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The table on the right, from the Climate Insititue, shows that the Australian peole want the opposite of what the Abbott government is forcing on them. Australians want more renewables and less fossil fuels; in particular, they want less coal.
Surely for any sane person the last straw would have to be our government wanting to commit $5b of taxpayer's money to support unviable coal projects! Quoting from Lisa Cox writing in Sydney Morning Herald:
"Coal projects in the Galilee Basin and on the door step of the Great Barrier Reef could receive government financing under a $5 billion loan scheme in the federal budget. But companies would have to demonstrate their projects would not be commercially viable without government funding to be eligible, the Abbott government has said."Greens Senator Larissa Waters asked about this in the Senate and was told "coal is good" and "go sit in caves".
Our government might as well burn pallets full of $100 bills. It is insane to throw billions of dollars of taxpayer's money at projects that are both financially unviable and environmentally disastrous!
Why is it mad?
- The coal industry is one of the main causes of climate change and ocean acidification;
- Burning coal is causing air pollution that kills millions of people each year;
- Mining coal in the Galilee Basin risks serious damage to the Great Barrier Reef;
- It has been shown that most of the world's coal deposits cannot be burnt if global warming is to be kept below 2°C; most of the world's coal deposits will become stranded assets – especially those that are not financially viable without government assistance;
- The coal industry demonstrably has no future; it is plainly a very bad investment.