Dams, rail power calls

RENEWABLE energy companies would have their coffers raided to pay for a $4 billion dam and water cash splash, under a Budget proposal put forward by One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson.

Dams, coal-fired power stations and more money for roads and rail are what’s needed in tonight’s Budget to get North Queensland firing again, say some of the region’s more prominent politicians.

Senator Hanson said she wanted $4 billion taken off green agencies to build dams and water projects.

“We also need money to build a new coal-fired power station to give Queensland globally competitive electricity prices so it can keep manufacturing and attract new manufacturing to the state,” she said.

Kennedy MP Bob Katter said his two key priorities were a rail line to the Galilee Basin and the Hell’s Gate Dam.