China\u2019s reported plan to indefinitely block Australian coal exports has exposed the Morrison Government\u2019s longstanding neglect of coal-dependent communities, according to Federal Member for Newcastle, Sharon Claydon.
\nMs Claydon said that the Newcastle-Hunter region would be among the worst-affected regions if the trade ban is confirmed.
\n\u201cThe vast majority of Australia\u2019s coal leaves our shores from the Port of Newcastle, and China takes 20 per cent of our exports,\u201d Ms Claydon said.
\n\u201cIf this trade ban proceeds, it will be a significant hit to our economy \u2013 costing local jobs and hurting the families that rely on the sector for their livelihoods.\u201d
\nMs Claydon said the Morrison Government spent years actively obstructing the creation of new markets and jobs in regional Australia, making the ban more damaging than it otherwise would be.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve been left highly vulnerable because the Morrison Government has aggressively blocked efforts to reduce our overreliance on coal, while it sabotaged any moves to a low-carbon future,\u201d Ms Claydon said
\n\u201cNewcastle has been left high and dry by a government that has no plan for the future \u2013 no plan to drive a low-carbon economy, no plan for jobs and no plan to protect communities like ours from these inevitable global shocks.\u201d
\nMs Claydon said it was \u2018deeply disappointing\u2019 that the situation had got to this point.
\n\u201cThis has been foreshadowed for months now, with coal ships lined up off the coast of China unable to offload since October,\u201d Ms Claydon said.
\n\u201cThe fact the Morrison Government has allowed Australia\u2019s relationship with China to deteriorate so dramatically is unacceptable.\u201d
\nMs Claydon also called on the Morrison Government to \u2018get serious about diversifying our regional economy\u2019.
\n\u201cNewcastle has the potential to be a clean energy superpower, but\u00a0the Morrison Government\u2019s war on renewables, coupled with its failure to invest in new industries, has scared investors and put local jobs at risk.
\n\u201cThe Government needs to pull its head out of the sand and get serious about preparing our region for the future.
\n\u201cIt could start by pulling out all the stops to make the Port of Newcastle\u2019s $1.8 billion Multipurpose Deepwater Terminal a reality.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
China\u2019s reported plan to indefinitely block Australian coal exports has exposed the Morrison Government\u2019s longstanding neglect of coal-dependent communities, according to Federal Member for Newcastle, Sharon Claydon. Ms Claydon said that the Newcastle-Hunter region would be among the worst-affected regions if the trade ban is confirmed. \u201cThe vast majority of Australia\u2019s coal leaves our shores … Continue reading “CHINA COAL CALL EXPOSES MORRISON GOVERNMENT FAILINGS”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newcastle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9650\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}