In 1969, the Australian Government decided to build the biggest coal fired power station in Queensland at Gladstone. At the time, the Labor party was led by Gough Whitlam. He told Parliament that he supported the building of the coal fired power station because “power was the determining factor in the development of natural resources in the area and the attraction of greater human resources to the area”.

The Gladstone Power Station was a huge success. It has powered the Boyne Island aluminium smelter for almost 50 years. That smelter is the beating heart of the industrial city of Gladstone, directly employing 1000 people. Thousands more rely on the smelter for their livelihoods.

But the Queensland Government plans to shut the power station down in 2029. We have been reassured for years that everything will be fine because renewable energy is even cheaper than coal. The owners of the Boyne Island smelter, Rio Tinto, said a few years ago that they were “progressing to switch the Boyne Island and Tomago smelters in Australia to renewable energy.” Earlier this year after signing a contract with a massive, proposed wind farm in Central Queensland, Rio Tinto’s Chief Executive, Jakob Stausholm, said that “we have a pathway to provide the competitive, firmed power our Gladstone plants need”.

Yet despite all these promises, a few weeks ago Rio Tinto announced that “the Queensland Government will support [Boyne Island smelter’s] financial viability from 2029 as the smelter transitions to renewable energy”.

Hang on a second! If renewable energy is so cheap, as we were promised, why does Rio Tinto, one of the biggest companies in Australia, need “support” from the rest of us to keep operating? Why do we have to suffer with roads full of potholes and hospitals bursting at the seams, while handing over billions in taxpayer dollars to help one of Australia’s biggest companies?

I have asked Rio Tinto how much they are getting but they have refused to answer. The Queensland Government is keeping the number secret too. The Labor party is using our money to prop up the pet projects of massive multinational companies who then use this taxpayer money to carpet our beautiful landscapes with hideous, bird-killing wind turbines and fields of glass mirrors that are ironically called solar “farms”.

We were promised renewable energy that was cheaper and better for our environment. Instead, we will get the exact opposite.

Rio Tinto uses around 4 million tonnes of Australian coal a year to power its Boyne Island Smelter. Coal mining does disturb the environment. Around 1000 hectares is used to mine that 4 million tonnes of coal.

Rio has already announced that it will use its taxpayer support to install 204 wind turbines and 2 million solar panels in Queensland. That will destroy around 40,000 hectares of our pristine Queensland environment, taking an area 40 times that of the coal mines needed to power the smelter to date.

And that is just half the renewable energy Rio needs to replace coal in their Queensland operations. So the environmental impact of renewables will probably end up at 80 times that of coal.

Not only are we seeing our natural environments getting destroyed we then get charged for the extravagance to boot! The coal mines actually give the rest of us money through royalties. The wind and solar factories take our money off us through massive subsidies.

We need to end this green scam before it costs us billions more and destroys our environment in the process.

Hon Matt Canavan

Senator for QLD