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The Australian Greens have responded to reports that India will stop importing thermal coal within 4 years, saying that it is the death knell for the Adani project and the beginning of the end of Australia’s thermal coal industry.
India’s Minister of Coal and Mines on Tuesday reportedly said as part of a planning meeting for the future of the coal industry that the country would stop importing coal by financial year 2023/24.
Australian Greens Leader Adam Bandt MP said:
“If this is true, it’s the death knell for the Adani coal mine and will hasten the end of thermal coal in Australia.
“Prime Minister Scott Morrison needs to end his ideological obsession with coal and instead transition Australia to be a renewable energy superpower.
“Thermal coal is on its last legs. Coal workers and communities deserve the support of the government to transition to the jobs and industries of the future, like renewables mining. With a Green New Deal we can create new jobs by turning Australia into a clean energy superpower, while making sure no one is left behind.”
Australian Greens Co-Deputy Leader and Senator for Queensland Larissa Waters said:
“For years, the coal lobby and their Coalition mates have been spinning lies that selling our coal to India will deliver Australia riches and jobs into the future. Today’s report tells a different story.
“India’s import reduction plan highlights the country’s shift away from coal to renewable energy, and its growing disinterest in buying Australia’s dirty coal.
“The Adani coal mine has been a sham for years. This announcement today makes the project even more untenable.
“It’s time for Labor and Liberal to join the Greens in ruling out any new coal mines and instead plan for a phase out of coal and a transition to the jobs and industries of the future.”

Greens Leader Adam Bandt said today’s jobs figures reveal a jobs crisis in Australia, especially amongst young people, and underscore the need for urgent government intervention to provide meaningful, secure work in a climate-challenged economy.
“These figures reveal a government with no plan to create meaningful work for young people in a climate-challenged economy,” said Mr Bandt.
“Nearly one in three young people either doesn’t have a job or doesn’t have enough hours of work. It’s a national scandal.”
“The climate crisis is smashing agriculture and tourism, but the government is continuing to back coal and wreck important parts of the economy.”
“Australia needs a Green New Deal to tackle the jobs crisis and the climate crisis. Government must help create new jobs and industries so that everyone who wants a decent job can get one.”

The Greens are calling for an urgent crisis response to the number of women killed by violence and greater accuracy in media reporting following the murder of a Brisbane-based mother and three children by their father yesterday.
“There have now been eight women killed by violence in 2020, after 61 were murdered last year, yet there was more response from the Prime Minister to the needles-in-strawberry incident,” said Greens Senate Leader and spokesperson for women, Senator Larissa Waters.
Senator Waters will next week move a motion in parliament for the Senate to urge all media outlets to comply with the Press Council Advisory Guidelines and Commercial Radio Guidelines on reporting family violence.
“Yesterday a man murdered his young children and his ex-wife – and some media reported it as if the father was also a victim, and noted his sporting history. This is disgusting and such reporting contributes to the culture of violence by downplaying it,” she said.
“The minimising of this man’s actions in some of the passive media reporting of this murder is appalling, and while perpetrators are portrayed as ‘just good men who are hurting’ the culture of violence and entitlement will never end.
“Too many media outlets have shown themselves incapable of reporting the reality of violence against women so next week I will move for the Senate to remind all media outlets of the Guidelines on reporting family violence.
“Every sitting fortnight I move a motion in the federal parliament counting the number of women killed by violence.
“Every time it begs for the government to properly fund frontline domestic violence services, to fund prevention programs, and to keep and publicise a national toll of women killed like the road toll – to keep this issue in the public eye and contribute to changing the culture that allows it to continue.
“Every time it passes without a vote, and every time the government continues to do nothing.
“I have twice written to Minister for Women Marise Payne about establishing a national and publicised toll of women killed by violence, much like the road toll serves to increase awareness of the need for road safety, but have had no response.
“This government needs to treat the epidemic of violence against women and their children as a national crisis and urgently take meaningful action to keep it citizens safe.
“We will never forget these precious little lives lost and their dear mother Hannah Baxter, nor all the other women and children killed by men,” Senator Waters said.
Background
Relevant extracts of the Press Council Advisory Guidelines:
Responsibility
Reporting of family violence should try not to blame a person affected by the violence or suggest that the person somehow enabled the violence or could have avoided it. Publications should also avoid placing undue emphasis on the characteristics or surroundings of the victim, or implying that such things contributed to the family violence, unless doing so is essential to the narrative and sufficiently in the public interest. Use of the active voice in relation to the perpetrator will help avoid placing undue emphasis on the person affected by family violence. For example: “Police charged a 38-year-old Melbourne man with the murder of a 36-year-old woman”, as opposed to, e.g. “A 36- year-old woman was murdered and a 38-year-old Melbourne man has been charged”.
Context and content
…
Words matter. Publications should be mindful of the language they use and try to avoid terms that tend to trivialise, demean or inadvertently excuse family violence, such as “a domestic”, “a domestic dispute” or “a troubled marriage”. Where it is lawful to do so, the relationships of the people involved should be described as accurately and precisely as possible. In addition to reporting particular incidents, journalists can play a critical role in deepening readers’ understanding about family violence by referring to resources such as official statistics, peerreviewed research, and experts, such as domestic violence counsellors and survivors. Publications should also be aware of the potential impact of story layout, headlines and surrounding material (such as advertisements) that may be insensitive or jarring in the circumstances.
Relevant extracts of the Commercial Radio guidelines:
Violence is never acceptable
The perpetrator is always solely responsible for a violent situation. Avoid using language or framing the story in a way that suggests the survivor of violence was in any way to blame for what happened to him or her.
Acknowledge that this crime has both a victim and a perpetrator
Domestic violence is sometimes reported with headlines like ‘Woman assaulted’, or with stories that focus only on what happened to the survivor. This can suggest that violence is something that ‘just happens’ to women. Emphasise that someone perpetrated this violence, and that it was a crime.

Greens Leader, Adam Bandt, has responded to the Prime Minister’s bushfire Royal commission announcement.
“This Royal Commission looks like a climate whitewash.”
“I’m sure the Commissioners will do their best, but Scott Morrison’s terms of reference are designed to skate over the climate crisis and minimise the Prime Minister’s own contribution to these coal-fueled mega-fires.”
“Climate gets only some passing references, but it should be centre stage.
“The climate crisis isn’t just one ‘background’ factor in these unprecedented mega-fires, it is the driving force.”
“These terms of reference should have come to Parliament for approval.
“Scott Morrison has finally heard the public anger over his contribution to the fires, but he’s responding with little more than lip service.”

Coral bleaching in the far north of the Great Barrier Reef shows the Federal and Qld Governments are failing to deal with the impact of climate change on the natural icon and could see it listed on UNESCO’s ‘in danger’ list, according to the Greens.
Scientists have today reported significant coral bleaching at three locations in the Great Barrier Reef’s far north. There is a heightened alert for a potential mass bleaching event over the next two to four weeks.
Greens Senate Leader and Senator for Queensland, Larissa Waters, said it’s clear the old parties’ Reef policies are not dealing with the biggest threat facing the Reef – global warming caused by mining and burning of coal and other fossil fuels.
“If Australian governments don’t stop their addiction to coal, then UNESCO may place our Reef on the international shame list when it meets to evaluate reef management later this year. This would be devastating for reef-dependent communities and tourism operators who are already under pressure,” she said.
“Both old parties are championing mega coal mines, opening up the Galilee Basin and gas fracking to export out through the Great Barrier Reef that will worsen water quality through dredging and shipping.
“Both old parties are burying their heads in the sand on the real cause of coral bleaching – the mining and burning of coal that will exacerbate global warming and cook the Reef’s corals.
“The Greens have a plan to save the Reef from global warming with a Green New Deal including no new coal or gas, a $1 billion transition fund for workers, and 100 per cent renewable energy by 2030.
“If we don’t increase the ambition of our action now, we may lose our precious reef and the 63,000 jobs that rely on it in our lifetime,” Senator Waters said.