The government's decision to expand a coal mining project has appalled environmental groups, as Australia's emissions rise and its climate targets slip further out of reach.
Source:Australia recorded its warmest winter on record in 2023, with experts warning of a dangerously hot and dry spring.
Australia’s winter this year was the warmest on record, with global heating at least partly contributing to above-average maximum temperatures across the entire country. The extension to the Gregory Crinum coal mine, which is located in the Bowen Basin, will allow its owner, Sojitz Blue, to construct, operate, and decommission a coking coal operation at the site until 2073.Environmental research groups condemned the government’s decision to approve the mine extension, which also came just one week after Climate Minister Chris Bowen toured the Pacific to promote Australia as a country that was “delivering real action on climate change”.
“The cognitive dissonance is stunning,” said Climate Council head of advocacy Jennifer Rayner. “It makes zero sense to have one hand claiming Australia is a global leader on action on climate while the other is busy rubber stamping 50 more years of coal.” Rod Campbell, research director at the Australia Institute, however, has outlined a number of ways this argument misses the big picture – noting, for one, that digging up and burning fossilised carbon in any form releases fossil fuels into the atmosphere and contributes to climate change.
“At every step along the way this new coal expansion proposal should have been stopped, because that’s what climate action requires. But it wasn’t stopped,” Campbell said, according to the Guardian. “This can’t be allowed to continue. Either the law needs changing or the government needs to get more creative in interpreting and using the existing laws.
Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Japan ponders custody changes as Australia sends Hogwarts-style letters to abducted kidsParents of abducted children say Japan’s proposed changes do not go far enough.
Read more »
Inquiry into Australia’s handling of COVID pandemic to be announced soonSky News host Chris Kenny reveals the Albanese government will soon announce an inquiry into Australia’s COVID-19 pandemic response. Mr Kenny said it could be announced when parliament sits next week and he understands it would report by the middle of next year. “What we need to know is whether it will cover the states, as well as the federal government, and whether it will have full royal commission powers,” he said. “All the Health Minister's office would say is that the government is committed to holding an inquiry.”
Read more »
Centrelink payments much more inaccurate than Services Australia claims, audit office findsAustralian National Audit Office says nearly one in five payments to recipients are wrong despite Services Australia giving itself close to full marks
Read more »
Australia on track for hottest winter in more than 100 yearsThe mean temperature for winter 2023 is tracking at 1.54 degrees above the seasonal average.
Read more »
Australia on track for hottest winter in more than 100 yearsThe mean temperature for winter 2023 is tracking at 1.54 degrees above the seasonal average.
Read more »
South Australia & Queensland face heightened risk of electricity blackouts this summerAustralia's Energy Market Operator, is calling for urgent investment in renewables to avoid a power crisis.
Read more »