2021-02-02
The Hunter Valley needs a new coal-fired power station like it needs a hole in the head. I have spent a lot of time in the Hunter Valley, and the people there know that coal has no future. They know how damaging coal is for the climate. They know how harmful coaldust is for them, their families and their children. They know that there is no future in coal, that it is a collapsing industry. The irrational exuberance of Pauline Hanson's One Nation and the coalition to keep pushing coal is criminal. People in the Hunter actually want a plan to build a clean, healthy, sustainable, jobs-rich future for their communities. They know that dirty coal and gas are not going to give them that future. We have an opportunity to remake society so that no-one is left behind and to transition away from coal. The Hunter needs to be free of giant fossil-fuel corporations and their interests. They don't have to be, and they shouldn't be, burdened by another coal-fired power station.