George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House recognises:

(1) the long term global demand predictions for coal in providing reliable, secure and affordable baseload power;

(2) that power prices in Queensland have reached record highs, including up to $14,000 MW/H in January 2017;

(3) that the high cost of electricity supply in North Queensland has been a disincentive to business investment for many years, putting a strain on Australian businesses and households;

(4) that Australia has an abundance of high quality coal, better than in many countries around the world; and

(5) that Australia should utilise this natural advantage by maintaining its prominent role in providing secure, reliable and affordable energy, and that in order to do this, there should be a coal fired power station built in North Queensland.

In North Queensland, as in most regional areas, people are acutely aware of two things: there is no life without water and there is no industry without energy—not just any energy but energy that is affordable and reliable. Coal is a resource and the affordable energy that it supplies, predominantly through electricity, has revolutionised the way that human beings live their lives. It has underpinned the Industrial Revolution that lifted millions of people out of poverty and enabled today's very comfortable lifestyles. Coal powered us through the industrial age. It powered us through two world wars. Throughout human history, each wave of technology has introduced greater efficiencies, more prosperity and more leisure time—and more time to indulge in non-productive but culturally and ideologically driven pursuits, such as environmental activism.

One day a new form of energy creation will be developed—no doubt a more efficient and more reliable form of energy, with fewer or perhaps even zero emissions, that will make coal obsolete. We do not know what that technology will be, but we do know that it is not the current solar or wind options on which the world economy is currently wasting millions and millions and perhaps even billions of taxpayer dollars. We know in Australia at least that the Greens and the green movement will never allow the clean power of nuclear generation. Our next stable energy generating technology has not yet been invented, and it will not be invented if scientists cannot access affordable and reliable power. Until that new technology is invented, it is critical that we maintain industry, our economy and, in particular, regional economies, as well as our lifestyles with the technology that we know we can rely on.

In Central and North Queensland, affordability of energy supply is already a threat to industry and to jobs. The largest aluminium smelter in Australia, Rio Tinto's Boyne Island Aluminium Smelter in Gladstone in the electorate of the member for Flynn, who is going speak on this motion later, is slashing more than100 jobs and about 80,000 tonnes of annual production—worth about $200 million to our national economy—because it cannot source affordable power from state government providers. The inner city greenies will be patting themselves on the back for pulling off a trifecta in Gladstone—cutting down big business, reducing industry and killing productive jobs in a place that does not affect the Greens, of course. No doubt they are impressed with South Australia's hit to business and jobs with their renewable energy folly. Queensland Labor is now trying to follow suit. The state Labor government has set a 50 per cent renewable energy target that we know will only increase energy costs and decrease energy reliability. Affordable energy is essential to maintain, much less grow, any economy. That fact was recognised in the North and Northwest Queensland Sustainable Resource Feasibility Studies report commissioned by the previous Labor government at the behest of the member for Kennedy, who I note is going to speak on this motion as well. The report was on baseload power in North Queensland and the Dalrymple agricultural scheme. Key findings in that report were that a major coal-fired power station would put strong downward pressure on electricity prices, with a potential $836 million social cost benefit gain. That report found that such a station would be commercially viable if such a coal-fired power station were built at the mouth of the coalmine in the Galilee Basin. That report was commissioned by those opposite. I would like to hear the member for Herbert's view on this, because that report was done by Townsville Enterprise Pty Ltd and commissioned by the last Gillard Labor government.

In March 2014, the Australian Energy Market Operator reported that there would be a breach of the reliability standard in Queensland by 2020-21. There would not be enough generation capacity to meet demand. The state is effectively going to run out of power. Building extra capacity in the system is an imperative. If we are to learn anything from South Australia, that extra capacity cannot come at the expense of reliability and affordability. Coal is both reliable and affordable. New clean coal technology means ultra-supercritical generators can use a pulverized coal combustion system operating at a higher temperature and pressure to generate a reliable supply, with up to 50 per cent fewer emissions than conventional coal-fired power stations. Utilising that new technology to meet demand and replace older high emissions technology is an obvious choice. We are blessed with coal in North Queensland. The solution to the problem of unaffordable power is coal-fired power generation. We must have it if we want industries and jobs to grow, particularly in the North.

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