10th Nov 2020, 3:50 PM – Senate Motions - Coal Industry - Greens leader and South Korea

The majority voted in favour of a motion introduced by Queensland Senator Matthew Canavan (LNP), which means it passed. Motions like these don't make any legal changes on their own but are politically influential as they represent the will of the Senate.

Motion text

That the Senate—

(a) acknowledges the significant value of Australia's coal sector to Australia's regional communities and to our national economy, which benefit from more than 170,000 jobs and approximately $6 billion in royalties;

(b) notes that:

(i) Australia is the leading exporter of high-quality coal, representing almost 15% of all exports and generating more than $69 billion in 2018-19,

(ii) Australian metallurgical coal exports account for 19% of South Korea's imports of metallurgical coal contributing $3.1 billion to the Australian economy, while Australian thermal coal accounts for 34% of South Korea's imports of thermal coal, contributing $2.9 billion to the Australian economy, and

(iii) South Koreans rely on coal and nuclear energy for approximately 70% of their electricity capacity;

(c) condemns recent comments made by the Leader of the Australian Greens party and Member for Melbourne, Mr Adam Bandt MP, in his address to the National Assembly of South Korea in which he advocated against Australian coal exports and encouraged South Korea to impose carbon tariffs against Australia; and

(d) calls on the Leader of the Australian Greens party to apologise to the people of Australia for attempting to incite a foreign power to act against the interests of Australia.