Greens welcome call for Territorial Limits Bill to be dumped

Today’s report by the parliamentary inquiry into the NSW Coalition’s Territorial Limits Bill has recommended that the Bill not proceed. Further, the committee found that there was no need to change the current legislation.

“The committee’s report is scathing and recommends in the strongest possible terms that the Bill not proceed in its current form,” said Abigail Boyd, Greens MP and spokesperson for Mining, and a member of the inquiry.

“We welcome the Committee’s view that New South Wales has not only local responsibility to reduce greenhouse gas emissions but also global responsibility.

“After considering submissions from a number of community groups as well as industry representatives, the Committee has clearly stated its opposition to removing the consideration of greenhouse gases from the planning assessment process.”

“After this disastrous bushfire season, we must consider scope 3 emissions because of their contributions to climate change impacts in NSW. We can’t continue feeding the world’s fossil fuel addiction if we are to have any hope of dealing with this climate crisis that threatens our environment and our communities,” said Cate Faehrmann Greens MP and spokesperson for the Environment.

“Throughout the inquiry, it was made clear that legal and environmental experts were opposed to this bill. We received nearly 3,000 online submissions from the community too that were overwhelmingly opposed.

“The Greens will be opposing this Bill if it comes before the Parliament especially as it was the result of intense lobbying by the Minerals Council.”

TAX SUPERPROFITS TO PAY WORKERS MORE

NSW is missing out on tens of billions of dollars. By introducing a progressive coal royalty structure similar to the one in Queensland, we would have raised an extra $20 billion last year.

The NSW Government owns and controls, on behalf of the people of this state, the rights to the minerals and materials that naturally occur in NSW land.

Huge fossil fuel companies are only able to extract and sell these commodities with the consent of the State. It’s time they paid a fair price for that privilege.

The fossil fuel industry has made hundreds of billions of dollars out of their cosy relationship with governments. Granted permission to extract and sell coal, these large multinational fossil fuel corporations pay just over 7% in royalties back to the people of NSW – keeping the rest as mega-profits for themselves. These companies have a track record of taking more than their fair share and leaving communities suffering and stranded with poisoned groundwater, devastated landscapes and a stranded workforce when it suits their business models.

Globally, the hyper-inflation of fossil fuel prices driven by price-gouging opportunism and war profiteering from Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has delivered record windfall profits to these already obscenely wealthy corporations. In the last year, NSW coal exports totaled over $70 billion dollars, but the people of NSW will only see about 7 cents in every dollar, or about $6 billion dollars of that amount.

Rather than going toward schools, hospitals and public infrastructure, billions of dollars went into the pockets of multinational mining corporations. The Greens believe there should be more money for schools and hospitals and less for mining billionaires.

Sign our petition calling on the NSW Labor Government to increase coal royalties to invest in communities.

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Greens welcome call for Territorial Limits Bill to be dumped

TAX SUPERPROFITS TO PAY WORKERS MORE

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