PM to feel heat on high- tech coal power
THE Prime Minister will face continued pressure from Queensland MPs over a new coal- fired power station for the state after he declared the Government had no plans to invest in the infrastructure.
It came ahead of his meeting with CEOs from eight electricity retailers in Sydney this morning for further talks on power prices.
Mr Turnbull yesterday said the Government had no plans to build a new high- efficiency, low- emission coal- fired power station – saying it was already forking out for the Snowy Hydro 2.0 in NSW.
Queensland LNP MPs have been lobbying for a new coal generator in the north of the state, and said that if private enterprise would not invest, the Government should.
While it is a potential wedge issue for the Coalition, Nationals yesterday stressed the Prime Minister had not ruled anything out yet.
Mr Turnbull said the Government was not planning to build a coal- fired power station, but would welcome private sector investment.
“It would be good if we had in Australia, a state- of- the- art, high- efficiency, low- emission coal- fired power station,” Mr Turnbull told radio 5AA.
“But that’s not a piece of infrastructure that the Govern- ment is planning to build. We already are making a considerable commitment to Snowy Hydro.”
He raised the cost of building one, estimated to be more than $ 2 billion, as an issue.
Member for Dawson George Christensen said Queensland MPs would keep lobbying. He said while the Government was not currently planning to build one, that could still change.