Queensland’s new premier says work is underway to find prospective sites for new pumped hydro projects. At a town hall in the state’s north, Mr Crisafulli met with locals to confirm he’s scrapped the former government’s controversial pumped hydro project slated for the west of Mackay.
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00:00For Yungala locals worried about their future, a surprise visit from the new Premier helped
00:08ease anxieties.
00:09Huge elation.
00:10Yeah, it was very exciting.
00:16David Crisafulli took to last month's election a promise to scrap the Pioneer Burdekin pumped
00:21hydro scheme west of Mackay.
00:23It would have been the largest renewable project of its kind in the world.
00:28It never stacked up financially, it never stacked up environmentally, it didn't have
00:33traditional owner consent.
00:36More importantly, this community was never treated with the respect they deserved.
00:40The Premier says negotiations are now underway to allow landholders to buy back land that
00:45was resumed by Queensland Hydro earlier this year.
00:49It's been a huge boost to morale to have it scrapped.
00:53There's going to be a huge recovery period.
00:54A lot of families have moved on, the stress just got way too much for them.
00:58Mr Crisafulli says he will pursue the former Labor government's other proposed pumped hydro
01:03project at Barumba Dam south of Gympie.
01:06We do believe that it can be done in a respectful way to the environment and if we can make
01:11sure that it's affordable, it can also be a project that Queenslanders can benefit.
01:15He's also planning five or six smaller hydro projects around the state.
01:20But the Queensland Conservation Council has voiced concern the LNP's proposed alternative
01:25sites could be just as harmful for the environment.
01:30It's calling on the government to name the prospective locations within 100 days.