¶ GRIFFIN Coal’s debt continues to spiral amid State Government plans to inject more taxpayer funds into the embattled miner.
Premier Roger Cook confirmed in parliament last week that $49 million has been committed in the state budget for additional support.
This comes on top of the government’s $220 million bailout package, unveiled in December 2023, and $39.3 million doled out in 2022-23, bringing the total to more than $308 million.
The future of Griffin and its biggest customer Bluewaters Power remains up in the air ahead of the expiration of the government’s bailout in June next year.
Mr Cook last week told parliament the government wants the “parties to sort themselves out so that they can get on and mine coal at a commercial rate and people can produce power at a commercial rate”.
“Quite frankly, the fact that the parties have not been able to come to an agreement is a disgrace,” he said.
However, Shadow Energy Minister Dr Steve Thomas criticised the premier’s “attack” on “two companies that have been left to pick up the pieces of years of government mismanagement”.
“The government’s so-called solution to the problem is a joke because the price that Griffin Coal needs to become viable is the same price that bankrupts Bluewaters Power,” Dr Thomas said.
“That is why Mr Cook has spent years propping up Griffin Coal with $300 million of taxpayers’ money.
“If there was a commercial solution available, the government has had a decade to deliver it and save that $300 million.”
Dr Thomas noted that when Griffin was placed into receivership in 2022 debts were reported at $1.5 billion but have now reached $2.354 billion.
It was additionally revealed in parliament that $13.5 million has been paid to four overseas banks who are secured creditors, with another $18 million likely to go to the same creditor banks.
“Just in case anyone thought the problem was being resolved, answers to other questions in parliament have revealed that the total debt owed to Griffin Coal’s secured creditors alone has reached $2.354 billion,” Dr Thomas said.
“Which means that while the Labor Government has been tipping $309 million into Griffin Coal, the company’s net position has not improved, it has seriously deteriorated.”