The Morrison Government’s decision to waste $600 million on a polluting gas fired power plant at Kurri Kurri will harm water, farmland, and regional communities, and ignores the International Energy Agency’s latest alarming advice about how to avoid climate chaos.
“Morrison and Taylor are acting like cartoon supervillains, pushing Australia further towards climate chaos at the very moment the IEA says new gasfields and power plants must not proceed,” said Lock the Gate Alliance NSW coordinator Georgina Woods.
“The IEA’s 2050 Net Zero Roadmap could not be clearer: Australia must not permit the creation of any new or expanded gasfields or other fossil fuel projects.
“Doing so will not only undermine our food growing and water resilience, but put us on a path towards climate disruption that will hurt Australians for generations to come.
“By throwing public money at this power station, the Morrison Government is also throwing a lifeline to other unnecessary, risky projects like the Hunter Gas Pipeline.
“The Hunter Gas Pipeline proposal would rip up prime farmland across more than 800km from the Queensland border if it ever goes ahead. It is being resisted every kilometre along its length by local landholders.
“The Morrison Government’s ham-fisted support for a publicly funded gas-fired power station will embolden gas companies to plunder our foodbowls in their search for fossil fuels that are driving climate change and the extreme events that come with it.
“The only people who want this power station are from the gas industry. Energy experts say it will likely increase power costs for households and is not needed in light of the tidal wave of renewable energy projects recently completed and under construction.
“So $600 million of taxpayers’ money will go up in smoke for ten ongoing jobs and a power station that operates on average 2 percent of the time, adding more air pollution every time it is switched on. Well done, Angus.”
ENDS