Angus Taylor warns Gladstone and Mackay will ‘shut down’ under Labor emissions policy

Energy Minister Angus Taylor has warned Labor’s 45 per cent emissions reduction targets will decimate Gladstone and Mackay.

Australian Energy Minister Angus Taylor.

Energy Minister Angus Taylor has claimed the regional Queensland towns of Gladstone and Mackay will “shut down” under a Shorten Labor government.

Mr Taylor said the towns, which are nearby coal export terminals, would be shattered by Bill Shorten’s 45 per cent emissions reduction targets.

He said Labor’s policies would also bring an end to Australia’s sugar, aluminium and cement industries.

MORE: Angus Taylor writes — Reliability, affordability must be key focus

“What we are not going to do is go to a 45 per cent target because, as the Business Council has told us, that is an economy wrecking target,” Mr Taylor told ABC radio.

“That will see — and I was up in Central Queensland this week — we will see Gladstone shut, we will see Mackay shut down, the sugar growers, the aluminium sector, the cement sector.

“If people want to shut these industries and lose regional jobs — put good people, hundreds of thousands of good people, out of work — then a high target, the sort of target Labor is proposing, is where you go.”

The claims are reminiscent of Tony Abbott saying the South Australian town of Whyalla would be “wiped off the map” under Julia Gillard’s carbon tax.

The Australian revealed this morning that 10 out of 66 submissions for federal government backing of dispatchable power projects include coal.

Mr Taylor said the energy system needed balance to the $15 billion investment slated for solar and renewables in the next two years.

“Our electricity system needs balance, it needs the reliable, 24/7 baseload power alongside the very significant investment in renewables that is happening right now,” he said.

“We’ve got a balance. It includes gas, coal, waste to energy, so a very broad range of technologies.

“Going for these one solution for the problem, which Labor state governments have been pursuing, particularly in South Australia and Victoria, leads to the sort of outcome we saw in Victoria last week where 200,000 houses lost their power and we won’t stand for that.”

A spokeswoman for opposition energy spokeswoman Mark Butler said the Liberals had “nothing to offer but baseless fear campaigns”.

“Australians have become used to these tired old scare campaigns that Tony Abbott made his stock-and-trade. Remember Tony Abbott said that climate change policy would ‘wipe Whyalla off the map’,” the spokeswoman said.

“Confidence is surging in Whyalla because Sanjeev Gupta has recognised the cleanest, most reliable way to shore up the future of those steelworks is in renewable energy. The world is moving on from these tired scare campaigns. It’s time the Liberal Party did.”

Mr Butler’s spokeswoman said Labor would remain committed to the manufacturing sector, particularly aluminium.

“Like other strategic industries, aluminium will be supported under a future Labor government to cut its pollution while improving competitiveness,” she said.

“Unlike the LNP, Labor not only has a plan to tackle climate change and end the Liberals energy crisis, we have a plan to capitalise on Australia’s advantages as a renewable energy powerhouse to grow new industries like hydrogen that will help set us up for the jobs and prosperity of the future.”