Speaking to the ABC’s Sarah Ferguson on Tuesday evening,Albanese ruled out such a move,saying it would harm Australia while doing nothing to reduce emissions.
“We won’t be implementing that policy,that’s the policy of the Greens ... that’s not the policy of the Labor party and we won’t be supporting it because that will have a devastating impact on our economy,” he told7.30.
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“If Australia today said we are not going to export any more coal,what you would see is a lot of jobs lost,you would see a significant loss to our economy,significantly less taxation revenue for education and health and other services.
“And that coal wouldn’t lead to a reduction in global emissions,what you would see is a replacement with coal from other countries that is likely to produce higher emissions,because of the quality of our product.
“You’ve seen for example,China has stopped the import of Australian coal,that doesn’t mean there’s less coal being burned in China,we’re actually seeing it play out right now,” he said.
Albanese’s comments echo arguments long made by Coalition figures to justify a slower pace of emission reduction.