stage-three expansion.

To get the Queensland economy chugging, some boldness is required. The Queensland government was bold in the aftermath of the Virgin Airlines receivership, and aggressively staked out a position to protect Queensland jobs, put money on the table and delivered a good outcome for the state. The people of Queensland backed that. They must apply that same attitude to future economic challenges, including New Acland. The Queensland government has done a great job adapting to the health challenges; it should show the same leadership when it comes to our economic future.

The previous two Queensland Labor premiers have been at the opening of the initial stages of New Acland mine; stage one was opened by Peter Beattie in 2003, stage two by Anna Bligh in 2007. I hope Annastacia Palaszczuk becomes the third Labor premier to open the next stage of New Acland so that it can continue to provide jobs and economic ­opportunity for workers and their families.

Anthony Chisholm is a senator for Queensland.