Queensland election 2017: Coal station plan fires up

A NEW coal-fired power station will be built in a north Queensland mining community under a Liberal National Party state government.

The LNP will pledge to build a coal-fired power station in north Queensland.

A NEW coal-fired power station will be built in the north Queensland mining community of Collinsville under a Liberal National Party state government, the party will pledge today.

LNP deputy leader Deb Frecklington last night confirmed Collinsville would be the preferred location for the new power station because it was near existing coal mines and transmission lines as well as demand centres, including Townsville and Mackay.

Queensland’s energy future has been a key flashpoint in the election campaign, with Labor promising to continue pursuing renewable energy while scotching the idea of new coal-fired power stations.

Collinsville is in the LNP-held electorate of Burdekin, which became a notionally Labor seat following the recent redistribution of electorate boundaries.

A Courier-Mail/Galaxy poll on the weekend put the LNP ahead of Labor 51 per cent to 49 per cent on a two-party preferred basis.

Ms Frecklington said Labor had ruled out a new low emissions power station despite a secret report commissioned by the Department of Energy and Water finding it would create hundreds of jobs.

“More supply and cheaper electricity is a central plank of the LNP’s economic plan to create 500,000 jobs over the next decade,” she said.

“Only the LNP has a plan to deliver cheaper electricity prices, saving a typical household $780 over the next three years. The choice north Queenslanders have is simple: a vote for the LNP is a vote for lower electricity prices and a vote for a Labor-Greens alliance is a vote for record high power prices.

“Every single north Queenslander is paying record high electricity bills because of Annastacia Palaszczuk’s ideological obsession with green energy and she expects north Queenslanders to pick up the tab.”

Originally published as Queensland election 2017: Coal station plan fires up