{"id":69761,"date":"2014-06-03T16:28:43","date_gmt":"2014-06-03T06:28:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=69761"},"modified":"2020-11-30T14:34:21","modified_gmt":"2020-11-30T04:34:21","slug":"power-stations-mine-marked-for-sale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2014\/06\/03\/power-stations-mine-marked-for-sale\/","title":{"rendered":"Power Stations, Mine Marked For Sale"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Meandu coal mine at Tarong has been marked for sale after the next State election
(Photo: Stanwell)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

June 3, 2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Tarong and Tarong North power stations and Meandu coal mine will be sold if the LNP State Government is re-elected.<\/p>\n

No longer rumour or union speculation, it is official State Government policy as announced in today’s State Budget.<\/p>\n

Treasurer Tim Nicholls said the electricity businesses of Stanwell Corporation and CS Energy, Ergon Energy’s retail’s arm, SunWater’s industrial pipeline business and “other non-core business functions such as a coal mine” \u00a0would be sold.<\/p>\n

The ports of Townsville and Gladstone and the Mt Isa rail line would be leased, and “private sector investment” would be invited into Powerlink, Energex and the remainder of Ergon Energy.<\/p>\n

A government media release states: “None of the proposed transactions would take place until the government has secured a mandate for them at the next State election.”<\/p>\n

Mr Nicholls said the transactions could “potentially deliver proceeds of $33.6 billion” .<\/p>\n

He said three-quarters of this amount, $25 billion, would be used to pay down the State debt to $55 billion.<\/p>\n

“The new debt level would mean Queensland’s annual interest bill would drop from $4 billion to $2.7 billion,” Mr Nicholls said.<\/p>\n

“We proposed to then deposit the remaining quarter of the proceeds, about $8.6 billion, in the new Strong Choices Investment Program, a suite of new infrastructure funds designed to build more schools, hospitals, roads and other vital infrastructure during the next six years.”<\/p>\n

Mr Nicholls said the Strong Choices Investment Program would include:<\/strong><\/p>\n