Plibersek's coalmine decision is double trouble for climate and housing | Grogonomics

The emissions impact is obvious but with full employment in construction, approving three mine extensions is saying you want workers there rather than building homesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastWhen the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, approved three new coalmine expansions last week, she not only failed abjectly to act on climate change, but by diverting scarce workers from constructing homes to expanding fossil-fuel projects, she also made it harder for the government to improve housing affordability through its aim of building 1.2m new homes in five years.Last week Plibersek posted photos of her releasing a cute little bilby into a wild training zone. Oddly there was no such cute photo, nor mention on her list of "some of the things I'm most proud of", of her approving those three coalmine expansions, which will generate about 1.3bn tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions over their lifetime. Continue reading...