But the sector was ready for whatever would be thrown at it by environmental activists in the lead-up to the September federal election and beyond, he said.
“One of their six strategies is increasing the cost of producing coal as part of an internationally directed plan to shut down the Australian coal industry and the hundreds of thousands of Australian jobs it supports,” Roche told an environmental conference.
“In Australia this is taking the form of attempts to axe legitimate tax arrangements, vexatious court challenges that up until a short time ago were paid for by taxpayers and expensive and unnecessary amendments to environmental laws set against the ‘class warfare’ that so annoyed former resources and energy minister Martin Ferguson.”
Roche said Queensland’s coal mining companies were working hard at earning their social licence to operate, illustrated by a more than 80% state-wide approval rating in polling conducted last month.
“They’re not going to sit by and watch that level of community trust white-anted by professional activists who are accountable to no one and committed to lowering the living standards of Queenslanders,” he said.
“In the face of the activists' distortions and outright lies, our industry's only weapons will be facts, evidence and science.
“We will deploy these weapons resolutely and robustly.”
Roche said it was clear from the ongoing assignment to Australia of US and European activists that Queensland’s biggest industry sector was the target of a well-funded and orchestrated campaign.
“This is going to be a real test for Queenslanders in the lead-up to the federal election,” he said.
“The hyperbole is only going to get worse and the facts more distorted, as we have seen already in the multitude of ‘save the reef’ campaigns.
“Ignoring scientifically documented threats to the reef and hanging all the problems on farmers, miners, gas companies and the ports that service towns and cities along 80 per cent of the coastline is only the start.”
The Australian Greens have announced a policy to stop offshore dumping of dredge spoil in the Great Barrier Reef being dug up for nearby new coal and gas ports.
The reef dumping put coral and fish health at risk, Australian Greens environment spokeswoman Larissa Waters said.
“Since 2000, 22 million cubic metres of dredge spoil has been approved to be dumped in our precious reef – that's more than 13 MCGs worth,” she said.
“Because of wind, wave and ocean current action, the dredge spoil travels and can end up smothering precious coral ecosystems and affecting fishing areas – all just to save the big mining companies the cost of disposing the spoil on land.”
Waters said the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority informed her that since its scientists recently started using 3D modelling and factoring in deep ocean currents, they had found dredge spoil sediment was moving much further than previously claimed by dredging companies.
