Cassy O'Connor MP | Greens Leader
We are in the midst of a climate emergency and opening up a new coal mine is a recipe for a climate catastrophe.
The world must be transitioning to clean, green energy but the Tasmanian Government is backing in a coal mine.
The climate emergency requires us to keep carbon in the ground. This is non-negotiable. That’s why the Greens will be moving in State Parliament next week to ban new coal mines in Tasmania.
A few short weeks ago, thousands of Tasmanians rallied for climate action. Their first demand was “No new coal, oil, or gas projects, including the Adani mine”.
Days later, it was revealed the state government had gifted $50,000 to a company searching for coal in the midlands near Woodbury.
This grant was awarded, and the exploration licence signed by the Liberal Government, in a time when the future of humanity is under threat from extreme global heating.
They’re effectively giving the middle finger to the thousands of people demanding climate action. Future generations need political leadership right now, but the response they have received from the Liberals has been nothing short of cowardly.
We know the young people who marched for climate action, their friends and family, are with us in our push for a ban on new coal mines.
There is no moral or economic justification for exploration for coal, let alone providing public subsidies to enable and tacitly encourage coal mining.
We hope when we debate our motion to ban new coal mines in Tasmania next week, we will have support from Labor and the Liberals. It’s the right thing to do by the Tasmanian people, and the smart thing to do by our brand and agriculture and tourism sectors.
We have a moral obligation to keep carbon and forests in the ground to fight the climate emergency. The state of the planet demands leadership at all levels of government and we hope Labor and the Liberals will do the right thing and support our Parliamentary push to ban new coal mines.