The Greens claim the Liberals have revived a dormant Fingal Valley coal proposal, but a government minister says he has no advice that a licence renewal is being sought.
Greens MP Tabatha Badger said the government had renewed an exploration licence for the project earlier this year and called on it to rule out coal exploration and mining in Tasmania.
“We are in a climate crisis and any sort of coal exploration and mining has absolutely no place in Tasmania in this day and age,” Badger said.
She said the licence was coming up for renewal again and “needs to be scrapped”.
The proposed underground mine, off Valley Road near Fingal in the state’s north-east, was planned to produce about one million tonnes of coal a year to fuel a proposed hydrogen plant at Bell Bay.
Mineral Resources Tasmania cancelled the project’s mining lease in early 2025 after the company, owned by Queensland businessman Dave Hodgson, failed to pay a year’s rent.
In September last year, the Federal Court disqualified Hodgson from managing corporations for five years, after finding he had made misleading statements to investors about the value of a software company.
Badger also called for a review of the Mineral Resources Development Act, which she described as “a 30-year-old piece of legislation”, to make the licensing process more transparent.
Asked about the jobs a coal project could create, Badger said there were “plenty of jobs” in other industries.
Government minister Roger Jaensch said he did not know whether there was an application to renew the licence.
“There is a licence, those who hold them are entitled to apply for renewal if they want to do so and they would be assessed through the normal process,” he said.
“I think the Greens are speculating on whether there is a renewal underway or being sought or not. I don’t have any advice that any renewal is being sought.”
