Teals tried to stop jobs lifeline for thousands of miners

The Albanese government ignored an 11th-hour bid by teal MPs to stop it approving coalmine extensions that have shored up thousands of jobs in Queensland and NSW.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek says metallurgical coal is essential for making steel used in constructing renewable energy infrastructure. Picture: Martin Ollman/NewsWire

The Albanese government ignored an 11th-hour bid by teal MPs to stop it approving coalmine extensions that have shored up thousands of jobs in Queensland and NSW.

Six teals, along with independent senator David Pocock and Tasmanian MP Andrew Wilkie, joined forces in an attempt to stop the mine extensions on environmental grounds.

The teals and two independents told the government it was at risk of breaching the hard cap on carbon emissions set under the safeguard mechanism – Labor’s flagship emissions-reduction policy for heavy industry.

They wrote to Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen and Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek on December 17 warning against extension approvals for the Boggabri mine, BHP’s Caval Ridge mine and the Lake Vermont Meadowbrook mine.

The MPs raised concerns that approving the mines would jeopardise the hard cap on greenhouse gas emissions and pre-empt an important review of the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Scheme.

The government approved the three mine extensions on Thursday and also gave a green tick for Queensland-based Vitrinite to proceed with its Vulcan South mine amid disputed allegations it illegally destroyed koala habitat.

Teal MP Sophie Scamps said the government was talking out of both sides of its mouth on the environment and emissions-reduction targets in the countdown to the federal election.

Dr Scamps said approval for the privately owned Jellinbah Group to extend its Lake Vermont Meadowbrook mine would dramatically increase emissions, and fugitive methane emissions from the BHP’s Caval Ridge mine and Idemitsu’s Boggabri mine were routinely underestimated.

She conceded it involved thousands of jobs but said mine construction workers could find alternative employment building 1.2 million homes and renewable energy projects in line with government policy settings.

In vindicating the coalmine extensions, Ms Plibersek said the government made decisions on a case-by-case basis in accordance with the facts and the law.

The approvals were for mine extensions, not new mines. And the mines involved were focused on producing coal for use in steelmaking. She said steel was needed in wind and solar farms, and there was “no feasible renewable alternatives for making steel”.

BHP, a fierce critic of the government’s workplace changes and Queensland’s coal royalty hikes, welcomed the green light to extend its Caval Ridge Mine in the Bowen Basin subject to 60 conditions, including land-clearing limits.

The approval allows BHP to continue mining but not to increase production at operations that support more than 1400 jobs.

“The world needs reliable long-term supplies of higher-quality metallurgical coal for steelmaking, to support economic development and to make the infrastructure required for decarbonisation,” a BHP spokesman said.

“This (approval) supports the continued operations at the existing Caval Ridge metallurgical coalmine.”

The teals’ letter warned Jellinbah’s application to shift from open cut to underground mining at the Lake Vermont Meadowbrook project would lead to a big increase in estimated emissions under the safeguard mechanism.

“It will therefore also dramatically reduce the remaining space under the safeguard’s hard cap of 1233 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent,” the letter read.

“According to the Queensland Co-ordinator General’s assessment of the project, scope 1 emissions from the mine are projected to exceed 1 million tonnes per year of carbon dioxide equivalent by as early as 2027 and 1.5 million tonnes per year by 2028, causing a substantial risk to the safeguard mechanism hard cap.

“This would transition the Lake Vermont Meadowbrook project from a relatively low emissions intensity to potentially the third highest emitting coalmine in Australia by as early as 2028.”

The teals warned this single mine approval could consume 6 per cent of the remaining buffer zone under the safeguard mechanism’s hard cap by 2030.

More than 70 condition were imposed on Jellinbah’s Lake Vermont Meadowbrook project, which is expected to support about 43 full-time jobs.