The Albanese Government has approved a new coal mine expansion while the Prime Minister is in Palau meeting Pacific leaders, and days after the Nepalese government urged world leaders to undertake a "global effort" to tackle climate change.
BHP's Grevillea Pit Continuation Project expands the Saraji mine in Central Queensland's Bowen Basin. The project will release roughly 120 million tonnes of climate pollution, or more than Australia's entire transport sector annually.
Climate Council CEO Amanda McKenzie said: "The Prime Minister says the entry fee for credibility in the Pacific is taking climate change seriously, and now his Government approved 55 million tonnes of coal while he was still in the room with Pacific leaders.
“We cannot tackle climate change while approving more fossil fuels. Pacific countries are going under water, while Australians insurance costs are going through the roof as we are all more exposed to extreme weather. It is crazy to pour more fuel on the fire by allowing fossil fuel projects to expand.”
Despite the major approval and massive expansion, the mine will dodge tighter ‘best-practice’ pollution limits under our national industrial pollution law, the Safeguard Mechanism. The pollution limits apply only to brand-new projects, allowing major expansions and extensions to skirt responsibility for their pollution.
Climate Council CEO Amanda McKenzie said: "Let's call a spade a spade: this is a brand new, multi-million dollar project that should face the same rules as any other new facility.
"Instead, multinational mining giants like BHP are exploiting loopholes in our industrial pollution law by calling the project a continuation. Four in five coal projects in the approval queue right now are extensions. That's not a coincidence.
"More than four million Australian families have put solar on their roofs and are doing their bit to cut climate pollution, while coal and gas corporations free-ride on that effort and pocket record profits. Families pick up the tab through worsening bushfires, floods and heatwaves, and higher insurance bills and food prices.
"Every tonne of climate pollution is doing us damage today. The Government should stop approving new coal and gas, and strengthen our industrial pollution law so every new, expanded and extended project answers for all of its pollution from day one."
Climate Councillor Greg Bourne, former BP Australasia President, said: "Big multinational corporations don't clean up their act unless they're made to. Close this loophole and every company extending a mine or opening a new industrial facility has to answer for its pollution from day one. That's a fair rule, and a straightforward one for the Government to write.
"BHP has $13billion in record profits, it certainly has the means to clean up its own mining operations: from electrifying machinery to plugging methane leaks. What's missing is the rule that requires it. Right now, our industrial pollution law is letting them off the hook.”
The facts:
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The extension will produce around 55 million tonnes of coal on Barada Barna Country in the Bowen Basin, in a pit which was forecast to run out of coal in 2025.
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Burning the coal from the project will release roughly 120 million tonnes of climate pollution, or more than Australia's entire transport sector annually.
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The Saraji mine reported more than 383,000 tonnes of climate pollution from its own operations last year.
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Since 2022, 77 percent of coal projects approved under national environment laws were expansions or extensions. Of the 35 coal projects in the approval queue, 80 percent are extensions.
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Over the next decade, 22 coal and gas expansions and extensions are expected to dodge these limits, releasing 20 million tonnes of climate pollution every year.
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Australians faced $1.8 billion in insured losses in the first half of 2025 alone, after Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred, the North Queensland floods, and the Mid-North Coast and Hunter floods.
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Climate-fuelled disasters are projected to cost $94 billion a year by 2060 if pollution stays high.
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Most Australians (62%) support strengthening the law.
The approval is the 10th fossil fuel project greenlit this term, and the 37th since the Albanese Government was elected in 2022.
ENDS
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