THE NSW government has hosed down claims that Premier Dominic Perrottet was considering a new state-owned coalmine as part of its response to domestic coal shortages that power companies say are making it hard for the state's baseload generators to compete.
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In an article on Wednesday, The Guardian quoted Mr Perrottet as saying the state could invest in new coal capacity if the private sector couldn't.
"[The government] is working very closely with the private sector in relation to securing the operations of coalmines because what we see is a substantive issue where private capital is not being invested in coal," Perrottet was quoted as saying in November.
"They don't have the financial capacity to do it.
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"Now we're going to work very closely with them on that. We're talking about what is absolutely ... needed to secure society, being energy.
"There's not just a profit obligation, there's a moral obligation, a social obligation to the states. I'm engaged in those discussions. No doubt it's a big challenge going ahead, but it's not just the short term - it's long-term thinking as well, because this problem is not going away."
The post-WWII NSW power supply was built around state-owned power stations operated by the then Electricity Commission of NSW, and a collection of state-owned mines, held in a separate arm of government.
Both were privatised separately, but in 2011 the state Labor government of the day proposed a major open-cut mine at Cobbora, about 260 kilometres north-west of Newcastle, near Dunedoo.
The Cobbora proposal was to produce up to 30 million tonnes of coal a year - or about the amount burned in the state's coal-fired power stations - with ownership shared by the companies behind the Bayswater, Liddell, Eraring and Vales Point power stations.
The project was abandoned, and the Coalition government sold the land bought during the planning stages.
On the Guardian's reporting of Mr Perrottet's comments, a government spokesperson said "the premier has not suggested the government would become a finance or equity partner in a coal mine".
It was not NSW government policy, and there were no plans for any change.
The spokesperson said its policies were explained in its Future of Coal Statement, published in mid-2020.
The Guardian article referred to "discussions" with the coal industry, but NSW Minerals Council chief Stephen Galilee said in response that: "I am not aware of any proposals for direct government investment in projects in NSW, at least not since the Cobbora Coal project a decade back. Nor am I aware of any industry discussions or proposals of that nature."
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Ian Kirkwood
Reporting journalist at the Newcastle Herald since 1987. Editorial writer, general reporter, industrial relations, industry and coal.
Reporting journalist at the Newcastle Herald since 1987. Editorial writer, general reporter, industrial relations, industry and coal.
