NSW Greens upper house member Sue Higginson has written to the state’s resource minister calling for the publication of a document at the centre of a controversial coal deal.
Thu 29 Oct 2026 13.41 AEDT
Photo: AAP Image/Bianca De Marchi
NSW Greens upper house member Sue Higginson has written to the state’s resource minister calling for the publication of a document at the centre of a controversial coal deal.
On 7 October, the High Court of Australia found in favour of a community group opposed to the expansion of the Mt Pleasant coal mine in the NSW Hunter Valley. The Court found that the climate impacts of the mine had not been properly considered, invalidating its approval and sending the project back to NSW decision makers for further consideration.
The Minns Government responded to the High Court decision by drafting special legislation that would allow the mine to sidestep its legal loss and increase coal production to 16.5 million tonnes of coal per year.
“We have engaged closely with MACH Energy since the High Court decision,” Minister for Natural Resources Courtney Houssos said when the legislation was announced on 19 October.
The NSW Government proposal centres on a “Jobs Guarantee” that will establish a legal obligation to maintain current staffing levels. According to the Government’s media release, the provisions granting the mine statutory consent will not take effect until MACH Energy has signed the Jobs Guarantee.
However, no documentation around the details of the Jobs Guarantee has been made public or provided to parliamentarians, prompting Higginson’s letter to Houssos.
“I respectfully request that you provide me with a copy of the Jobs Guarantee and, if not, your reasons for refusing,” Higginson wrote in correspondence seen by The Point.
“I assume you agree it is in the public interest to have the Jobs Guarantee made publicly available.”
The details of the Jobs Guarantee would shed light on a situation that has been branded a “manufactured jobs crisis” by some observers.
While the Minns Government media release claims that 400 jobs are at risk “ahead of Christmas” without legislation, MACH Energy has made no public statement threatening lay offs in either its response to the High Court decision or in its response to the NSW Government’s legislation. In August, the company welcomed a six year extension of approvals by the NSW Government, as helping to “ensure the long-term future of [the mine]”.
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“Premier Minns is manufacturing a crisis to give special treatment to a coal company”, said Lock the Gate National Coordinator Georgina Woods.
“There is no threat to jobs at Mount Pleasant, which already has approval to stay open for another six years.”
“The NSW Planning Department approved the six-year extension while the High Court was deliberating on a separate 22-year extension application for the site, so the existing approval is unaffected by the High Court’s decision.
“This is about corporate interests trumping the public interest. This is dangerous political interference that puts the demands of a wealthy company that owns one coal mine ahead of the security and safety of people in New South Wales that are already paying the price for coal pollution,” said Woods.
Australia Institute Research Director, Rod Campbell, was also sceptical of the Minns Government response.
“We’ve seen this movie before. In 2014, Rio Tinto lost a big court case about a coal mine to a Hunter Valley community group. The court found that Rio lied about the risk to 45,000 jobs. The then-Liberal NSW Government changed the rules for them anyway,” said Campbell, referring to the Bulga Milbrodale Progress Association’s legal victory over the Warkworth Mine expansion.
“Twelve years later, it’s a Labor Government, the jobs claim is far smaller, and it’s a second-tier mining company, but the response is the same – putting corporate interests before the community interest and the legal system.”
NSW Premier Chris Minns claimed that his government’s commitment to tackling climate change has not changed.
“We have a responsibility to cut emissions and make sure there are good jobs in the years ahead, but we can’t turn our backs on the workers and families who rely on these jobs today,” Premier Minns said.
