Chief executive of the Australian Coal Association Nikki Williams said a top priority for the coal industry was removing the application of the carbon tax to fugitive emissions from coal mines.
This design element adds an unprecedented and substantial cost to Australian exporters that none of Australia’s global competitors bear.
“An environmentally robust and economically pragmatic carbon abatement scheme would see Australia retain control of climate change policy settings,” she said.
“The proposed early shift to a floating carbon price merely puts Australia and its policies in the hands of European politicians, whose first priority will be the welfare of Europe, not Australia.
“The coal industry notes that the government is finally acknowledging what it has sought to deny for so long: that the highest carbon tax in the world has had severe cost impacts on Australian industry, increased the cost of living for households and damaged Australian competitiveness.”
Australia must immediately shelve this scheme and develop a climate policy that provides for a measured transition to a world price on carbon, Williams said.
“Correcting one aspect of the scheme doesn't alter its underlying architecture,” she said.
“While Treasurer Chris Bowen has acknowledged the challenges facing the industry as Australia enters the next phase of the mining cycle, whether fixed or floating, the carbon price scheme has and will continue to damage the coal industry and threaten the jobs, revenue and economic growth it generates.”
Broking firm UBS estimates that the carbon price would take out $US442 million from the earnings of Glencore Xstrata, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Anglo American in 2014.
Any price on carbon emissions over and above Australia’s international competitors will continue to put jobs and investment at risk in mining and other industries right across New South Wales, a spokesman for the NSW Minerals Council said.
“Like many other industries, mining in NSW does not operate within a vacuum,” he said.
“Regardless of the mechanism, placing a price on carbon emissions ahead of and higher than our major international competitors puts us at a major economic disadvantage.
“It drives jobs and investment offshore without any global environmental benefit as production and emissions simply shift elsewhere.”
The NSW mining industry supports sensible policy solutions to reduce pollution and emissions, he said.
“However Australia's emissions reduction approach must be in step with the rest of the world and not at the expense of Australian investment and jobs.”
