Pocock wants veto for new coal mines to consider harm to future children

Independent senator David Pocock has sprung a test of the Albanese government’s climate action convictions by forcing it to reject or support a proposed new law that would compel the government to ban new fossil fuel projects to prevent harm to current and future generations of children.

Pocock’s Duty of Care and Intergenerational Equity Bill, to be introduced to the Senate on Monday, applies to ministers with power to approve or fund fossil fuel projects. It would bar them from making major decisions that are likely to increase greenhouse gas emissions when doing so would pose a material risk to children’s health and wellbeing now and in generations to come.

Independent ACT senator David Pocock.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

His move targets Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek, who has veto powers to block coal, gas and other major development approvals, and is a senior member of Labor’s Left faction, which has rank-and-file members campaigning to end fossil fuel developments.

But Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has already rejected any moratorium on new coal and gas plants as disastrous for the economy. Plibersek has already approved three new coal mines in two months.

In May, when the environment minister approved Bowen Coking Coal’s relatively small Isaac River project in central Queensland, she said there were no grounds to reject the company’s development application, which must be considered on a case-by-case basis and not for its cumulative contribution to greenhouse gas emissions.

She has also vetoed several new projects including Clive Palmer’s project in the Great Barrier Reef catchment, which she said risked irreversible damage as it was fewer than 10 kilometres from the World Heritage Site.

Pocock said he was introducing his bill because “we have a moral duty to young people and future generations and as elected representatives, as people who have input into policy. For the decision makers who are actually making these decisions, they have a duty of care to consider the impacts on young people and future generations.”

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has veto powers over major developments that come with serious environmental harms. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The ACT representative will table a private member’s bill in the Senate that applies to ministers for the environment, infrastructure and resources, who can approve or fund coal mines and gas fields, carbon capture and storage projects, and enabling infrastructure such as railways and ports. It does not apply to existing projects.

It follows a move by eight young activists who have brought a class action against coal mine projects. A Federal Court judge accepted the evidence that ministers have a duty of care to protect young people from climate harm, but the decision was overturned in March last year when the then environment minister, Sussan Ley, appealed against it.

While the Albanese government has pledged to cut emissions by 43 per cent by 2030 and to reach net zero by 2050, fossil fuel revenue will help fund further relief including power bill subsidies.

The Greens have also brought in their climate trigger bill, which would force the environment minister to consider the impact on global warming of a major project during the approval process.

Pocock’s bill applies to the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, Export Finance and Insurance Corporation Act, Infrastructure Australia Act, National Reconstruction Fund Corporation Act, Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility Act and the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act.

The Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act gives the minister veto powers over projects if they pose a significant risk of harm to matters of national significance. The act already refers to intergenerational equity in a similar way to Pocock’s bill, but that concept is not applied in the provisions for decision making.

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