Election 2022: Labor’s green-power pitch to miners
Anthony Albanese has pledged to ‘kickstart’ battery manufacturing in Australia if he is elected on May 21.
Anthony Albanese has pledged to “kickstart” battery manufacturing in Australia if he is elected on May 21, promising to build a $100m battery manufacturing precinct in an attempt to shore up votes in the coal heartland of central Queensland.
Under a partnership with the state government, the cash injection would incentivise Australian businesses to develop renewable energy technologies. As part of Labor’s push for domestic manufacturing, the funding would aim to create 100,000 jobs, with 2000 of those in Queensland.
The pledge came as Mr Albanese campaigned in the LNP-held seat of Flynn on Thursday, tipped as one of the campaign’s most fierce battlegrounds.
Labor is hoping Gladstone mayor Matt Burnett will pick up the seat, while the Coalition has selected LNP state member for Callide Colin Boyce.
The seat has been left vacant following the retirement of Nationals MP Ken O’Dowd after 12 years in politics. He held the seat on a margin of 8.7 per cent.
Mr Albanese on Thursday spruiked Labor’s plans to transition to net zero through local manufacturing and investing in renewable energies.
Labor’s climate targets are more ambitious than the Coalition’s, aiming for a 43 per cent cut in emissions by 2030. The Coalition has pledged to reduce emissions by 26 to 28 per cent over the same period.
Speaking in front of Gladstone’s Northern Oil Refinery, Mr Albanese said Australia had the opportunity to become a world leader in sustainable energy, and that his government would seek to capitalise on the nation’s potential.
Flanked by opposition industry spokesman Ed Husic, Queensland Labor senator Murray Watt and Mr Burnett, Mr Albanese played up his interest in the region, saying he had visited Gladstone five times since becoming Opposition Leader.
It was the first time either leader had visited the region during the campaign.
“A key part of our policy is that we need a future made in Australia,” Mr Albanese said.
“We need to rebuild in manufacturing in Australia. One of the lessons at the Covid-19 pandemic is that we need to be more self-reliant and make more things right here.
“Today’s project does just that. It is also about getting more value out of the supply chain. Making sure that we send a message as well that Australia, under a federal Labor government, is open for business.”
But new polling published in The Australian on Thursday found that Mr Boyce would win the seat if an election were held today, with One Nation preferences helping the LNP maintain a 54-46 per cent lead over Labor on a 2PP vote.
Mr Boyce recently exposed fractures within the Coalition over its net-zero climate targets when he suggested they were “flexible” and not set in stone.
The comments may play well for Mr Boyce among Flynn voters who are concerned about Australia’s transition towards net zero, with about 7.2 per cent of people 15 and older employed in the coalmining industry. About 5.2 per cent work in beef and cattle farming, with agriculture one of the region’s main primary industries.
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