2023-02-08
The Greens have welcomed the Environment Minister’s decision to reject Clive Palmer’s Central Queensland Coal Project but called for the Albanese Government to rule out any new coal and gas projects.
Greens Environment Spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said:
“The Minister has made the right call and to her I say ‘good job, now let’s knock off the rest’.
“This decision is the thin edge of the wedge. There was 118 new coal and gas projects in the pipeline. One down, 117 to go.
“From Narrabri’s double-whammy new coal and gas projects, Woodside’s north-west shelf offshore gas extension, billionaire miner Gina Rinehart’s proposed CSG expansion in the Surat Basin, or the Mount Pleasant coal project extension in the Hunter, the Minister has many projects left to rule out.
“Any new or expanded coal or gas projects will blow Labor’s already weak 43 per cent target out the water.
“Approving more coal and gas in the midst of a climate crisis is reckless and dangerous.
“It is clear we need a climate trigger in our environment laws to require the Minister to consider the impact the emissions from a project will have on the climate crisis.
“If the Albanese Labor Government is truly committed to tackling the climate crisis they’ll stop approving projects that make it worse.”