Queensland coalmine approval puts focus on ALP policy

An extension to a metallurgical coalmine in central Queensland has been approved by the Palaszczuk government while a thermal coal project is still waiting for approval after 14 years.

Pit operator Stewart Mills is one of the workers at the New Acland mine facing uncertainty. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

An extension to a metallurgical coalmine in central Queensland has been approved by the state Labor government while a thermal coal project three times the size at New Acland is still waiting for approval after 14 years.

The approval was lauded by the government in a media release on Wednesday, highlighting the government’s differing treatment of thermal and metallurgical coal, which was exposed as a deliberate “policy decision” during a hearing this year.

Resources Minister Scott Stewart announced the government had granted final approval for the third mining pit at Stanmore’s Isaac Plains complex near Moranbah in central Queensland. The $82m expansion is expected to support the 300 existing jobs at Isaac Plains for another 10 years and produce 2.5 million tonnes of metallurgical coal a year.

Meanwhile, Mr Stewart has refused to approve the $300m expansion of the New Acland mine, near Toowoomba – which would produce up to 500 million tonnes of thermal coal a year and support about 500 jobs – because of ­ongoing court action.

New Acland will dismiss another 20 workers on Friday, reducing its workforce to about 100 after sacking more than 200 workers in the past two years.

A decision has been stalled for years while miner New Hope has faced legal challenges in four courts, including the longest-ever hearing in the Land Court.

The mine is awaiting a third Land Court hearing, due to begin in November, a month after New Acland’s coal supplies are forecast to run out.

Mr Scott Stewart insisted that the Palaszczuk government did not regard approvals for metallurgical and thermal coal mines differently.

He said the government would not stray from its position to defer from approving or rejecting the New Acland expansion until all legal challenges had been exhausted.

“The government’s position on the New Acland coalmine expansion has been consistent since our commitment before the 2017 election: to accept the decision of the courts,” Mr Stewart said.

However, the Palaszczuk government approved the Olive Downs metallurgical coalmine in north Queensland shortly before the 2020 election, despite it also facing legal action in the form of a judicial review.

At a parliamentary committee hearing in April, the department’s director-general, Mike Kaiser, said the differing treatment given to the Olive Downs and New Acland mines was based on a state government “policy decision” and was not the department’s decision.

Opposition resources spokesman Pat Weir supported the Isaac Plains expansion but said the government’s assessment process needed to be clearer.

“The approval process for mines in Queensland needs to be transparent and consistent,” Mr Weir said.

“I also support New Acland Stage Three, which has endured a 14-year approval process.

“More jobs will be lost at Oakey this Friday if the government does not intervene now.”

Federal Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese, under pressure over the Labor Party’s mixed messages on coal in recent years, quietly visited the Isaac Downs coalmine this month. But he did not visit the New Acland mine on the same visit despite being in Toowoomba, which is less than half an hour away.