Out of Step: Joyce and Canavan’s Coal Crusade Ignores the Will of the People

By Peter Brown

In a move that feels more like a relic from the past than a policy for the future, Nationals MPs Barnaby Joyce and Matt Canavan are once again championing coal. Calling for new coal-fired power stations to replace renewable energy projects, they’re pushing a message that’s not just environmentally reckless – it’s politically tone-deaf.

Australia has moved on. The Coalition’s crushing defeat at the May 2025 federal election was, in large part, a referendum on climate inaction. Voters sent a clear message: stop dragging your feet on the energy transition. But instead of listening, Joyce and Canavan are doubling down – proposing the very policies that helped drive their party into opposition.

Their argument? That new coal is somehow the solution to rising energy prices. But this claim has been comprehensively dismantled by the CSIRO’s latest GenCost 2024–25 report, which confirmed – yet again – that renewables with storage are the cheapest form of new energy generation in Australia. Building new coal power would be more expensive, take longer, and offer no long-term certainty for investors or consumers.

Globally, the story is just as stark. Major economies are moving away from coal – and fast. Even in China, coal and gas power has started to decline as renewables surge. Meanwhile, Australia is retiring its ageing coal fleet and investing in a clean energy future. To build new coal plants now would be like funding new fax machines in the age of the smartphone.

There’s also the question of internal political coherence. While moderate Liberals attempt to rebuild trust with urban and younger voters, the Nationals appear hell-bent on isolating themselves. Their attacks on net-zero – calling it a “swindle” or a “fantasy” – are alienating the very voters the Coalition needs to win back. They risk dragging the entire conservative movement backwards, forcing the Liberals into an uneasy alliance with a party determined to relive the coal-glory days of decades past.

And the language is no less regressive than the policy. Joyce has likened wind turbines to “filth,” while Canavan calls renewables “dole bludgers” – a dog-whistle critique that might play well in a certain echo chamber, but sounds utterly absurd in a country battered by climate disasters and desperate for energy stability.

The truth is, Australia doesn’t need more coal. It needs leadership that recognises the economic and environmental reality of our time. We’re not just in a transition – we’re in a race. And those still clinging to coal are holding us back.

Joyce and Canavan aren’t just out of touch with voters. They’re out of time.

 

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