Queensland promises $26 billion renewables splurge in state budget

Australia’s largest renewable energy investment will be unveiled in Queensland’s budget, with Premier Steven Miles committing $26 billion to the plan.

Mr Miles said he had no other option than to make the record injection, with almost 100,000 job losses forecast if Queensland wavered from its renewables path.

The $26 billion investment will fund renewable power, storage and transmission projects, with $8.68 billion in the next financial year alone.

Steven Miles fears mass job losses should Queensland waver from its renewables pathway. (Darren England/AAP PHOTOS)

Mr Miles said economic models indicated Queensland was set to lose out on 87,000 more jobs by 2035 if it failed to meet its 75 per cent emissions reduction target.

“We don’t have an option,” the premier said on Thursday.

“If Queensland doesn’t meet our renewable energy targets, jobs and growth will be devastated.

“Manufacturing would go offshore and regional jobs and industries would be lost.”

The path to zero emissions in the Sunshine State has already been enshrined into law following legislation passing parliament in April.

Queensland is committed to 50 per cent emissions reductions targets by 2030 and 75 per cent by 2035.

The reforms also lock in an 80 per cent renewable energy generation target by 2035 and entrench public ownership of energy assets.

The massive green energy investment to be included in next week’s state budget was about $7 billion more than previously earmarked.

It is set to include $16.5 billion on renewable energy and storage projects as well as $500 million for network batteries and support of local grid solutions.

“We are at a turning point. Our investment in renewable energy is as important today to our economic future as that investment was in the railways in the second half of the 1800s,” Mr Miles said.

“That’s why in next week’s budget we are increasing our investment … to $26 billion over the next four years – the largest investment in income-earning publicly owned renewable energy assets in the nation.”

The Liberal National Party opposition did not support Labor’s renewable energy targets and voted against that bill, but they did support net zero by 2050.

The opposition has faced backlash for throwing its support behind the state government’s budget without having seen the details.

Former LNP premier Campbell Newman was the latest to take aim.

“It’s insane, but more importantly, though, it’s dishonest, it’s disingenuous,” he told ABC Radio Brisbane on Thursday.

“What you’re effectively doing is saying not only are we just supporting the allocation of money, but we’re supporting the agenda of that government.”

Source: AAP

Source: AAP