Member for Flynn Ken O’Dowd has come out swinging to defend Queensland’s coal industry.
He said the industry needed to be “protected” from “anti-coal activists who have little regard for the economy”.
Mr O’Dowd said people should consider the income coal was generating before criticising the resources sector.
“People keep bashing the coal industry, but I’m standing up for it,” Mr O’Dowd said.
“These attacks by anti-coal activists are unfounded and unnecessary.”
Mr O’Dowd said coal was the most cost-effective energy source available in Australia, and that people shouldn’t let “activists distract them from the contribution the resources sector has made to his community”.
“We need to protect jobs in this region and create economic growth, and we would be severely affected if we let some of these anti-coal groups get on top of us,” he said.
“Coal creates jobs in a wide number of fields, including mines, the rail network, and the port.”
Mr O’Dowd also criticised wind power, stating it was an impractical approach to generating power.
“It is completely impractical to rely on windmills because they can just stop, so if there’s no wind, you’ve got no power, and you can’t base a country’s energy on that,” he said.
