Memo to the LNP: A pivot back to coal is the last thing regional Queensland needs

Queensland’s renewable energy future has been thrown into question. Earlier this week, at his first major speech on energy, David Janetzki announced the Crisafulli Government would walk back on its emissions reduction targets, threatening to unravel the bipartisan progress made just last year.

Instead of backing clean energy and supporting regional communities already building a renewable future, Queensland’s government has opted to extend the life of the Callide B coal-fired power station by three more years, and opened the door to new gas projects.

This move puts key projects like Borumba Pumped Hydro, CopperString and many others into doubt and creates uncertainty for workers, investors, developers, councils, and most importantly – the communities at the forefront of the switch to renewables.

This decision isn’t just about emissions. It’s about certainty – or the lack of it. What we’ve heard time and again in forums, consultations, and conversations across Queensland is that regional communities want to get on with the job of shifting to renewables.

Farmers, business owners, and households are ready, but they need stable policy settings, trusted partnerships, a voice in the process, and a long-term plan from the government.

Regional Queenslanders are already leading

In Toowoomba last month, 120 people came together for the ‘Shaping Renewables on the Downs Forum’. Participants from across the Darling, Western, and Southern Downs discussed the future of renewable energy in our regions.

Farmers, community groups, Traditional Owners, developers, energy agencies, and local governments all came together to help shape a renewable future that works for regional Queensland.

And while this forum sparked real conversations about how we do energy better, the state-level political landscape shifted in the opposite direction. With the Crisafulli government announcing a rollback of Queensland’s emissions reduction targets, regional communities are left asking: why are we being locked into a fossil-fuel past when we’ve already started building a renewable future?

We heard from fifth-generation landholders who told us that hosting wind turbines provides a steady income that helps weather tough seasons like droughts, and allows them to reinvest in their businesses.

We also heard about developers establishing neighbour benefit programs – ensuring those who live near, but don’t host infrastructure, still see annual payments and benefits from projects that shape their landscape.

In towns across the Western Downs in Queensland and in places like Hay in South West NSW, communities are stepping up to design regional benefit-sharing programs – real-world examples of how the renewable transition can deliver long-term, broad-based gains when done with communities, not to them.

The path forward

There’s a strong and growing momentum for renewable energy, done right, across Queensland’s regions. The ‘Shaping Renewables on the Downs’ forum showed what’s possible when government agencies, industry, communities, and landholders sit down together.

Queenslanders are ready to move forward. But they want to be part of shaping what that looks like.

We have landholders powering their farms with solar, smelters in Gladstone wanting to run on renewable energy, and local councils developing regional plans to manage renewable energy growth. The challenge isn’t whether to go renewable – it’s how to do it in a way that’s fair, strategic, and community-led.

The last thing regional Queenslanders need is to be dragged backwards into outdated, polluting infrastructure that costs more and delivers less.

Now is the time for leadership. Not just from the government, but from every sector with a stake in this transition. We know the direction. We’ve seen what works. And regional Queenslanders are ready to get on with it—if they’re given the tools, the trust, and the certainty to lead.

Tom Dixon is Queensland community engagement manager at RE-Alliance