Media Release
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20 October 2009
Australian Coal Association Brings its Regional
Campaign to Canberra
The Australian Coal Association today launched a national advertising campaign warning of the
consequences of the new tax on coal mines as part of the government’s proposed emissions trading
scheme.
ACA Executive Director Ralph Hillman said the tax will potentially make some coal mines uneconomic
and will prevent others from opening, leading to thousands of jobs disappearing in the nation’s coal
industry.
The launch in Canberra of national newspaper and television advertisements aims to bring to the
attention of national decision-makers the views of people in regional Australia whose jobs and
livelihoods will be put at risk by the proposed CPRS tax on coal mining.
Mr Hillman said that in just 21 days since the launch of the ‘Let’s Cut Emissions. Not Jobs’ campaign
there have been thousands of visits to the website and thousands of emails sent to local members of
parliament protesting against the new tax on coal mines. The campaign will run until the Senate vote
on 26 November.
“I have been travelling through the coal regions of Central Queensland and New South Wales and
people I’ve met during our grassroots campaign want to see action to reduce harmful carbon in the
atmosphere. However, they agree that there is no point in cutting jobs for no reduction in global
carbon emissions”, Mr Hillman said.
“The federal government has been critical of the campaign but has not been able to deal with our
core message – this new tax will cut jobs but not cut global emissions. We believe the time has come
for Canberra to confront this fact, deal fairly with the coal industry and implement a scheme that will
cut carbon emissions not just raise tax revenue.
“Today’s newspaper advertisements capture just a handful of voices from people in regional Australia
who believe they have been ignored by the policy makers in Canberra.
The ACA conducted extensive public research in regional Australian to gauge the level of community
understanding and knowledge about the Federal Government’s new carbon tax regime.
“This research confirms that coal mining communities have not been properly warned of the
damaging consequences of the Federal Government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme in its
current form on regional Australia”, Mr Hillman said.
“This advertising campaign is providing people with information about the new carbon tax and
explaining how it will affect coal mining communities and other centres heavily dependent on a
strong coal industry.
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“Both the United States and European Union have specifically rejected taxing coal mines and both
produce far higher emissions than we do”, said Mr Hillman.
It’s estimated that the new tax will impose an additional average cost of $4 per tonne of coal. One
large mining company has estimated an extra impost of $7 per tonne across its portfolio of mines.
Independent economic modelling of the impacts of the proposed carbon reduction scheme predict
that 16 coal mines will close prematurely and more than 9000 direct and indirect jobs will be lost in
the first nine years of the scheme.
“Every tonne of coal not produced in Australia as a result of this tax will simply be produced by our
competitors who are not being penalised in the same way by their governments”, Mr Hillman said.
“The Australian coal industry accepts the science of global warming and supports action to reduce
harmful carbon in the atmosphere.
“Our industry is spending a billion dollars over the next 10 years in developing technology to cut
carbon emissions from coal fired power stations by up to 90% and we support the introduction of a
fair emissions trading scheme.
“As the Government and Opposition parties negotiate changes to the CPRS scheme, we ask them to
think about the people whose jobs will be lost for no reduction in global carbon emissions under the
current proposal.
“We think it’s a fair question - Why should Australian jobs go while global carbon emissions stay the
same?” Mr Hillman concluded.
People can learn more and lodge their protest by visiting our website
View the television and print advertisements using this link
For further information please contact:
Ralph Hillman
Jo Lynch
Executive Director
Media Relations Adviser
0429-083-820
0411-208-101
Biography: Ralph Hillman Executive Director
Mr Hillman was Ambassador for the Environment and chief negotiator for Australia on the Kyoto Protocol from
1998 to 2002. He was appointed as Executive Director of the Australian Coal Association in August 2007.
He was Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the OECD from 1995 to 1998. From 1994 to 1995 Mr Hillman
was Chief Economist in the Department. He was formerly a senior career officer of the Australian Department of
Foreign Affairs and Trade and has extensive experience in multilateral economic policy and diplomacy.
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