Labor tempts swing seats with hydrogen

The battle for central Queensland’s marginal electorates is shaping as a fight between hydrogen and coal.

Bill Shorten and Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk check samples at the Northern Oil Refinery. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

The battle for central Queensland’s marginal electorates is ­shaping as a fight between hydrogen and coal, as both major parties touted their plans to get voters back to work in the boom-bust ­region.

Bill Shorten yesterday blitzed the seats of Flynn and Capricornia, unveiling a six-point plan to transform Gladstone into a global hub to produce and export clean ­hydrogen fuel to power-hungry economies around the world.

Hydrogen fuel would be generated by separating the element from the oxygen in water. It would then be stored inside liquid ammonia, shipped to a market overseas, and extracted from the solution.

As business groups applauded the initiative, Resources Minister Matt Canavan accused the Opposition Leader of selling “snake oil” to voters to distract from his “abandonment” of coal projects the senator said could deliver more jobs, more quickly.

“The commercial use of hydrogen is probably decades away,” Senator Canavan said, noting the government had already identified the fuel’s potential.

“Bill Shorten is using a flimsy distraction to try to hoodwink Queenslanders about his lack of support for the coal industry.”

Mr Shorten cited analysis by ACIL Allen projecting hydrogen exports alone could be worth $10 billion in 20 years and create 16,000 new blue-collar jobs, mostly in regional areas.

However, Senator Canavan said the region “desperately needs jobs today” and coalmines such as Adani’s Carmichael project in the Galilee Basin — a massive, untapped­ coal province that geolo­gists say could yield more than 27 billion tonnes and potenti­ally employ 15,000 coalminers across six projects.

Labor’s six-point plan included $1bn directed from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, a $10 million fund for hydrogen refuelling infrastructure, $40m for businesses applying the technology, a $3m innovation hub at Gladstone and regulatory reforms to support the technology.

Labor insisted Gladstone, the hub for Queensland’s liquefied natural gas industry, could be generating hydrogen fuel and shipping it offshore within “a couple of years”.

“Industrial powerhouses like Japan are gearing their whole economy to hydrogen. This is not science fiction,” Mr Shorten told reporters at Gladstone’s Northern Oil Refinery. “When the government ministers come out and bag Labor’s vision for the future it speaks volumes about their lack of respect for Australian science, their lack of respect for Australian entrepreneurialism, and the biggest problem underwriting that is we have a government that has run out of ideas.”

Scott Morrison downplayed the announcement as “disingenuous”, saying a Shorten government could not legally direct the CEFC to provide finance to hydrogen power projects.

When asked about Capricornia candidate Russell Robertson’s support for new coal-fired power, Mr Shorten said Australia would continue to rely on coal-fired power into the future.

Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said Labor’s plan made “good sense” amid “colossal” opportunity for Australia as a leader in hydrogen technology.

The Business Council of Australia said the plan was “welcome” and urged bipartisanship to “end the policy chaos” around energy policy so companies would invest in new generators.

The Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association welcomed Labor’s policy, saying it would “spur investment into this emerging technology”.