Union backs Twiggy build
A POWERFUL union has backed a mining magnate’s plan to build a hydrogen plant at Bell Bay saying exporting power generated here rather than using it to fire local industry will “bite Tasmania on the arse”.
Fortescue owner Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest on Tuesday told the state government it needed to act fast and lock in the power supply needed to back his planned investment in a hydrogen plant at Bell Bay.
At the weekend, Dr Forrest announced he would build a $1bn electrolyser plant in Queensland and was looking for other green energy opportunities including Tasmania.
But he said his Tasmanian investment hinged on the government getting on with the job.
Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU) Tasmanian organiser John Short said it was time for the government to walk away from its plan for a second undersea power connector to send power to Victoria.
Instead, he said, Tasmania should keep the power it generates to fire local industry.
“By the time the Marinus Link would be in operation, mainland states will have moved on and have their own renewables,” Mr Short said.
“Marinus will end up as an expensive white elephant – or a white snake that will end up biting us on the arse.
“If we export power to the mainland, we will be exporting jobs, good, well-paid jobs, value-added jobs, jobs for our kids and grandkids.
“Let’s embrace the vision of Eric Reece for the Hydro to provide cheap reliable power for us in Tasmania and attract more big business.”
The AMWU planned to raise a motion calling for a rethink at the now-cancelled annual Tasmanian Labor conference. The union said it was “unashamedly opposed” to the proposed Marinus Link interconnector. “The state-owned Hydro was built as a way to have cheap, reliable power and to bring industry to Tasmania,” the motion said.
“All Marinus Link would do is send Tasmania’s competitive advantage – renewable hydro energy – to the mainland.”
“In the new age of companies branding themselves as clean and green to consumers, these companies could set up on the mainland and market themselves as using renewable energy through hydro power sent via Marinus Link with little or no downstream economic or social benefits to Tasmania,” it said.
The union said private and foreign-owned wind farms in
Tasmania relied on the proposed Marinus Link to access the mainland NEM market.
“Yet there are next to no ongoing jobs in these wind farms and next to no ongoing jobs in Marinus,” the motion said.
“Proposals such as foreignowned private wind farms and Marinus Link are of dubious value when considering overall advantages to the average Tasmanian consumer. Basslink provides a powerful argument to just how costly these projects become to the taxpayers of Tasmania.”