Federal budget 2023: Labor’s tick of approval for coal

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has given the green light for a new coal project to proceed in central Queensland and progressed approvals for a further three.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek. Picture: Jane Dempster

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has given the green light for a new coal project to proceed in central Queensland and progressed approvals for a further three after proponents proved they would not have a “substantial” impact on climate change.

The federal government confirmed the Isaac River project, near Moranbah in central Queensland, had been approved after proponents were able to satisfy environmental concerns.

Ms Plibersek on Thursday also knocked back attempts by Environmental Justice Australia to block three coal projects – two in NSW and one in Queensland – paving the way for them to proceed to the next stage of environmental approvals.

The lobby group had been pushing to have 18 coal and gas projects cancelled, with projects impacted including White­haven’s Narrabri project in NSW, Queensland’s Bowen Basin Coal in Meadowbrook and a Woodside gas project in West Australia.

It is understood the lobbyists were unable to prove the projects would be a significant cause of climate change in Australia under federal environment laws.

The move infuriated the Greens amid deteriorating negotiations over Labor’s signature housing bill, with the minor party lobbying for a blanket ban on all fossil-fuel projects.

Greens environmental spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young said the approval was a “cynical” development “at the end of budget week to avoid scrutiny” and called for Labor to implement a climate trigger.

“In the same week the Albanese government gave next to nothing in the budget for protection and restoration of the environment, the minister has signalled her intent to approve a new coalmine in endangered species’ habitat,” Senator Hanson-Young said.

“Australia’s environment laws are clearly broken. Polluting projects are failing to be ­assessed for the emissions they create.

“We desperately need a climate trigger which will stop new coal and gas in its tracks.”

The approval comes after The Australian revealed Ms Plibersek approved an application from energy giant Santos to construct and operate an expansion of 116 gas wells at a facility in the Surat Basin out until 2077.

A spokeswoman for Ms Plibersek said the projects were ­assessed on merit and in accordance with environmental laws, and emphasised Labor’s environmental credentials, including doubling the rate of renewable energy approvals since the former Coalition government was in office.

“The Albanese government has to make decisions in accordance with the facts and the ­national environment law – that’s what happens on every project, and that’s what’s happened here,” she said.

Ms Plibersek last week ­rejected applications for two coalmines in Queensland after the proponents failed to submit information about their impacts on water and threatened species.

The Isaac River project mine will produce metallurgical coal, which is used to make steel, over a five-year period, and the government said no submissions about the project had been ­received during the formal consultation period.