Last month, the board of a public hospital rejected a $15 million donation from a coal mining venture, saying the project’s potentially negative effects on the local population’s health made it unethical.

Wyong Hospital, on the Central Coast, NSW, like most other public hospitals across Australia, is reliant on business donations to meet shortfalls in state funding.

But undeterred, its board rejected the funds, saying in a statement that local community sentiment about the approved $800 million mine would not support the move, due to concerns about “potential public health effects, particularly in relation to air quality and noise pollution”.

The board’s decision should be widely and loudly applauded — especially at a time when Australia is grappling with its worst-ever bushfire season that has come at the hands of climate change.