Bowen’s mine visit to win over coal workers

Opposition energy spokesman moves to convince voters their jobs will be safe if he is energy minister.

Opposition energy spokesman Chris Bowen and Labor senator Anthony Chisholm with a BHP worker at the Gregory Crinum coal mine in Queensland. Picture: Supplied

Chris Bowen has visited a coalmine in central Queensland as he moves to convince voters in the resources-rich state their jobs will be safe if he is energy ­minister.

The opposition energy spokesman, who took over the role from Left faction heavyweight Mark Butler in January, visited BHP’s Gregory Crinum mine in the Bowen Basin with Queensland Labor senator Anthony Chisholm on Thursday.

In a move that will appease environmentalists, Mr Bowen visited a mine that extracts metallurgical coal, which is used to make steel. Thermal coal is used for energy production.

Mr Bowen talked up the potential for metallurgical coal to help build renewables projects.

“Renewables are an increasing part of the energy mix, and the materials like the steel made from the metallurgical coal we visited today are a critical part of that story and the Queensland economy,” he said.

Mr Bowen and Senator Chisholm also visited a solar park near the town of Emerald.

Anthony Albanese has avoided coalmines since becoming Labor leader, despite several visits to coal-rich regional Queensland and the NSW Hunter Valley.

Queensland’s most senior Labor MP, opposition Treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers, is also yet to visit a coalmine since the election in his many visits to ­regional hubs in the state.

The failure by the Opposition Leader and Dr Chalmers to visit coalmines is in contrast to the stated policy of Labor, that the party will not implement any cap or limit on coal exports if it wins government. It is also despite Labor having an image problem in resources communities, which was exploited at the last election by the ­Coalition as Scott Morrison’s team convinced workers in traditional industries that Bill Shorten planned to close their jobs.

Labor’s election review stated Mr Shorten’s ambivalence over the Adani project cost the party support throughout Queensland and the NSW Hunter Valley, while Labor figures say the party’s language on resources and climate change damaged its prospects in Western Australia.

Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles and Labor frontbencher Ed Husic made low-profile visits to coalmines over summer.

Under the Paris Agreement, Australia is not responsible for the carbon emissions from coal that is mined locally and burned in power stations overseas.

Demand for Australian coal will likely decline over the next three decades without any changes of policy in Canberra, as key trading partners work towards net-zero by 2050 targets.

But with 70 per cent of coal mined in Australia being exported, it will remain a major industry in the short and medium terms under the current policies of both the Coalition and Labor.