David Leyonhjelm (NSW, Liberal Democratic Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

To the many Australians who are the silent majority in the debate about the value and benefits of coal to this country, I think it is time to acknowledge the 55,000 men and women employed in the Australian coal industry. They keep the lights on. I would also like to thank the coal industry itself for the $5 billion in wages paid to those workers. We need to reaffirm the positive contribution coal makes to this country and to our lives. Coal is our second biggest export, earning $38 billion in 2013. The coal industry directly provided $3.2 billion in royalties to state governments and $10 billion more in company and employee taxes. That money pays for schools, hospitals, pensions and all the other services we expect governments to provide. This money does not fa ll from the sky; we must earn it. Coalmining does that for us. It is indisputable that every Australian benefits from the use of and export of coal.

Nobody in their wildest green dreams has any expectation that we will ever generate export dollars by sending renewable energy overseas. Our high standard of living is underpinned by the wealth and energy created by coal, which is by far the greatest contributor to the electricity that powers industry, heats and cools our homes, cooks our food and charges our smartphones. This is not so for the 1.4 billion people on this planet who have no access to cheap energy. For many, their days are spent unproductively gathering firewood and animal dung for heat , cooking and washing. No flick of the power switch relieves them from pois onous fumes from cooking fires— one of the T hird W orld's biggest killers. They are almost predestined to pover ty through lack of cheap energy— something they realise and are desperate to avoid . The world's biggest democracy currently has 300 million people who have no access to electricity at all. India is rich in culture and history but its poorest people live in grinding poverty where life without electricity is hard and dirty, with dim prospects for immediate improvement. India is a very big consum er of Australian coal. I t seeks to lift its people out of poverty. Energy, like water, is a wealth generator. The energy provided by Australian coal is an important part of ending poverty in India.

In praising the virtues of coal , I am stating the obvious. B ut it would appear th at it is necessary, because some people seem to have entirely lost the plot. It is bizarre that well-fed, well-paid activists in Austra lia campaign for an end to coal mining. The consequence of this, if it were to succeed, would be to deny the most economically viable energy source to the world's poorest people. Not only is it a gross understatement to characterise this stance as economically illiterate when it comes to Australia's wellbeing but it is also morally repugnant for the future prospects of the world's poor. So , to that pious minority who oppose coal, I say: 'D on't stop at divestment of your coal shares. Turn off your coal- powered computers, air conditioners, lights, fri dges and entertainment systems. Then book a flight to a country that does not have access to reliable electricity to live out your convictions. ' But I do no t expect they will do that. Those opposing coal are happy to deny the benefits of coal to those who need it most, but they do no t have the strength of their convictions to practice what they preach.

By all means , let u s welcome viable renewable energy . And, while we ar e at it, let us cast off last century's ideological thinking opposing nuclear energy. There i s also no question that we should continue improvi ng the way in which we use coal, because, of necessity, we will be using it for decades. And that i s good . Until there is a better solutio n to the world's energy needs— one that pro vides 24/7 baseload electricity, whatever the weather, at a price the world's poor est can contemplate purchasing— it is unreasonable to expect us to live in the dark, fantasising about a world without coal .