Condamine candidates Pat Weir (LNP) and Elissa Parker (Greens) addressed an audience at an “Energy Done Right” Forum facilitated by the Darling Downs Environmental Council at The Irish Club in Toowoomba last week.

Toowoomba North candidates Trevor Watts (LNP) and Thom Roker (Greens) also attended.

Questions focused on issues such as the expansion of coal seam gas into the Cecil Plains district.

A statement was read out from Labor’s Deputy Premier Cameron Dick stating that a re-elected Miles Government would create a clearly-defined subsidence management framework.

One audience member protested the reading of any further correspondence from Labor on the grounds that none of its candidates had bothered to turn up.

Pat Weir, Condamine’s incumbent MP, said as a former Cecil Plains farmer and former State Shadow Resources Minister, he was intimately familiar with the conflict between landholders and Arrow Energy.

“Before I became a member, I was a part of the impacted land,” he said.

“I was a part of the LNP State Executive in 2012 that drafted a proposal.

“We eventually put in a proposal to the Newman Government to form the Gasfields Commission and Office of Groundwater Impact.

“That addressed a lot of the issues (at the time), but the industry has moved on.”

The rush to start renewable projects in rural areas, and the impact this was having on local communities was another topic, raised by Ahri Tallon of Darling Downs Environmental Council, which organised the discussion.

“This ‘free market – let it rip’ approach to renewables is allowing companies to rush in,” Mr Tallon said.

“We are proposing that communities be allocated $800 per megawatt of power produced by a company.

“Regional communities are bearing the brunt of the rush to support the over-populated areas that are unaffected.”

Mr Tallon asked the candidates whether they would set out specific exclusion zones and whether they had a bio-regional plan.

Mr Weir said landowner rights had to be taken into account.

“A solar farm has no place on prime agricultural land,” he said.

Greens candidate Elissa Parker answered simply in the affirmative to this question.

A final question from Energy Strategist Claire Silcock asked the candidates whether the parties would support an 80 per cent emissions reduction target.

Ms Parker said the Greens would support a 100 per cent emissions reduction target publicly invested into wind, solar and battery technology and by holding the government to account through regular questioning.

Former Shadow Resources Minister Pat Weir gave an answer that was unpopular with the crowd.

“That target is unachievable,” he said. “With the current targets Labor have committed to, they are not binding.

“We have huge challenges and it’s not going to be as smooth as some would like to think.”  

This article appeared in  On Our Selection News, 17 October 2024.