Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I, and also on behalf of Senator O'Sullivan, move:

That the Senate notes—

(a) the ambition of the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, to bring 24/7 power to some 50 million households – the poorest of the poor – still living without electricity, by 2022;

(b) that India's Council on Energy, Environment and Water states that to manage its energy system over the next 10 to 15 years it is not a binary choice of coal or no coal, it has to be about cleaner coal combined with nuclear and hydropower;

(c) that a failure to exploit Australia's thermal coal exports will mean a higher global use of less efficient sources of thermal coal, and consequently higher levels of global carbon emissions;

(d) that Australian thermal coal exports are of the highest quality coal found anywhere in the world, generally reporting an energy content above 5 500 Kcal/kg which compares favourably to Indonesian coal which has an estimated range of between 4 200 and 5 200; and

(e) the importance of the ongoing development of the Australian coal mining industry, particularly in the Galilee Basin which, as the Queensland Minister for State Development, Dr Anthony Lynham, noted 'We can mine coal in Queensland, where we have the highest mine safety record in the world, we mine coal with environmental rigour, and we mine coal that's very efficient and economic to burn' and 'If we don't allow this to go ahead, coal is one of the most prolific minerals on Earth; there are many other sources of coal, but none as good as the coal we mine here'.

Question agreed to.