Lock the Gate Alliance is calling on political candidates vying for power at the October state election to protect communities from more climate change-driven extreme weather by opposing new coal and gas projects.
Queensland has just sweltered through record-breaking winter heat with state’s highest ever August temperature recorded last week.
The run of extreme winter heat coincides with the launch of Lock the Gate Alliance’s Queensland election campaign. In the past week, the Alliance has sent interim scorecards to all MPs and candidates vying for election at the October poll. Lock the Gate’s election asks are available here.
This week, a fleet of mobile billboards will hit the streets of Brisbane, accusing LNP and Labor MPs of “fueling the fire” that has helped drive the winter heatwave.
The fuel being added to the fire:
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There are at least 18 new coal mines or expansions due to come online in QLD in the next five years.
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These are expected to mine about 100 million tonnes of additional coal each year.
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More than 16,000 coal seam gas wells have been drilled in Queensland, with more than 10,000 currently operating, mostly in the Darling and Western Downs.
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There are massive expansions planned - APLNG alone wants to drill a further 7,700 CSG wells, while Arrow Energy recently announced 450 new wells would be drilled near Miles, and Senex announced 151 new wells for its Atlas Stage 3 project. These are just a few of the many greenfield CSG projects and expansions planned for inland QLD from the NSW border to north west of Airlie Beach.
While both LNP and Labor support new coal and gas projects, including on priority agricultural land, Labor recently introduced legislation to ban new oil and gas drilling on the floodplains of Queensland’s Lake Eyre Basin. The LNP has not said whether it supports these protections and has instead committed to further “consultation”.
The LNP has also not committed to retaining the right for communities to challenge approval of coal and gas projects in the state’s Land Court. The party scrapped the rights of communities to oppose the biggest and most damaging mines when it last came to power in 2014. The rights were subsequently reintroduced by Labor.
The Greens have confirmed the party’s opposition to all new coal and gas projects, including on priority agricultural land.
Katter’s Australian Party has historically opposed coal seam gas drilling on priority farmland, however the party is also supportive of the coal industry, and opposed to Labor’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets.
“The main driver of global warming is the burning of fossil fuels like coal and gas, yet both Labor and Liberal parties continue to pour fuel on the fire and fail big time when it comes to mitigating the harm caused by these industries in QLD,” said Lock the Gate Alliance National Coordinator Ellen Roberts.
“You don’t need to be a meteorologist to realise the intense heat baking parts of QLD right now is due to climate change.
“Queensland is among the world’s biggest exporters of both coal and gas, and these exports are fuelling the world’s addiction to dangerous fossil fuels, driving the climate crisis into overdrive.
“Billions of dollars are required for climate change mitigation and adaptation as extreme weather hits Queensland industries like agriculture and tourism hard.
“Queensland’s regional communities are particularly vulnerable to extreme, climate change driven weather events, with more intense cyclones, droughts, heatwaves, and floods becoming more likely.
“We’re calling on all political candidates to commit to protecting our water, farmland, climate, and regional communities, and prevent the risky and unsafe expansion of coal and gas.
“For the sake of this great state, its people, and its great lifestyle that we all cherish, all parties must commit to an end to the approval of new coal and gas projects.”
ENDS
Background:
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Queensland is Australia’s biggest coal exporting state, with 200 million tonnes sent overseas in 2021 from more than 60 operating coal mines.
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Queensland exported 23 million tonnes of gas in 2021.