Potential plans for Maryborough TAFE

A push for Maryborough’s abandoned TAFE building to be the home of a Fraser Coast electric car company has been revealed.

The former education hub in Maryborough, which has been left to deteriorate for seven years, has once again become a political football - this time in the federal election campaign and surprisingly, not for Wide Bay candidates.

Instead, Independent candidate Jack Dempsey in the neighbouring electorate of Hinkler has joined forces with Australian Clean Energy Vehicles (ACE EV) Group managing director Greg McGarvie to call for electric vehicles to be built on the Fraser Coast.

The ACE EV Group started out in a home garage in Hervey Bay in 2015.

Mr McGarvie said the company will start manufacturing electric vehicles next month, with the first seven vehicles coming off the production line in Brisbane on June 15.

“We were hoping it would have been here in Maryborough, but we’ve got a timeline that has to be met, so we’re pivoting to Brisbane where we can do it and then we want later on to actually establish full manufacturing here on the Fraser Coast,” he said.

Mr McGarvie said the TAFE campus on Nagal Street is ideal for their purposes.

“It already has a registered automotive workshop and the activities we’ll be engaged in will be actually cleaner the automotive training that happened there in previous years,” he said.

When asked why electric vehicle manufacturing should be brought to the Fraser Coast, Mr McGarvie said he believes it is the future.

“I’m probably being selfish I live here, and I’ve got 10 grandchildren here, and I think it’s the future, I’m trying to leave a future for the next generation,” he said.

“It’s a clean, innovative future and that TAFE site has already been visited by people from overseas and they look at it and they say ‘This is just a perfect innovation park for advanced manufacturing’,” he said.

He noted Australia relies on bringing in oil, and if the country were to pivot towards electric vehicles, they can be powered by free, clean energy.

“The real thing is to be smart and take up EVs [electric vehicles] and support the manufacturing of EVs in Australia,” he said.

The company was given a $5 million grant from the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources in 2020.

The grant went towards the company’s advanced manufacturing facility and trial of vehicle-to-grid technology in South Australia.

In a statement, Mr Dempsey welcomed the production of the electric vehicles.

“Electric vehicles could be manufactured on the Fraser Coast if the state and federal governments show interest and work together to lock in a sit,” Mr Dempsey said.

“Hervey Bay-based ACE EV uses a clever design and smart technology to enable advanced manufacturing at a competitive price.

“If this clean industry goes ahead locally instead of Brisbane it will create local jobs and support new training, vocational and education opportunities for our young people.”

Mr Dempsey also said in a statement, the company has not received support from the incumbent Member for Hinkler Keith Pitt.

“If I’m elected as the Independent Member for Hinkler, I’ll renegotiate the Hinkler Regional Deal and seek to establish a Regional Development Area in Bundaberg, Hervey Bay and Maryborough,” Mr Dempsey said.

Mr Pitt said he has met with Mr McGarvie and provided assistance to him, as he does with all his constituents.

“The Bundaberg Mayor is advocating for an electric vehicle manufacturing facility in Maryborough, which is in the Federal electorate of Wide Bay and not in the Hinkler electorate in which he is running,” Mr Pitt said.

“Independent candidates can promise the world but deliver absolutely nothing apart from a Greens-Labor Albanese-led Government.”

Due to the vacant state of the TAFE site, it has previously been subject to break-ins as well as providing temporary shelter for wanderers in the area.

Maryborough MP Bruce Saunders said there has been a “lot of interest” in property and they’re doing their due diligence to ensure a suitable business takes over the space.

“We need a business in there that is good for Maryborough,” Mr Saunders said.

He explained whichever business takes over the property will need to create jobs, offer employment and career paths for young people in Maryborough.