Anti-coal protests 'playing into Dutton's hands'

A Labor heavyweight warns large-scale anti-coal protests could help Peter Dutton's election to the top office. Activists will coalesce in Canberra on Tuesday, days after almost 200 people were arrested for blocking the world's largest coal port in protest over politicians' perceived inaction to address climate change. Protesters formed a "blockade" in the Port of Newcastle over the weekend, calling on the government to rule out new coal and gas mines and for a 78 per cent tax on coal and gas exports. Some 170 people were arrested, with two hauled before Newcastle Local Court on Monday after being refused bail. But acquiescing to Rising Tide's demands would destroy the local economy, lead to massive unemployment in the Hunter and deprive NSW of capital for the energy transition, Premier Chris Minns said. "This looks enormously like or very similar to the Adani coal convoy that took place prior to the 2019 election," Mr Minns said on Monday. "It plays right into the hands of Peter Dutton." The Adani coal convoy directed by former Greens leader Bob Brown was blamed for galvanising voters as it moved through Queensland's coal-mining heartland in 2019. One in three Labor voters in Capricornia ran to One Nation, a key plank in Labor's shock loss in the national poll. Labor's record of approving coal projects since winning office in 2022 was spotlighted over the weekend as protesters lamented the seven extensions by Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek. Ms Plibersek suggested that paled in significance to 65 green-power approvals. "I've approved 10 times more renewable energy projects than coal projects because the Australian economy and the global economy (are) changing," she told Seven's Sunrise program. A joint CSIRO and Bureau of Meteorology report in October found the effects of greenhouse gas-fuelled climate change were accelerating in Australia, meaning more extreme heat, fires and intense downpours. The vast majority of Australia's carbon emissions in the past decade have come from coal, oil and gas use, averaging 399 million tons of CO2-equivalent a year. Federal Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce pointed to the tens of billions of dollars in coal royalties that benefited Australia. "What these people are doing is going out in the harbour and saying, 'I want Australia to be poor'," he said. Rising Tide organiser Zack Schofield said protests would continue for as long as politicians failed to take action on the climate crisis. The next step is a vigil outside federal parliament on Tuesday before a mass rally on Wednesday. A man arrested on Sunday but denied police bail was granted release by a court on Monday on the condition he stay away from the Port of Newcastle. The 35-year-old and a woman aged 42 spent the night in police lock-up on charges of seriously disrupting a major facility and operating a vessel to interfere with others' use of waters.