'Little black rock's' moral qualities questioned

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ustralia’s coal industry is on borrowed time. In general, renewables are becoming more efficient and major coal projects are being cancelled and scaled back. This is perhaps why have heard so much from the Coalition recently about the superior moral qualities of the “little black rock”.

Jason Wilson - 'no
moral argument
for coal'.

Around this time last year, former Prime Minister Tony Abbott (Remember him? The one who used to pal around with Stephen Harper?) gave us the memorable line “coal is good for humanity”.

He was speaking in support of the Caval Ridge mine in Queensland. This week, the energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, responded to critics of the recently-approved Carmichael mine:

There is a strong moral case here. Over a billion people don’t have access to electricity. That means that more 2 billion people today are using wood and dung for their cooking.

It may seem odd to hear a politician, in 2015, arguing not only that burning coal will lead to cleaner air, but that it helps the global poor – the same group who are likely to be most affected by the climate change being driven by fossil fuel emissions.

Read Jason Wilson’s story in The Guardian  - “There is no 'moral case for coal' in Australia, just an imported PR line”.