Miles Budget locks in cleaner, greener future for Qld, but where does Crisafulli stand?

Queensland Conservation Council welcomes the investment into Queensland’s renewable energy future in the 2024 State Budget. This is crucial to protect our environment, particularly the Great Barrier Reef and also build long term opportunities right around Queensland.

The State LNP now needs to confirm how they will support Queensland’s environment and economy through renewable energy to meet our 2035 climate targets.

Queensland has a huge opportunity in the move to renewable energy, but we still have a lot of work to do to build it in a way that protects nature and communities. Queenslanders need certainty on how their Government will be able to lead the energy transformation post October.

Queensland Conservation Council Director Dave Copeman said:

Queenslanders are already feeling the impacts of climate change through more extreme weather and consistent bleaching on our Great Barrier Reef. Building renewable energy rapidly, and well, is the best way we can reduce our emissions to protect our Reef and communities.

The Miles Government’s commitment of $26 billion to renewable energy is a welcome show of leadership in creating our energy future. The continuation of the $1000 electricity rebate is also welcome relief for Queenslanders.

We need to see more support for all households, including renters, to access the benefits of renewable energy. To build the scale of projects we need, we also desperately need to improve our planning frameworks to protect nature and make sure communities get long term benefits.

But the direction of the Miles Government is clearly towards a cleaner, greener, brighter future for Queensland. David Crisafulli has publicly indicated he might back down from the renewable energy targets, and his Federal colleagues have gone further saying they’d leave the Paris Agreement entirely.

David Crisafulli now faces a clear choice in his budget response. Does he stand with Peter Dutton’s climate wrecking betrayal, or outline a plan for the renewables rollout. His state LNP deserves praise for standing up to the federal LNP by supporting the 75% emissions reduction target by 2035, and opposing nuclear power as a distraction.

Now he must come clean with Queenslanders on what his plan is for the energy transition in his budget reply. How would the state LNP commit to renewable energy for Queensland to act on climate and secure our economy?