George Christensen, Matt Canavan, Malcolm Roberts to attend rally opposing pumped hydro scheme
A sweep of right-wing firebrands will descend on Mackay for a rally opposing the state’s pumped hydro scheme, as the organiser insists her movement is not affiliated with any group.
Business
Don't miss out on the headlines from Business. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A rally opposing the state government’s proposed $12bn pumped hydro scheme will be MC’d by a member of the anti-vaccine mandate Worldwide Rally for Freedom Mackay group and feature a line-up of right-wing firebrands, but the organiser insists it is a single-issue protest.
“The rally is only about the dam, it is not going to be about anything else,” Leila Verban, the founder of NO Hydro Save Netherdale/Eungella/Mt Dalrymple, said.
“They are against the dam, so they want to help us.”
Ms Verban’s Netherdale property in the Pioneer Valley is set to be wiped out by the mammoth 5GW Pioneer-Burdekin battery, one of about 50 homes in the project’s firing line.
The scheme serves as a linchpin for a broader $62bn energy plan designed to move Queensland onto a renewables base.
If constructed, it would store and dispatch half of the state’s energy needs with renewable energy.
Some residents in the Pioneer Valley have reacted with fury to the expected property resumptions and what they see as the possible destruction of the surrounding environment.
Senator Matt Canavan has already travelled into the Valley to mark out his opposition and he will be joined on Saturday by One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts and former Dawson MP and One Nation senate candidate George Christensen.
Christine McDonald, from the Worldwide Rally for Freedom, will lead the day.
“We’ve had success in getting things out there publicly,” Mrs McDonald said.
“We know how to do rallies, they (the anti-pumped hydro movement) don’t have experience.
“We are just bringing it into the forefront of the public.”
It is unclear if any Greens-aligned figures will attend.
Mackay MP Julieanne Gilbert has said she will not appear.
Queensland Hydro, the entity charged with delivering the project, is aware of the rally but will not send anyone to it.
The gathering is booked for Bluewater Quay on Saturday at 10am.
Ms Verban said she had been told some people had decided not to attend the rally because of the presence of the freedom group, but she insisted her movement was not “affiliated”.
“It is difficult, that people associate it as that is what we are about,” she said.
“But that is not it at all.
“It is just that they (Worldwide Rally for Freedom Mackay) are also in our region and have concerns and they decided to jump on board and help us.”
Ms Verban sees the rally as the first step in a larger information battle to push the public towards opposition.
“The rally for us is the first step in our information campaign,” she said.
“We are hoping the word spreads further because a lot of people are still not even aware this is going on in their own region.
“By having a Senator there and other people that can support us, that this actually will be opposed.”
The project has split along party lines.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton trashed the project as a “pipe dream” during a visit to Mackay in October, whereas Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hailed it as “visionary” during a pit-stop to the Sugar City last month.
In a speech to parliament on Tuesday, Capricornia MP Michelle Landry said pristine wilderness would be “destroyed” to make way for the scheme.
The rally comes in the same week as money begins to flow into the investigation and feasibility stage of the project, with Queensland Hydro set to release a series of procurement packages directly to Mackay firms over the next six months.
“The packages are collectively worth millions of dollars,” Ms Gilbert said.
A timeline of studies released by Queensland Hydro shows five streams of investigations that stretch out from March to the release of a detailed analytical report in June 2024.
The first packages released to the market will include work for an engineering geologist, an excavation contractor for test pits, a shallow borehole drilling contractor, groundwater monitoring of geotechnical boreholes and geotechnical laboratory testing.
In January, Queensland Hydro also put out a tender for front-end engineering design, which will drill into the technical requirements of the project.
The tender closed on January 31 and the winner will be announced on April 7.
On Tuesday, the company released a tender for a consultancy firm to develop a renewed capital cost estimate.
The tender closes on March 2.
Macquarie’s new lighthouse is all about the AI boom
Investment bank Macquarie wants to build another AirTrunk, and the infrastructure supporting the tech revolution sits at the heart of its plans.
The best ETFs of the past five years
Exchange traded funds, which let investors buy into entire sectors or markets with just one transaction, are going from strength to strength. But some ETFs are stronger than others.