The high cost of failing to plan for our energy future

In my years as a GP, I learned that a patient’s health rarely improves by ignoring the underlying cause of their ailment. The same principle applies to the state of our energy system. What we are seeing in Parliament today is not a cure, but a temporary bandage on a deep and festering wound. The introduction of the Collie Coal (Griffin) Agreement Amendment Bill 2026 is a startling admission that the transition to clean energy has stalled.

The admission of a failed plan

This bill exists because the government has run out of time and options. We are being asked to extend coal mining at the Ewington pits until mid 2031, despite repeated assurances that the state would move away from fossil fuels much sooner. It is a visceral reminder of the danger we face when rhetoric outpaces reality. While the major parties play politics and congratulate one another on their shared vision, the evidence is clear: the lights only stay on because we are propping up an unstable, aging industry with hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars. This is what it looks like when you fail to have a plan.

We are currently in a position where our state-owned coal infrastructure is so decrepit that we have become dependent on privately owned, financially shaky coal to keep our energy system going. It is a crisis of our own making. For years, forward-thinkers have pointed to the necessity of building renewable energy at scale, yet we find ourselves hurriedly planning new gas-fired stations and extending coal leases. The cost of this delay is passed directly to you, the taxpayer, while the health of our environment continues to decline.

The legal loophole for corporations

Perhaps most concerning to me is the legal architecture of this bill. It includes a general supremacy clause, meaning this agreement can override almost any other law of the state. It explicitly subordinates the Environmental Protection Act. This establishes a dangerous precedent where an executive agreement sits above the laws designed to protect our water, our forests, and our health. In my medical view, you cannot treat the symptoms of an energy crisis by poisoning the land that sustains us.

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Specifically, the bill allows the government to release a multinational company from its decommissioning and rehabilitation responsibilities. We are essentially giving a get-out-of-jail-free card to a corporation that has already received hundreds of millions in public subsidies. The traditional custodians of the land, the Wilman people, and the residents of Collie deserve better than a future where toxic waste is left behind because cleaning it up became too expensive or too complicated for a foreign entity.

A prescription for real change

We often hear that those who critique lack solutions. This is not true. The science-first approach is simple: we need legislated renewable energy targets and clear emission reduction milestones. We need to build the transmission infrastructure that opens up the Wheatbelt and other regions to wind and solar excellence. We should be incentivising households and renters to adopt rooftop solar and battery storage today, rather than waiting for massive, expensive gas projects that may never even secure the necessary turbines.

The sinking feeling many Western Australians get when they see their energy bills or look at the degradation of our natural landscape is justified. We are witnessing an energy transition in crisis, propped up by the very fuels we need to leave behind. We must demand a more honest, evidence-based strategy that puts the health of our communities and our environment ahead of the convenience of multinational corporations.

You can read the full details of this debate in the Hansard record. If you believe it is time for a more sensible, common-sense approach to our state's future, I invite you to join Legalise Cannabis WA and help us fight for a smarter, healthier Western Australia.