The Wire

The Construction and Mining Union – CFMEU – have called for the Australian coal industry to invest more funds into Clean Coal technology research. Under the “Coal 21” project BHP Billion and Rio Tinto currently contribute 20 cents per tonne of coal mined, of funds going into research. The CFMEU want to see this increased to 1 dollar per tonne, arguing that the coal industries profits are large enough to accommodate this increase. The Wire spoke with National Research Director of the CFMEU, Peter Colley. He outlined the reasons behind their push for increased research funding.