The NSW Government today ignored a clear warning from its own independent climate adviser: that expanding coal mining breaks the state’s climate laws, and our kids will pay for it.
The Government accepted four of the Commission’s five findings but refused to accept the most important one: that continued coal mine extensions and expansions are not consistent with the emissions reduction targets in NSW’s own Climate Change Act or the Paris Agreement. The response simply restates existing policy.
Parents for Climate, representing thousands of NSW families, said the response was a test of whether the Minns Government plans ahead for NSW kids the way parents do every day and the Government failed it.
Nic Seton, CEO of Parents for Climate, says:
“Every coal ship that leaves Newcastle sends something back to NSW families: rising pollution, more bushfire risk, more floods, more heatwave days off school. NSW residents are already $20,000 a year worse off because of climate change, paying for it at the checkout, on insurance premiums and at the doctor.”
“Foreign-owned coal companies are pocketing the profits, Glencore and Yancoal stand to make over $6 billion from the Hunter Valley Operations expansion alone. Meanwhile parents pay the price in rising insurance and food bills, our kids inherit the debt, and the companies increase their profit.”
The Government’s response points to $2.7 billion in coal royalties. Climate change is projected to cost the NSW economy nearly twenty times that with estimates at $51.4 billion every year by 2050. Plus the average worker losing $3,500 in income annually for the next 50 years.
“No parent would keep betting the family’s future on something they know is ending. That’s exactly what approving more coal is doing to NSW communities.The Net Zero Commission has given the NSW Government its homework: stop approving coal extensions and expansions. If Premier Minns is serious about protecting our kids from climate disasters, the first test is simple, reject the Hunter Valley Operations expansion, the biggest coal project ever proposed in NSW.”
“Our kids needed a plan today. They got a press release. The Government admits coal demand is collapsing, but its plan is to wait for the market to decide, that’s not a plan, it’s how companies cut and run while communities are left behind. Extending existing coal mines locks in decades of emissions that children alive right now will pay for in heatwaves, floods and disasters,” Mr Seton said.
Parents for Climate is calling on the NSW Government to:
A firm legal limit on coal pollution, with real targets, not vague promises: Set a binding emissions budget and hard reduction targets for the coal sector in the 2026 Net Zero Plan, including a specific fossil methane reduction target. Without them, NSW has little hope of meeting its legislated targets.
Reject the Hunter Valley Operations along with the Maules Creek and Moolarben expansions and end approvals of coal extensions and expansions for export.
Guarantee at least $150 million per year for the Future Jobs and Investment Fund to retrain coal workers and back new industries in their towns so coal communities get a real plan, not an empty promise.
“Coal workers and their communities deserve better than a government that keeps them guessing. Planning ahead isn’t radical, it’s what every parent does. We’re asking the Government to parent like we do: look at what’s coming, be honest about it, and build a future our kids can inherit with pride.” Mr Seton said.
