"Tax me" Rising Tide paints coal ship; demands urgent transition funding for coal workers
30 October 2025
This morning in Newcastle, members of climate justice group Rising Tide painted on a coal ship "TAX ME" in chalk to call on the federal government to introduce a 78% fossil fuel export profits tax to fund a community and industrial transition away from polluting coal. The coal ship is named "Climate Justice" and was getting loaded at port in Newcastle when it was painted.
Australia is the largest exporter of coal pollution in the world, and the Newcastle coal port is the largest in the world. Rising Tide's call for a 78% tax on coal export profits is influenced by Norway which has been taxing profits of its oil and gas sector at 78% since 1996 which raises over a trillion dollars for its sovereign wealth fund.
In contrast, many of Australia’s biggest fossil fuel companies pay less than 2% income tax including Glencore (1.4%), Whitehaven Coal (0.1%) and Yancoal (0%).
Photos and videos can be found here, and can also be found on Rising Tide's Facebook and Instagram.
Alexa Stuart, Rising Tide Spokesperson:
“It is laughable that a coal ship is called “Climate Justice” when the burning of fossil fuels is the number one driver of dangerous climate change which is already causing devastating impacts on innocent people all around the world.
“Real climate justice is about heeding the dire scientific warnings, and committing to an urgent and just transition for coal workers and communities. We're demanding a 78% tax on coal export profits to do exactly that.
"The federal government’s own modelling predicts that the value of Australia’s coal exports is expected to drop by up 50% in the next five years as the countries we export to stop buying coal and transition to renewable energy. The CEO of the Port of Newcastle, Craig Carmody, has said that the coal export industry could collapse in the next 10 years. Yet the federal government has no plan—no timeline, no serious funding, no pathway to secure jobs beyond coal. Instead, they’re letting many of Australia’s biggest fossil fuel companies rake in billions of dollars of profit whilst paying less tax than nurses and teachers.
“NSW coal royalties are only 8-10%, and whilst 60% of NSW coal royalties are generated from the Hunter, less than 2% of those royalties come back to the Hunter to fund support for workers during the transition away from coal. This is an outrage.
If we were taxing coal export profits at 78% we could be generating billions of dollars to support communities like Singleton and Muswellbrook who have thousands of jobs on the line and are being left unsupported by a government who is still in denial about the decline of coal.”
The action comes just four weeks before Rising Tide hosts the climate protest in Newcastle from Thursday 27 November to Tuesday 2 December, 2025 People's Blockade of the World's Largest Coal Port. The event is expected to draw thousands of people and will involve a flotilla on the Newcastle Harbor, workshops, training, kids activities and a “climate concert” headlined by Lime Cordiale.
Rising Tide is calling on the Port of Newcastle to stop coal ship movements from dawn Saturday 29th to dusk Sunday 30th of November to accommodate the protest.
Media contact: Alexa 0423 361 030
