Economist says energy wars holding back North

SUSTAINABLE low- cost energy, and ending the toxic energy wars, is crucial to underpinning Townsville’s minerals processing sector, an economist says.

Associate director of BIS Oxford Economics Adrian Hart told a major projects forum in Townsville access to sustainable low- cost energy and water were key to securing investment in metals processing.

“You have a port that could be expanded to support growth but until we get some sort of consistency in energy there’s a lot of uncertainty about how private industry will invest,” Mr Hart said.

“What that really calls for is a much less toxic conversation between federal and state governments as to what national electricity policy is going to be.”

He said the transition to renewable energy had to be done in a way that also provided secure low- cost energy.

The Queensland Major Projects Pipeline report, an initiative of Queensland Major Contractors Association, Construction Skills Queensland and Infrastructure Association of Queensland launched at the forum, shows northern Queensland has the strongest growth prospects of any region in Queensland with $ 8.2 billion worth of projects over the next five years.

But Mr Hart said the issue was many were yet to reach financial close.

“What we are seeing in the pipeline is that North Queensland will see significant levels of investment over the next five years, stronger than the last five years, but the problem is that many of these projects aren’t funded yet,” he said.

“There is a real need to continue to work with governments and the private sector to make sure that these projects start to happen.”

Access to water and energy would be key, he said.