“We’re here to tell the coal industry that Australian taxpayers have had enough of funding their dirty unsustainable projects. Coal bosses are drinking champagne and congratulating themselves tonight after another year of earning vast salaries, but it’s the Australian people who have to pay the price,” said Greenpeace climate and energy campaigner Nikola Casule.
As a who’s who of Australian mining gathered at the Sofitel in Sydney for the Prospect Mining Awards, Greenpeace activists staged a game show event in the venue, offering handfuls of mock hundred dollar bills to coal mining executives.
“Federal and state governments give the fossil fuel industry billions of dollars of hard-earned taxpayer money in subsidies and tax breaks every year. The money wasted on production subsidies for the coal mining industry each year could alone pay for an extra 30,000 nurses or 60 new primary schools or 12,000 GPs," said Mr Casule.
The Australian Government provides $1.8 billion in production subsidies to the coal mining industry every year.[1] According to the IMF, Australia provides fossil fuel subsidies equivalent to $1,712 per person per year, or around $40 billion a year. These subsidies contribute to the air pollution, global warming, health impacts and traffic congestion that are caused by dirty fossil fuels, as well as $5.5 billion as direct fossil fuel subsidy or foregone tax revenue. [2]
“The coal bosses say they are bringing prosperity, but in fact they are taking money from all Australian taxpayers, so they can keep the dying and dirty fossil fuels industries alive,” Dr Casule said. “We want our taxes to pay for schools, hospitals and public services, not environmental destruction.”
[1] http://www.carbontracker.org/report/coal-subsidies/
[2] http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/survey/so/2015/new070215a.htm