Millions More of Taxpayer Money Committed to Griffin Coal Bailout

Media Release | 21 January 2026

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Hon Dr Steve Thomas MLC

‍Shadow Minister for Energy; Industrial Relations

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Millions more in taxpayer dollars are now being funnelled into Griffin Coal, laying bare the Cook Labor Government’s failure to deliver a credible energy transition and exposing its 2029 coal exit plan as nothing more than a pipe dream.

Shadow Energy Minister Dr Steve Thomas said today’s deal to keep Griffin Coal afloat confirmed the Government’s energy plan was in disarray.

“The Cook Government has been forced to admit that if it wants to keep the lights on and air-conditioners running, coal-fired power remains essential for at least the next five years—and likely well beyond that,” Dr Thomas said.

“It is blindingly obvious to everyone—except, it seems, Premier Roger Cook and Energy Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson—that Western Australia will need coal-fired generation past 2029, along with significant new peak gas capacity to maintain grid stability well into the 2030s.

“I have said repeatedly over the last year that more funding for Griffin would be required, while Premier Cook has continually said that no more public money would be handed over.

“While the Government is again keeping secret the exact costs of its new position announced today, I would estimate that this extension appears to add at least another $100 million in state funding over the next five years, demonstrating the “commercial solution” the Premier has been demanding for the last two years is a fallacy.

“Let’s hope this is the Government’s lightbulb moment that means they finally understand their current transition plan will simply run out of energy.

“As we stand now, the Government’s energy transition plan lies in tatters.”

Dr Thomas said today’s announcement left unanswered the same longstanding question that arose with each of the previous bailout announcements.

“The massive State Government subsidies for Griffin Coal should have been used to purchase a better outcome then simply subsidising the companies losses,” he said.

“It appears to me that over a decade the Cook Labor Government will potentially invest over $450 million in total in a foreign owned and insolvent company that in the end will simply close down. It will then have no value as an asset but be a huge liability for rehabilitation.

“Our taxpayer’s money should have been used to get the bondholders and debtholders out and to create a company that could operate efficiently, but the Government didn’t have the energy for that.”

Background:

Griffin Coal was purchased by Lanco Infratech in 2011 for $750 million.

In 2022 the company was placed in receivership, with debts at that time reported at $1.5 billion.

At the end of 2022 the Labor State Government, under former Premier Mark McGowan, announced $19.5 million would be used to prop up Griffin Coal, which was at risk of folding.

The $19.5 million soon blew out to $23.2 million, and soon after that in June 2022 the Government added another $15.9 million in subsidies to Griffin, to $39.1 million.

In December 2023, new Premier Roger Cook announced a new and additional $220 million bailout of Griffin Coal.

The Premier added another $49 million that total or $269m) million in the state budget released last year.
Answers to questions in Parliament then revealed the total debt owed to Griffin Coal’s secured creditors alone had reached $2.354 billion.

This means that while the Labor Government had been tipping $308 million into Griffin Coal, the company’s net position had not improved - it has seriously deteriorated.

The $308 million handout from Western Australian taxpayers has not solved the financial problems of Griffin or the wider coalfields, it has simply allowed it to get worse.

Griffin Coal debts reached $2.35 billion as the Government increases the taxpayer’s bailout to beyond $400 million which includes payments to the overseas banks of $13.5 million to date.

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Media contact: Dr Steve Thomas 0427 908 717

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