It all sounds good but surely all we are doing is shifting...

It all sounds good but surely all we are doing is shifting Japan's pollution here?
All the emissions from the brown coal will be here including the problem of the CO2 which they are once again talking about sequestering at huge expense and risk if it escapes.
There are also massive energy losses when you combine all the processes and transport.

So in the end Japan gets clean energy that converts to water while Australia gets paid for wearing far more pollution than it saves.

In global terms surely it's a negative?

There's no point in using renewable energy to create hydrogen because the efficiency of simply using that energy as electricity has to be more efficient, versatile and safer?