It is an inescapable reality that combating climate change will mean Australia uses and exports less coal. It is in the interests of coal miners and coal-dependent communities that all political parties acknowledge this, and begin to plan for it.
Coal production in Australia generates 33,000 jobs in an economy of more than 10.3 million workers. Stopping dangerous climate change is essential for the social, economic and environmental wellbeing of all Australians, and we cannot justify doing nothing to protect 33,000 jobs - 0.3 per cent - of the workforce.