Claims that Clive Palmer’s proposed Central Queensland coalmine would help the Great Barrier Reef – and would generate “more jobs per hectare” – have been derided as “completely laughable” by an environmentalist, economist and First Nations people.
Earlier this month environment minister Tanya Plibersek said she intended to block the coalmine due to its “unacceptable impacts” on the reef world heritage area, which is 10km from the two proposed open cut mines.
Central Queensland Coal issued a 112-page response to the proposed rejection that outlined, among other claims, that the mine would create “more jobs generated per hectare” than the reef.
“The CQC proposal is a greater economic powerhouse [than the reef] exceeding on multiple levels the revenue and jobs generated per hectare,” it reads.
“It can be calculated that the Great Barrier Reef generates $1,858 per ha, whereas the mine could generate up to $1,618,799 per hectare at a 871 times multiplier.”
The Grattan Institute’s energy program director, Tony Wood, described the claim as a “you-must-be-joking” argument.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” Wood said.
“Why would you want to compare jobs per hectare? You can’t mine on the Great Barrier Reef and you can’t have tourism at a coalmine. They are just not comparable.”
“And most people would put more value on the barrier reef than just the current value of tourism.”
Palmer told the Guardian that global emissions would soar if the mine was not dug, as he said China would source its coal from Indonesia and would burn “three times more” of its lower-grade coal.
“So actually, global warming, we get a positive impact, a reduction,” he said of the scenario under which his mine was approved.
“I’m just trying to be rational about it.”
But Australian Marine Conservation Society’s Cherry Muddle said global heating was the greatest threat to the reef and that any coal burnt would accelerate the unprecedented coral bleaching it was already experiencing.
“So that argument that burning coal will help the reef is completely laughable,” Muddle said.
She said the reef was “more than just jobs and money”.
“The Great Barrier Reef is of hugely significant importance for Queenslanders, for our way of life, for fishing for traditional custodians, spiritually, culturally,” she said. “It’s value is immeasurable.”
Wirdi woman Murrawah Johnson said First Nations people were “collateral damage” in discussions around fossil fuel extraction that focused only on economics.
Johnson is co-director of Youth Verdict, which is challenging the Waratah coalmine – another of Palmer’s proposals in central Queensland – at the land court under the state’s Human Rights Act.
Johnson said many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s cultural rights were already being infringed upon by the climate crisis.
“They’re very survival in a sense, cultural survival, and ability to remain on country depends on whether new coalmines and new carbon burning projects are approved or not,” she said.
“We can’t be building new coalmines in 2022, it just can’t happen.”
