The Australia Institute, an Australian public policy think tank, has published a message in the Fiji Times apologising for Australia’s coal expansion, timed to the pre-COP31 climate talks being held in Fiji and co-hosted by Australia’s Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen. In a statement carried by Mirage News on 5 October, the group said delegates arriving for the negotiations would see the message in the newspaper.
Key facts
- The Institute said the extension of the Hunter Valley Operations coal mine, in the Hunter coal district of New South Wales, was given planning approval in the week before its 5 October statement.
- The group said that extension will generate 809 million tonnes of climate pollution out to 2045.
- Mirage News’s account of the statement does not name the mine’s operator or give the volume of coal to be dug, and the Institute did not publish the NSW approval documents alongside its message.
The number doing the work
The 809 million tonne figure is the whole of the Institute’s case, so its scale is worth stating plainly: spread across the two decades to 2045, it averages roughly 40 million tonnes of climate pollution a year from a single planning decision. It is also close to seven times the 120 million tonnes that Scoop attributed to a separate 30-year coal extension waved through in Queensland a month earlier — one approval in NSW outweighing, several times over, the decision that drew the loudest Pacific protest of the year so far.
Why it matters
The Australia Institute said climate change is threatening the very existence of several Pacific Island nations, and that Pacific leaders have repeatedly asked Australia to reduce its reliance on, and export of, fossil fuels. Its message lands in Fiji while Australia’s own minister is in the chair at the pre-COP meeting — and while Scoop reported that Pacific leaders maintain climate change is the “single greatest threat to the livelihoods, security and wellbeing of Pacific people and communities.”
Among those travelling to the Fiji talks are Fijian villagers bringing relocation stories to the meeting, and Torres Strait Islanders have asked for a seat at the same talks.
What the Australia Institute said
Noah Schultz-Byard, Strategic Director at The Australia Institute, said in the statement carried by Mirage News: “Australia is a terrible neighbour to its Pacific family.” He said Australian leaders fly around the world making bold statements about meaningful climate action, then return home and approve new coal and gas projects. The group said that despite the rhetoric of Minister Bowen and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at events such as the Pacific Islands Forum, Australia continues to expand fossil fuel mining.
Schultz-Byard said this round of COP negotiations has become a crucial test for Australia, and that strong, real-world commitments to phasing out fossil fuels are an essential minimum outcome from this year’s conference if the country is to have any respectability in the international climate space.
Background: the pattern the Institute is pointing to
The Institute’s charge is one of repetition rather than a single approval, and the most recent precedent is the decision Pacific campaigners were protesting in September. Scoop reported on 8 September that the Australian Government approved a 30-year extension of the Saraji open-cut mine — owned by the BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) and one of 48 active coal mines in Queensland’s Bowen Basin — adding 120 million tonnes of climate pollution and 55 million tonnes of exported coal out to 2055, on Barada Barna/Wirdi traditional country.
350.org Pacific and the Pacific Climate Warriors condemned that decision, which Scoop said solidifies Australia’s position as the largest coal exporter in the world. “It is infuriating,” Fenton Lutunatabua, 350.org Pacific and Caribbean Program Lead, told Scoop, saying news that the world will breach the 1.5°C limit by the end of the decade should have lit the fire of urgency instead, and that Australia had again used its geopolitical power to claim the Pacific does not object. He said the harm runs from First Nations custodians at the mine to Pacific communities facing the climate impact, and that BMA announced record profits for the last financial year. Four weeks later, that argument is the one the Fiji Times message repeats — with a bigger number attached.
Neither source reports a response from Minister Bowen, the Australian government or BMA.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Pacific countries did the Australia Institute name in its message?
Mirage News quoted the Australia Institute’s Noah Schultz-Byard naming Kiribati, Fiji, Vanuatu, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands. He said that for those nations the climate crisis is real and happening now, rather than a distant prediction.
Where did Pacific leaders last press Australia on fossil fuels?
According to Scoop, Pacific Islands Forum leaders met in Palau, where they underscored the urgency of ambitious global climate action consistent with the best available science. Scoop reported that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was meeting Pacific leaders when the Saraji coal extension was announced.
What has UNEP said about new coal and gas infrastructure?
Scoop cited UNEP’s latest report as confirming that any long-lived, high-emission infrastructure would lock in a trajectory making future emissions reductions extremely difficult. Scoop said the report finds this denies the world a chance of returning to the 1.5°C limit.
Does BHP Mitsubishi Alliance have coal plans beyond Saraji?
Scoop reported that the BHP Mitsubishi Alliance has tentative plans to extend its Peak Downs mine in the Bowen Basin to the year 2119 — which Scoop said is 70 years past the world’s net zero deadline.
