Residents in Labor’s South East Queensland seats back coal to stay in power mix

Voters in crucial South East Queensland Labor seats want coal to remain a key part of the state’s energy mix in a major blow for a government hanging on for dear life.

Residents in Labor’s Brisbane seats want coal to stay.

Almost a third of southeast Queenslanders believe the state government should be prioritising reducing crime and anti-social behaviour, over improving public transport and education, and climate action.

The results in a recent survey, conducted for not-for-profit membership organisation Coal Australia, also found that a quarter of 1600 respondents from four southeast electorates also wanted a focus on reducing power bills and cost of living.

The Southeast Queensland Insights Research, obtained by The Courier-Mail, surveyed 400 Queenslanders each in the Labor held electorates of Springwood, Gaven, Ipswich and Capalaba.

From a list of key election issues, reducing crime and anti-social behaviour (28 per cent), reducing power bills and cost of living (24 per cent), and increasing housing options (19 per cent) were voted the top three the state government should prioritise most right now.

Of less concern was improving local roads and public transport (6 per cent), keeping jobs and prosperity (4 per cent), climate action (4 per cent) and improving education and schools (3 per cent).

Public transport and education have been key features of flagship election promises.

Both Labor and the LNP have promised to keep public transport fares at 50 cents after the October election following a successful trial.

Labor this week also unveiled a $1.4 billion program to provide free lunches to primary school children from term one next year despite criticising a similar Greens’ plan.

On cost of living, a re-elected Queensland Labor government has committed to set up state-owned fuel stations and an electricity retailer to compete against Ergon Energy in the regions in a bid to make power bills cheaper.

This is following $1000 electricity rebates.

Meanwhile, the LNP is promising to be tough on youth crime with its ‘Adult Crime, Adult Time’ policy for teens who commit serious offences, like murder, serious harm or robbery.

The LNP will also send wayward youths on three-week long “reset” camps as part of its early intervention crime plan.

On crime, Labor has committed to boosting the Queensland Police Service for 900 personnel, including 500 sworn offices, by mid-2027 as part of its Community Safety Plan.

Other results from the Southeast Queensland Insights Research revealed nearly 80 per cent of the survey respondents supported using more of Queensland’s coal domestically to keep power prices down.

A majority of the voters also agreed that coal was cheap and reliable, and did not support Labor’s jobs and energy plan to replace coal power with renewables.

Support was also strong for incentivising coal companies to stay in Queensland with more competitive royalty rates.

Almost 70 per cent also disagreed with Australia stopping coal mining should it impact their community or economy.

Coal Australia chairman Nick Jorss said voters across Queensland, including in the southeast, had rejected a “rapid and expensive energy transition” away from coal.

“Reducing power bills and the cost of living is a critical issue and Queenslanders are seeing through the rhetoric,” he said.

“Some of our politicians may still be playing catch up but it’s clear the people of Queensland strongly support our biggest export industry, responsible for hundreds of thousands of jobs and keeping our economy afloat.

“Our high-quality coal not only keeps our lights on and keeps our power bills down but is also a critical raw material we export for steel making worldwide.”

Originally published as Residents in Labor’s South East Queensland seats back coal to stay in power mix