THE Queensland Government’s bipolar climate politics has today seen 150 regional jobs lost, with mining employer New Hope Group forced to make employees redundant due to complete inaction on its longstanding expansion bid.

New Hope Group, an Australian company which has operated in Queensland for more than 60 years, has been seeking approval for stage three of its New Acland Coal Mine for a ridiculous 12 years.

In June, the employer advised Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk that it could not wait any further beyond September 2019.

Australian Resources and Energy Group AREEA condemns the government’s lack of urgency or concern for an important regional community employer and its local employees.

“We are incredibly disappointed the Palaszczuk Government couldn’t work with a major Queensland employer, a company highly regarded by industry and the local community, to save the jobs of 150 mining employees,” AREEA Director Operations, Tara Diamond, said.

“New Hope has waited 12 years for approval of New Acland Stage Three and gave the Queensland Government plenty of warning on its looming deadline.

“The company has long proven to be a responsible operator and its planned expansion had passed a significant number of rigorous assessments, including by the Federal Government’s Independent Expert Scientific Committee.

“At the 2019 Federal Election, Queenslanders sent the Palaszczuk Government a loud and clear message about their support for coal mining jobs. Following the subsequent approval of the Adani Carmichael Project, industry had hoped the Premier was now paying attention.

“Yet only a few months later, a mid-tier expansion of an existing coal project, operated by a proven local employer, failed to register the interest of this tone-deaf government.

“These job loses will be sorely felt within the small community reliant on mining employment.

“The Premier has shown it is within her power to intervene and expedite unnecessarily protracted approvals processes for important projects.  AREEA calls on the Palaszczuk Government to rectify its failure on the New Acland expansion and put jobs ahead of its confused climate politics.”

 

 

MEDIA CONTACT: Brad Thompson, 0409 781 580