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Queensland Investment Corporation takes 9.9pc stake in Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal

The Labor Government will invest around $150 million into the Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal, which another Labor government sold nearly 20 years ago.

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The Labor Government will invest around $150 million into a coal terminal another Labor government sold nearly 20 years ago.

Treasurer Cameron Dick’s office have confirmed the government’s investment arm – Queensland Investment Corporation – have taken a 9.9 per cent stake in the Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal, which exports thermal and metallurgical coal from Central Queensland’s Bowen Basin mines to ports around the world.

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It’s understood the investment will equal around $150 million.

The move will be funded out of the Palaszczuk Government’s $500 million Backing Queensland Business Investment Fund, which was announced during September’s economic update to invest in businesses and projects that will generate local jobs through the COVID-19 recovery.

Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal coal stock yard and loading jetty. Pic: Daryl Wright
Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal coal stock yard and loading jetty. Pic: Daryl Wright

Treasurer Cameron Dick had previously flagged using some of the money to buy back the lucrative asset, which was sold by the Beattie Government in 2001 through a 99-year lease.

“If the deal stacks up, and if we can drive a hard bargain for Queenslanders, then this is the kind of investment the fund could consider,” he said of the asset in September.

Mr Dick did not comment on QIC’s investment decision yesterday ahead of a public float by owners Brookfield Asset Management later this week.

Treasurer Cameron Dick. Photographer: Liam Kidston.
Treasurer Cameron Dick. Photographer: Liam Kidston.

But Queensland Resources Council chief executive Ian Macfarlane said it was a “clear vote of confidence” by the government in the role of the resources industry in the COVID-19 recovery.

“The development of our resources sector is critical for Queensland’s COVID-19 recovery and its longer-term economic growth,” he said.

It follows Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s election campaign announcement that she wanted to buy back another asset that was sold by the Bligh Government in a pitch to bring hundreds of jobs to Central Queensland.

She revealed her government had entered negotiations to secure land at the old Aurizon workshops in Rockhampton, which would serve as a supply chain for train manufacturing.

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Original URL: https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/queensland-government/queensland-investment-corporation-takes-99pc-stake-in-dalrymple-bay-coal-terminal/news-story/2566fe1884ae18f5ffc64677ca24c406