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Moratorium on New Coal, Gas and Oil 2022

✦ Plain-English Summary

# Moratorium on New Coal, Gas and Oil Bill 2022 ## What it does The bill would stop the Australian government from approving any new coal, gas, or oil projects—including mines, refineries, pipelines, and export terminals. It also cancels existing approvals for these projects that haven't actually started construction yet. ## Why it matters This is a major climate policy shift that would effectively end new fossil fuel development in Australia. It affects jobs, investment, and Australia's energy future, while supporters argue it's necessary to meet climate commitments. ## Key details - **Scope**: Applies to any infrastructure "wholly or predominantly" used for extracting, processing, transporting, or exporting coal, gas, or oil. - **Existing projects**: Approvals granted before this law passes get revoked automatically—but only if construction hasn't actually started. Projects already underway aren't affected. - **Timeline**: Takes effect the day after receiving Royal Assent (the Governor-General's sign-off). --- **Status note**: This bill was introduced by Adam Bandt (Greens) and is still before Parliament, meaning it hasn't been voted on yet and faces an uncertain path given current government composition.

Official Description

Amends the: Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 to: prohibit environmental approvals of new coal, gas and oil projects; revoke existing environmental approvals of coal, gas and oil projects that haven't commenced; and prohibit new petroleum exploration permits being granted or renewed in Commonwealth waters and cancel current petroleum exploration permits; and Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 to prohibit petroleum production licences being granted or renewed in Commonwealth waters and cancel current petroleum licences where petroleum recovery operations have not commenced.

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Audit History

Introduced

14 Feb 2022

Last updated on APH

10 Apr 2026

Last checked by Crossbench

today

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in 1 weeks

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