<
https://reneweconomy.com.au/critical-national-battery-hub-in-doubt-after-state-lnp-government-cuts-100-million-in-funding/>
"Plans to develop a battery industry hub in Queensland are hanging in the
balance, after the state portion of funding promised for the project was cut by
the Crisafulli LNP government as it continues its war on renewable and
associated technologies.
The Advanced Materials and Battery Council (AMBC) said on Monday that $105
million earmarked for development of a Queensland-based facility to accelerate
national commercialisation of battery technology has been cut from the state’s
2025-26 budget.
The state funding for the proposed Australian Battery Industrialisation Centre
(ABIC) had been pledged in 2022 by the former Labor Queensland government and
was to be matched by federal Labor, through its National Battery Strategy.
But the state development minister and deputy premier Jarrod Bleijie confirmed
on Monday that the Queensland portion of the funding has now been taken off the
table.
“Given the uncertainty around the 2022 federal government commitment to
establish a $100 million battery centre in Queensland, the [Queensland]
government has decided not to progress with the Queensland Battery Industry
Strategy or Australian Battery Industrialisation Centre at this time,” a
spokesperson for Bleijie told
Renew Economy on Monday.
“Under the LNP, the department of State Development will focus on three
priority industries of defence, biomedical and biofuels,” the statement says.
“This aligns with our election commitments.”
The decision to cut funding from a project the AMBC describes as “critical for
the future” of Australia’s battery industry also aligns with the Queensland
LNP’s shift away from clean energy and climate action.
Just last month, Bleijie’s department locked in major changes to how renewable
energy projects will be assessed for development in the state, raising concern
that Queensland is reverting back to a Campbell Newman-style ideological war on
renewables.
The Crisafulli government has outlined a new five-year energy plan for the
state that will focus on propping up its coal plants, investing in new gas
power and pushing ahead with select pumped hydro projects.
It is also expected to include the repeal of the former Labor government’s
legislated renewable energy targets, which aimed for a 50 per cent share by
2030, and 80 per cent by 2035. Its decision to abandon a key hydrogen project
in central Queensland also led to the project’s collapse."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
