Australia rejects new coal mine on environmental grounds
The IndependentFor free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Plibersek said the risk of “pollution and irreversible damage to the reef is very real.” “The Great Barrier Reef is responsible for about 6 billion Australian dollars’ worth of economic activity every year, about 64,000 jobs,” Plibersek said. “Given the science before me, it became apparent that the risks were simply too great.” The mine was proposed by mining magnate Clive Palmer, who founded and finances the minor conservative United Australia Party. A United Nations-backed mission recommended in November that the Great Barrier Reef be added to the list of endangered World Heritage sites, warning that without “ambitious, rapid and sustained” climate action, the world’s largest coral reef was in peril. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor Party government has increased Australia’s ambition for reducing the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions since it was elected last year.