Anna Bligh warns of 'radical' Greens

QUEENSLAND Premier Anna Bligh has urged Julia Gillard to avoid "radical and extreme politics", warning that Greens' proposals to ban new coalmines would cause "a social and economic catastrophe" for her state.

Attacking the Greens as fanciful and unrealistic, Ms Bligh has also strongly defended her state's burgeoning coal-seam gas industry, telling The Australian it would be an important transitional fuel in coming decades as the world sought to develop "viable" energy alternatives.

The Premier's stout defence of an industry that directly employs 55,000 Queenslanders came as Greens leader Bob Brown renewed his calls for a swift transition away from coal and savaged federal Resources Minister Martin Ferguson, who on Tuesday defended the industry's future.

See full Article.