Billionaire in hi-tech state bid

QUEENSLAND could be transformed from the Sunshine State to the nation’s capital for hi-tech batteries.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has been in secret talks with billionaire Elon Musk’s company Tesla about shifting its focus to Queensland.

It comes after South Australia’s newly elected Marshall Government promised to scuttle its predecessor’s plans for the world’s biggest “virtual power plant”.

Senior Tesla executives met with Ms Palaszczuk at State Parliament this week and indicated their interest in the Government’s 50 per cent renewable target by 2030.

“I made it clear that if South Australia is no longer willing to deal with Tesla, the Queensland Government would welcome them here with a possible eye to becoming a gateway to Asia,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

With ballooning interest in battery storage to lower power bills, the Palaszczuk Government has been pursuing opportunities to build battery production factories. The Premier met with Tesla executives while on a trade mission to the United States in 2015.