I thought I’d briefly correct the record there. The minister mentioned that the world is decarbonising. It’s absolutely not. Carbon emissions are increasing and are set to hit record levels because other countries are not doing what we’re doing. They’re actually investing in their energy security. As I mentioned earlier, the Biden administration is opening up massive amounts of Alaska for oil drilling, and the UK is doing the same in the North Sea. The German Greens party are reopening 24 coal-fired power stations as we speak. Of course, China is building 104 gigawatts of coal-fired power just this year. That’s roughly two coal-fired power stations a week. In the time it takes us to debate this bill and pass it through these two chambers, little old China will have built two coal-fired power stations and completely undermined what we’re doing here.
Be that as it may, I want to ask some detailed questions, Minister, through you, Chair. In particular, I want to discuss this question of new entrants, which I think is key. In discussions I’ve been having with concerned companies and investors in the past couple of days since the Labor Party’s deal with the Greens, there’s been a lot of concern about how new entrants will or won’t be treated. There’s not a lot of clarity in Minister Bowen’s media release. The other day in the Senate, I asked about a specific case, which I might ask again. You’ve got advisers now, unlike in question time. They might be able to help you out.
I asked about the specific case of the Olive Downs coalmine. I didn’t get an answer from Minister Farrell, although I’m not Robinson Crusoe in that regard. Just to explain, Minister, the Olive Downs coalmine is going to be a mine in Central Queensland near Moranbah. It’s under construction right now. It has got all of its approvals, of course. There are 500 people working at that mine right now. However, it’s not on the safeguard mechanism’s list. It’s not one of the 215 facilities because it’s not an operating mine yet. That will happen. It will go onto that list sometime in the next couple of years. Will it be treated as a new entrant, and, if so, what will its baseline be set at? The investors in this mine have done so on the basis of certain decisions. I don’t want to reveal the conversations I’ve had, but it would be news to them if they were to be considered a new entrant. Will the Olive Downs mine be treated as a new entrant, and what will their baseline be? Can you give any certainty this evening to the 500 people working at that mine about their futures?
