LNP’s best plan a dam silly idea
I REFER to the front page of the Weekend Bulletin, “LNP exodus.” After all these resignations, it astounds me that the LNP’s best response is to have “a look into” raising Burdekin Falls Dam.
There are not 20 jobs in raising the Burdekin Falls Dam and there is no one up here now that knows anything about that.
And the silly idea for a North Queensland power station – new power is about $ 80 a megawatt hour, old coal fire power is around $ 40 a megawatt hour – but I profoundly believe ( I was the Energy Minister so I know a thing or two about this) that this figure is incorrect; it is closer to $ 28 a megawatt hour.
But understand this, if North Queensland puts a new coal- fired power station in a deregulated market system, one way or another we will be eventually paying over $ 80 a megawatt hour, while southern Queensland, which will still be on existing coalfired power stations, will be paying under $ 40 a megawatt hour.
But not only is the LNP rapidly disintegrating and at risk of having no party up here at all, they just don’t understand what the hell they are talking about.
If you want to get explosive rage out of a North Queenslander, tell him you’re going to have another inquiry and “look into it”. We are sick and tired of hearing about how they are going to “look into it”.
They spent $ 560 million “looking into” water development and still they haven’t put a shovel load of concrete across the gutter.
And even when they are “looking into it”, no one has given them a road map of North Queensland.
But like it was said to the French kings who all had their heads cut off, “They’ve forgotten nothing and learnt nothing”. They remember who to hate, but they’re left with 1 ½ seats in North Queensland. They are looking down the barrel of losing Leichhardt, and their response to all this is to “look at” raising Burdekin Falls Dam.
Hells Gate, the alternative, provides 20,000 jobs and I challenge the leadership in Brisbane to come up and have a debate with me.
I haven’t invited North Queensland super featherweight LNP flunkeys. That would be indulging myself too much.
BOB KATTER, Federal Member for Kennedy.