Anthony Albanese plays down coal omission from Labor’s national party platform
Anthony Albanese has defended wiping any reference to coal from the party’s draft national platform, insisting Labor is ‘getting the balance right’ between jobs and sustainability.
The Prime Minister has defended ditching reference to coal in the party’s draft national platform and has declared Labor is getting the “balance right” between job growth and sustainability.
The Australian revealed last month Labor had dumped supportive references to coal in its draft policy platform ahead of August’s national conference in Brisbane.
Some Labor MPs said the change was “a reflection” of where the party had moved to, while others raised concern with the shift in language.
Anthony Albanese on Tuesday defended the tweak to the platform and said people could “read a lot of things into it”.
“The platform contains the principles, it doesn’t deal with all of the detail. My caucus deals with all of that.”
The ALP national platform is compiled by a group of Labor MPs, party members and unionists – known as the national policy forum – and binds the party to policies that it takes to the election.
Mr Albanese played down omissions in the latest platform compared to previous drafts, which was part of the party’s plan to streamline the document.
“What happened in the lead up to the last conference was a significant review to make the platform shorter,” he said.
Mr Albanese said Labor’s strong track record on jobs spoke for itself when it came to the party’s support for various industries.
“We support jobs, but we also support sustainability. We’re getting that balance right,” he said.
“We’re making a difference on climate change, but we’re also making a difference on jobs in the economy and I’m quite proud that in our first year … almost half a million jobs have been created on our watch.
“Overwhelmingly, they’ve been full time jobs. Overwhelmingly, as well a majority of those have been filled by women.”
In response to concerns raised about the dumping of coal from the platform, Resources Minister Madeleine King said last month Australia’s prosperity had been “built on, and will continue to grow from, the efforts of workers in the resources sector right around the country”.
“No matter what the resource, Labor has always supported mining workers and we always will,” Ms King said.
The change in language in the platform comes after Labor stressed during the 2022 election campaign that it would not stand in the way of any coal mines that adhered to environmental standards.
“If coal mines stack up environmentally, and then commercially, which is the decision for the companies, then they get approved. Labor would welcome any jobs that would be created from that,” Mr Albanese said while campaigning in Queensland in April.
When asked at the time if he would sign up to a global pledge to end the use of coal power over the next two decades Mr Albanese said “no”. “Coal is a part of our energy mix here in Australia, right now,” he said.
Labor holds four seats in the coalmining region of the NSW Hunter Valley and is aiming to improve its standing in Queensland after winning just five out of 30 seats at the last election.
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