After months of pressure from Labor and industry, Labor welcomes the Government’s long-awaited hydrogen strategy announcement.
Shadow Energy Ministry, David O’Byrne, said Labor raised the issue of a lack of a hydrogen strategy mid last year.
“This is a belated strategy that the Liberals have been dragged and shamed into producing,” Mr O’Byrne said.
“Every other state is making progress in an industry where Tasmania should be leading the field. Other states have finalised their strategies and have been implementing them since the middle of last year.
“The Liberals need to do better if Tasmania is going to capitalise on green hydrogen.
Mr O’Byrne said the CSIRO’s National Hydrogen Roadmap – which was released in November last year and provides a blueprint for the development of a hydrogen industry in Australia – shows a summary of active projects in every state and territory other than Tasmania and the Northern Territory.
“There are 15 projects active around the country, with many of them already attracting Federal Government funding and yet not one dollar of this funding has been committed to Tasmania.
“In December last year, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) announced new funding to fast track development of renewable hydrogen but again it does not look like Tasmania is ready to take advantage of this opportunity.
“While other states make advancements to build robust renewable energy markets, the Liberals have been embarrassingly slow to grasp Tasmania’s hydrogen industry potential and we hope their idleness hasn’t blown any opportunities moving forward.
“Labor will continue to hold the Liberals to account for finally grasping Tasmania’s potential to become a renewable energy leader.
“Actions speak louder than words. We will be keeping a close eye on what the Government does from this point on.”
