HIGH COURT DECISION ON EMISSIONS A WAKE-UP CALL
Today’s High Court decision on the Mount Pleasant coal mine should be a wake-up call for governments across Australia.
The decision highlights just how difficult Australia has made it to develop the resources that underpin our economy, our energy security and the living standards of Australian families.
The Court has made its decision based on the law and planning framework before it, but the consequences should concern every Australian who wants investment, jobs and affordable energy.
A system in which an Australian resources project can be blocked or delayed because of an assessment of the climate effects of emissions generated overseas is a system not aligned with Australia’s national interest.
Governments and parliaments write these laws, and governments and parliaments can fix them.
The answer is not to attack the judiciary for interpreting the law, but to remove the regulatory settings that have allowed Australian projects to become increasingly vulnerable to climate litigation, delay and uncertainty.
Australia is one of the most resource-rich nations on earth, yet governments have progressively wrapped our coal, gas and resources industries in layers of climate regulation, carbon taxes, lengthy approvals processes and opportunities for litigation.
It is absurd that Australia should carry greater regulatory risk because of emissions generated overseas.
Making it harder to mine Australian coal doesn’t reduce demand, it simply means the coal will be bought from somewhere else.
That costs Australia jobs, export income, royalties, investment and economic opportunity while doing nothing to guarantee a reduction in global emissions.
The Coalition has a different approach.
We will scrap net zero, abolish Labor’s punitive Safeguard Mechanism and remove regulatory impediments that are strangling investment in Australian resources.
Our priority will be Australia first. Australian resources supporting Australian jobs, Australian industry, affordable and reliable energy, and the economic and national security.
A nation that can feed itself, fuel itself and defend itself has choices. The Coalition wants Australia to have those choices.
Australia should not be tying itself in knots while our competitors develop their resources and take the investment, jobs and economic opportunities that should be ours.
ENDS