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Energy policies announced today by the Greens do not reflect the current reality of Australia’s energy needs and would threaten highly paid, highly skilled jobs in regional communities. 

 

Our energy policies should be technology neutral so they do not damage the economy, destroy jobs and hurt Australian businesses and families.    

 

Coal is Australia’s number one export earner, generating $66 billion in export revenue in 2018. 

 

More than 50,000 Australian workers are directly employed in the coal industry with an additional 120,000 indirect jobs generated in transport, banking, insurance, process engineering, construction, equipment, explosives, tyre and fuel supplies. 

 

In 2018, coal provided almost 70 per cent of all electricity in Australia.  In Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, coal provided 79 per cent of electricity supplies. 

 

When Hazelwood Power Station which supplied around 25 per cent of Victoria’s power closed in 2017, wholesale power prices jumped 80 per cent. In January this year, 200,000 Victorian households and businesses suffered blackouts because of a lack of power generation. 

 

The minerals industry acknowledges that sustained global action is required to reduce the risks of humaninduced climate change. 

 

Addressing climate change is not easy, and it will take as many pathways as possible and full industry involvement particularly for a major energy and resource-intensive country like Australia, which needs a diverse future energy mix that balances affordability, reliability and emissions reduction.   

 

The Australian coal industry is investing hundreds of millions of dollars to reduce emissions through technologies like Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS).   

 

Today, the equivalent of eight million cars are removed from the roads each year by18 CCS facilities operating around the world. 

 

MCA supports a measured transition to a low emissions economy, which includes Australia’s participation in global agreements such as the Paris Agreement. 

 

Our energy policies should be technology neutral so they do not damage the economy, destroy jobs and hurt Australian businesses and families.    

 

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