Media | State News

State Government betrays Queenslanders on environment

26th November 2021

The State Government’s green credentials are in tatters after yet another damning report found it was failing to meet its own environmental targets and used dodgy figures to cover it up.

An Auditor-General report slammed the State Government for its significant lack of detail on how it will reach its 50% renewable energy target by 2030.

It also found the Government had failed to include 1,000 GWh of diesel generation and used questionable calculations to claim it was on track to meet its targets.

That means the Government is not even halfway towards meeting its 2030 targets on renewables or emissions reduction.

Shadow Minister for the Environment Sam O’Connor said the Government had betrayed Queenslanders.

“This is typical of this third-term government - it’s about how things look, not how things actually are,” he said.

“The Minister should hang his head in shame.”

Mr O’Connor said today’s revelations joined a litany of failures on the environment by the State Government.

  • Emissions are higher than when Labor came to power in 2015;
  • Labor’s protected areas increase of just 0.01% a year has led key conservation groups to say it will take 1,000 years to reach their own target;
  • The Queensland waste industry says Queensland is not on track to meet its own state waste targets, or the national targets;
  • Queensland was the last state to sign up to the national Recycling Modernisation Fund, with other states starting their projects before Labor even signed up.
  • The so-called flagship Land Restoration Fund announced in 2017 has invested less than $3 million of the total $500 million promised.
  • Only four farmers have been supported by a $10 million fund to help with reef regulations, totalling $4,000.
  • The major fund of $100 million to build resource recovery infrastructure received $811 million in applications, yet the Government has only spent just over a third;
  • While the Government continues to call on the Federal Government to match its funding on the reef, the Federal Government actually provides more than double the state’s funding, with $2 billion compared to just under $1 billion.

Mr O’Connor said the failures showed the Government was not serious about the environment.

“This Government loves talking a big game when it comes to the environment but when you actually look at the details this couldn’t be further from the truth,” he said.

“It’s not good enough to just set a target because it sounds good, you need to deliver it.

“The Energy Minister and the Environment Minister are failing to do their jobs and the precious natural assets of Queensland are paying the price.”