Coal, cocktails and political combat: A night at Coal Australia’s fifth annual industry dinner

Four politicians walk into Tattersalls Club with 300 Queenslanders and an open bar … it wasn’t the start of a joke, it was Coal Australia’s Annual Dinner, and the SAS Group was there to watch the fireworks.

With coal generating $38.4 billion for Queensland and providing 393,000 jobs, the room had plenty to celebrate. But the real entertainment was the panel – Chris Jones, editor of The Courier-Mail, refereeing a four-way political cage match between Assistant Federal Minister Anthony Chisholm, Queensland State Resources Minister Dale Last, Senator Susan McDonald and the eternal wildcard, Senator Pauline Hanson.

Chisholm went first, dodging “why does the government hate coal” like a man who’s had that question served to him before. Then it was Dale Last’s turn under the microscope addressing Queensland’s eye-watering top-tier, tiered 40% coal royalty – quadruple NSW’s 10 per cent. His defence? The government has slashed mine approval times from 12 years to six, so really, the industry should be thanking it. Cutting approval times in half is genuinely something, but pivoting from “why do you tax us four times more than anyone else” to “you’re welcome” is a move so bold it deserves its own royalty rate. Hanson wasn’t having it, jumping in to point out the Olympic stadium was approved in weeks, so why does coal still wait years? The crowd erupted, sensing blood in the water. It took Susan McDonald’s smooth intervention, redirecting the blame toward activists, to drag Last out of the crossfire and let the panel limp back to safer ground.

The real lesson of the night? Opposition – particularly if you’re One Nation – is easy: all zingers, no accountability. Government is where promises go to meet budgets, bureaucracy and everyone else’s demands. And while it’s easy to reduce coal to a punchline about royalties and approval times, the room wasn’t just toasting a commodity, it was toasting the thing that quietly keeps the lights on. Coal isn’t just steaming its way to North Asia’s mills or hardening into the steel that builds skylines and stadiums (Olympic ones included); it’s also still doing the unglamorous, unsexy job of keeping Australia’s baseload power humming along, day and night, rain or shine, long after the last speech at Tattersalls has wrapped up. Nothing generates more energy than four politicians, a packed room of coal industry leaders and an open bar except, perhaps, the industry actually keeping the country running.