Malcolm Turnbull backs moratorium on new coalmines in NSW

Malcolm Turnbull has backed calls for a moratorium on new coalmine approvals in New South Wales, warning they are devastating the landscape, shortening lives by reducing air quality and – given declining global coal demand – potentially leaving taxpayers with a huge remediation bill.

The former prime minister, who owns a farm in New South Wales’ Upper Hunter Valley, supported the findings of a new report by the Australia Institute that found new coal developments proposed in that area had the capacity to produce 10 times more coal than Adani’s controversial Carmichael mine in Queensland.

Turnbull said coalmine proposals and approvals in the Hunter Valley were “out of control” and could not be justified given the local impact and the declining global demand for coal as the world makes changes to address the climate crisis.

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He said mines had caused “extraordinary” damage in the Upper Hunter, leaving behind holes that covered 6,000 hectares, an area greater than Sydney harbour.

“I’d just encourage anybody to look at Google Earth and just look at what is being done. It’s like a lunar landscape,” Turnbull told ABC’s RN Breakfast.

“This is massive devastation that is going on … We have no reason to believe that the companies concerned will have the financial capability to remediate the land, or whether in fact remediation is really possible. And there is no transparency about the level of the bonds or the adequacy of the bonds that have been lodged to support the level of remediation.”

Turnbull said coalmines were approved individually, with a focus on royalties and not consideration of their cumulative impact, and without taking into account the state’s net-zero emissions target and the need “to maintain a healthy environment and protect the health of people”.

“In the Aberdeen-Muswellbrook postcode, that has got the worst air quality in NSW,” he said. “That means kids are getting sick, adults are getting sick, people are getting asthma, people’s life expectancy will be less than it otherwise would be because of coalmining. So you’ve got to take that into account.”

Turnbull’s comments follow his appointment by the NSW government this week as the inaugural chair of the state’s new Net Zero Emissions and Clean Economy board, which will help oversee the delivery of clean energy legislation that passed parliament with multiparty support last year. He stressed he was talking in a personal capacity.

But he said coalmining was on the way out. “We’re not going to be coalmining in the Hunter in 30 years,” he said, adding companies making developing applications now were “trying to get in before the party ends”.

He said international demand for coal was declining, having fallen below forecasts made a few years ago. A number of existing mines were already producing below capacity and big miners such as BHP Billiton were increasingly moving away from coal and being replaced by “second-tier companies”, he said. “There’s no transparency as to whether remediation obligations are going to be met.”

Turnbull said the focus should be on industries that could have a long-term future in the Hunter, including clean energy, agriculture, tourism, thoroughbred racing and wine-making. He supported the Australia Institute’s call for a regional plan and coal approval moratorium. “If we want to look after the future of the people in the Hunter as opposed to a few coalminers – coalmining companies – we’ve got to carefully plan it,” he said.

The Australia Institute report found there were 23 new coalmines and mine extensions proposed across NSW, most of them in the Upper Hunter. It said coal production in NSW had doubled between 2000 and 2014, from 130m tonnes to 260m tonnes a year, and the government and industry expected this to continue to grow despite production peaking seven years ago.

Richard Denniss, the institute’s chief economist, said trying to build the equivalent of “10 new Adani mines’ worth of coalmines” in the Upper Hunter while global demand for coal was falling was absurd.

“The NSW government’s enthusiasm in approving a record number of coalmines does little more than offer false hope to the Hunter region, locking huge parts of the Hunter into the past while failing to plan for the future,” Denniss said.

Speaking to Guardian Australia earlier this week, Turnbull said he was “very committed to and supportive of the state government’s objective of getting to net zero by 2050, and the determination of the premier [Gladys Berejiklian] and the minister [Matt Kean’] to make sure it happens in a way that maximises economic activity”.

Turnbull said the move to net zero emissions would create huge economic opportunities for Australia. “I intend to make sure NSW realises them,” he said.

The NSW government has been asked for its response.