The weak, unstable, minority Liberal government’s botched energy policy has effectively killed off its own Hydrogen Action Plan, humiliating Tasmania on the national stage and damaging our reputation as an investment destination.
After telling some of Australia’s biggest companies they could come to Tasmania and invest in new hydrogen facilities, it is now clear that’s not possible because there is simply no power available, at any price.
In his Hydrogen Action Plan, Minister Guy Barnett said:
“Access to low-cost and reliable Tasmanian renewable energy makes us the perfect location for renewable ‘green hydrogen’ production, for export and for use in Tasmania. Importantly, with our existing renewable energy, this can commence now.”
But it was not true. And it is not true now.
And not only is there no power available now, the Tasmanian Economic Regulator’s latest electricity market analysis shows there will be no available power for new energy projects until at least the middle of next year.
If Tasmania’s existing major industrials can’t access any additional power to expand their current operations, how will it be possible for the state to export hydrogen on an industrial scale?
After 10 years in government, the Liberals’ failure to manage the state’s energy resources has left Tasmania in the midst of an energy crisis, constrained our major industrials and jeopardised our economic future.
Dean Winter MP
Shadow Minister for Energy and Renewables
