{"id":164981,"date":"2016-12-01T13:21:12","date_gmt":"2016-12-01T03:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=164981"},"modified":"2020-07-19T14:07:11","modified_gmt":"2020-07-19T04:07:11","slug":"mp-fears-sellout-of-power-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2016\/12\/01\/mp-fears-sellout-of-power-workers\/","title":{"rendered":"MP Fears ‘Sellout’ Of Power Workers"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Deputy Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

December 1, 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n

Deputy Opposition Leader and Member for Nanango Deb Frecklington fears the State Government plans to sell out regional power industry workers in exchange for inner-city Green preferences.<\/p>\n

Mrs Frecklington said she was alarmed by reports that Federal Labor and the Greens “had jumped into bed with each other again and conspired to shut down the State\u2019s coal-fired power generators”.<\/p>\n

This was in reference to an interim report from a Senate Committee, “Retirement of Coal-Fired Power Stations”, released earlier this week which investigates the development of a national plan to transition away from coal-fired power generation and the “orderly” retirement of coal-fired power stations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese people simply don\u2019t have a clue,\u201d Mrs Frecklington said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLabor have obviously not learned the lesson of their disastrous carbon tax.<\/p>\n

\u201cLabor, now in cahoots with their Green buddies, are advocating the forced closure of coal-fired power stations \u2013 a move that would see electricity prices go through the roof.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mrs Frecklington, who spoke about the issue in State Parliament on Wednesday, said such a policy would be disastrous for Queensland, including in her electorate.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt would have disastrous impacts across the entire economy and would result in mass job losses,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo thought has gone into the fact that coal-fired power generators account for nearly three-quarters of the State\u2019s power.”<\/p>\n

Ms Frecklington said the LNP supported an evidence-based approach to the transition to renewables.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the representative of one of the regions with so much to lose from this ideological stupidity, I am not going to let this go quietly,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnlike Labor we will not sell out the thousands of workers at these stations – or the many businesses which rely on efficient and affordable energy – in a desperate bid to stitch up Green votes in Brisbane.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the Parliamentary discussion, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk\u00a0repeated the claim that modelling by the Queensland Renewable Energy Expert Panel had stated that the early retirement of coal-fired generation in Queensland was not required in order for the State to reach its 50 per cent renewable energy target by 2030.<\/p>\n

“My government firmly believes that we can get the balance right,” Mrs \u00a0Palaszczuk said.<\/p>\n