{"id":164081,"date":"2016-11-21T21:58:22","date_gmt":"2016-11-21T11:58:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=164081"},"modified":"2020-09-30T13:24:03","modified_gmt":"2020-09-30T03:24:03","slug":"power-industry-jobs-slashed-lnp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2016\/11\/21\/power-industry-jobs-slashed-lnp\/","title":{"rendered":"Power Industry Jobs Slashed: LNP"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Shadow Treasurer Scott Emerson (Photo: Twitter)<\/figcaption><\/figure>November 21, 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n

The LNP claims hundreds of power workers have lost their jobs from the State Government’s decision to shift debt on to State-owned power distributors.<\/p>\n

Last July, Queensland Treasurer Curtis Pitt announced the Government had decided to reduce Queensland’s $80 billion debt by moving $4.1 billion off its accounts and on to the books of power distributors.<\/p>\n

Shadow Treasurer Scott Emerson said on Monday Labor had “fiddled the books” at the expense of “hundreds and potentially thousands of Queensland families”.<\/p>\n

“This inexperienced Labor Government has ripped the guts out of the State’s energy companies and now Queenslanders are paying for it through lost jobs,\u201d Mr Emerson said.<\/p>\n

“You can’t ramp up their debts, strip all their cash and raid all of the dividends and expect these energy businesses to grow.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe majority of these jobs were frontline \u2013 with 296 full time positions slashed at Ergon Energy and 116 lost at Energex during 2015-16.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Labor’s electricity merger has failed to generate the savings promised and we’re instead seeing hard-working Queenslanders lose their jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Emerson said further job losses were on the cards because of the Government’s 100 per cent dividend demands.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth Energex and Ergon have already flagged plans for more job cuts \u2013 and the state\u2019s new amalgamated company, Energy Queensland, is also looking to cut costs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happened to Labor\u2019s promise to build these businesses and use the profits to reduce debt?”<\/p>\n