City Beat: Brisbane Valley flare up over solar farm

A big bun fight is brewing west of Brisbane as angry locals take legal steps to reverse the approval of a $3.5 billion solar farm to be built by a company owned by a Hong Kong-based entity.

Glenn Butcher, Queensland’s assistant Treasurer.

AIN’T NO SUNSHINE

It’s not only coal causing controversy these days.

A big bun fight is brewing out in the Brisbane Valley between local residents and proponents of a $US2.5 billion ($A3.5 billion) solar farm. Somerset Regional Council approved the solar farm east of Harlin and along the D’Aguilar Highway last year much to the chagrin of local residents concerned their rural tranquillity will be threatened.

Now local land owner Anthony Crombie is taking both the council and the farm proponents, Sunshine Energy Australia, to the Planning and Environment Court in an attempt to quash the approval. Sunshine Energy Australia, owned by a Hong Kong-based entity, hopes to build a 1500 megawatt complex as well as a 500 megawatt battery storage station.

Crombie, who owns a property in nearby Spring Creek Rd, says at least 20 residents objected to the plan and are concerned about the impact of the 2000 hectare site on the amenity of the traditionally rural area.

Crombie tells your diarist that part of the site takes up prime agricultural land and there are fears about the environmental impact of the solar farm on a nearby creek system that flows into the Brisbane River.

We hear Assistant Treasurer Glenn Butcher turned up at the site yesterday to turn the sod on the project apparently oblivious to Lady Justice’s involvement. The dispute is threatening to become a statewide issue with Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington taking a predictable pot shot at Butcher for his presumption. “This is an arrogant and reckless move by the Labor Government,” fumed Frecklington. Ouch!

A Somerset Regional Council declined to comment on the appeal as it was before the courts. In a press statement last year the council said this solar farm has the potential to create up to 200 job and once completed, would be Australia’s largest.

FIT FOR A QUEEN

Star Entertainment boss Matt Bekier says he’s pleased with the progress of the $3 billion Queen’s Wharf project. Bekier told your diarist yesterday that the project remains on time and within budget. Contract negotiations for the core, shell and facade of the buildings are expected to conclude by June.

Bekier also tells us he’s hoping Cyclone Oma won’t make a direct hit on the Queensland coast. The last thing Bekier wants is for the Queen’s Wharf site, currently a big hole in the ground, to become a giant swimming pool. There will be plenty of time for swimming when the resort and casino precinct is finished in a couple of years.

While Bekier has noted a slippage in Asian high-rollers through his casinos he says there has been a 30 per cent year on year growth in what he calls the “premium mass market.” “These are people who are coming from Singapore, Malaysia and other places who are not only here to gamble but to have a holiday,” he says.

WHEEL RESPECT

CYCLISTS rightly expect courtesy from motorists on the roads but it would be good if they showed the same respect to pedestrians on footpaths. Brisbane City Council has built a very wide and expensive walkway/bikeway as part of the Kingsford Smith Drive extension, but part of it remains unfinished requiring both cyclists and pedestrians to share a narrow section near Brett’s Wharf. Big signs at either side of the narrow section asks cyclists to dismount but City Beat has yet to see one cyclist follow those instructions, instead zooming past pedestrians and missing them by centimetres.

ZOOM ZOOM

IT’S been a big week for AP Eagers, with shares in the 106-year car retailer up 6 per cent in the past three days. That’s been helped by a strong profit result that defied falling vehicle sales across Australia. Morgans analysts Josephine Little and James Barker have advised clients to buy more shares noting the company’s growth “has been a standout against a difficult industry trading backdrop.”