Australia's coal exports are a major source of air pollution.

14 May 2025

ALAN HAYES

 

THE claim from the Coal Lobby Groups that the defeat of some Greens MPs in the Federal election is clear evidence of voter rejection of anti-coal policies and that the continual burning of fossil fuel is overwhelmingly supported is a furphy.

 

The coal lobby’s remarks have sparked criticism, including the use of coal-funded misinformation campaigns during the election campaign period. In one viral example, lobbyists used a photo of an Adelaide restaurant, ‘Coal’ claiming that it was proof of political support despite the massive rejection of the Coalition where they failed to retain any seats.

 

In their last term, Labor, according to Greens Senator Dorinda Cox, demonstrated that they were being held for ransom and were not committed to transitioning towards renewables, through the approval of 30+ new climate wrecking coal and gas mines.

 

Reports released on 28 February 2025 show, however, that Australia is producing record renewable electricity and that emissions are lower than when the Albanese Government took office, with the country on track to achieve its emissions reduction goals.

 

The figures were set out in the September 2024 Quarterly Update of Australia’s National Greenhouse Gas Inventory, the latest Quarterly Carbon Market Reports (QCMR), and National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) data, released by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water and the Clean Energy Regulator.

 

Yet the coal lobby desperately tried to rewrite the outcome of the election in a vain attempt to suit their own interests.

 

Senator Cox said, "Voters overwhelmingly supported climate action, and any attempt to frame this as an endorsement of coal mining is not just dishonest but absurd in the way they have tried to spin it."

 

Australians for Prosperity and similar groups splashed lots of big money, backed by the COALition, on misleading and inflammatory campaigns, yet voters saw right through their hoodwinking attempts to convince them that burning fossil fuel was the way forward.

 

"Their attempt to mislead voters proves that they think the Australian public are stupid. But they aren't, and their scare campaign was rejected at the ballot box," said Senator Cox.

 

“The idea that rejecting ‘absolutism’ means embracing coal is not only wrong, it’s a deliberate misrepresentation of what this election was about. Australians want a safe climate future, not more fossil fuel projects, and the Greens are the only party with a plan to get Australia off fossil fuels and a transition for workers.”

 

Senator Cox said that the Greens now have a sole balance of power in the Senate, which means they will have the negotiating power to get outcomes for people and the planet, including no more new coal and gas.

 

“The Greens will continue to stand strong against new coal and gas projects and fight for a future powered by clean energy, because that’s what people voted for," Senator Cox said.

 

Considering Australia’s emissions intensity and its role as a primary fossil fuel exporter, few people had as much power in the mission to tame the climate crisis than Australian voters in the federal election. And, in light of the landslide victory for Labor, the new government now has the mandate to give hope that clean energy and the climate crisis will sit high on Australia’s agenda in the following years.

 

According to reports, Albanese’s team had started working on net-zero and sector-specific decarbonisation plans before the Australian elections. The government began developing a national climate risk assessment and adaptation strategy, as well as analysing the climate crisis as a threat to national security.

 

Labor also recommitted to its ambitious 82% renewable target for the National Electricity Market by 2030 and prioritised transmission buildout — a major barrier to Australia’s clean energy expansion - launching the Cheaper Home Batteries Program in July 2025 to provide subsidies covering up to 30% of a home battery system’s cost and encourage 1 million home batteries by 2030.

 

All the indications signal that Australia is ready to embrace a more ambitious journey toward decarbonisation, which would be a major boost for clean energy investors, developers and system planners. Considering the country’s emissions intensity and its role as a leading fossil fuel exporter, the Albanese government now has the footprint for the global decarbonisation progress and efforts to tame the climate crisis. A message that must be made clear to the fossil fuel lobbyists - their industry is a dinosaur teetering on the edge of extinction. It's time to let the dinosaur fall off the cliff and die!

 

It's time to move beyond fossil fuel!

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