Greens’ Galilee Basin bill ‘could increase global carbon emissions’

A bill banning thermal coalmining in the Galilee Basin is under fire amid warnings it could increase global carbon emissions.

Senator Larissa Waters and Greens Leader Senator Richard Di Natale at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: Kym Smith

A Greens bill banning thermal coalmining in Queensland’s Galilee Basin could increase global carbon emissions, the Mineral Council of Australia says.

If made law, Greens senator Larissa Waters’s bill would permanently ban the mining of all coal in the Galilee Basin and stop the Adani Carmichael mine from starting operations.

A submission from the MCA to be lodged today with a Senate inquiry into the bill states demand for thermal coal will remain high whether the Galilee Basin is mined or not, and this will lead to an increase of lower grade coal production in developing countries.

“Asian markets will obtain thermal coal from other suppliers such as Indonesia which generally have lower grade of thermal coal than Australia,” the submission reads.

“Therefore the proposed bill may have the perverse outcome of encouraging the use of a less energy-efficient but more ­emissions-intensive source of coal.”

The Minerals Council has joined the Queensland branch of the Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union in denouncing the Greens bill to a parliamentary inquiry into Senator Waters’s prohibition bill.

The submission also says any prohibition could imperil nearly 19,000 construction jobs and more than 14,000 operational jobs for Queenslanders.

“Queens­land’s unemployment rate is the highest in the ­nation … The Galilee Basin projects deliver vastly improved job prospects in regional Queensland,” the submission reads.

“These projects would create indirect benefits … for regional small businesses throughout central Queensland.”

The MCA also says the bill may be unconstitutional.

“A blanket ban of mining in a region of Australia will have a significantly negative impact on investors’ sentiment in Australia’s broader resources sector,” the submission reads.

“In this context, the constitutionality of the bill needs to be carefully considered, especially in relation to section 99 of the Constitution where ‘The commonwealth shall not, by any law or regulation of trade, commerce, or revenue, give preference to one state or any part thereof over another state or any part thereof.’ ”

Senator Waters said in the Senate on December 5 last year the Galilee Basin was a “giant carbon bomb”.

“If the Galilee Basin were a country, it would be the seventh highest CO2 emitter in the world, sitting just behind Germany and well above Canada and the UK,” she said.

“Allowing this basin to be opened up is both socially and environmentally negligent.”

The CFMEU’s Queensland branch has also condemned the Greens prohibition bill, saying in a joint submission with the Queensland Resources Council that Senator Water would fail to achieve her aim while hurting Queensland.