Fishing, farming and mining for example.

But there are certain jobs, a special few, that deserve our utmost respect.

I refer to those jobs that require a person to be prepared to put their lives on the line to protect us simple civilians.

Thank you fire fighters, ambulance workers, and especially the police.

With heart-felt wishes to the family of Brett Forte.

Vale.

George Harley 

Mount Isa 

Electricity is a fundamental necessity in our everyday lives. From homes to businesses and the transport in between, practically everything we use either needs it to function or needed it to be created.

So it’s understandable electricity is one of the key cost of living expenses top of mind for Queenslanders, especially after the 43 per cent price increases over the term of the previous LNP government.

Over our first term in government, electricity costs for households have risen just 1.9 per cent on average per year and we’re determined not to return to the dark days of double digit increases under the LNP.

We’ve given 157,000 extra Queenslanders with a Commonwealth Health Care Card access to a $330 electricity rebate through their retailer.  

We’re backing Queenslanders by investing $1.16 billion in our recently announced Powering Queensland Plan which will put downward pressure on wholesale energy costs, deliver new jobs and investment and lead the transition to a clean energy future.

It’s been widely reported that Australia’s energy markets are facing a range of challenges including wholesale market volatility, lack of gas availability and constrained supply due to federal energy policy inaction and the closure of Hazelwood power station.

The National Electricity Market is broken and a lack of integrated national energy and climate policy undermining investment in new generation is primarily to blame.

Dr Alan Finkel's National Electricity Market Review deserves thorough consideration. Queensland supports reform to ensure better outcomes flow to consumers.

While these are national issues, we will not stand idly by and watch an incompetent Federal Government continue to undermine our Queensland economy.

Our Powering Queensland Plan is using the levers we have available in our state due to public asset ownership to put downward pressure on electricity prices.

Key actions include investing $770m to reduce the impact of the recent QCA electricity price increase for regional Queenslanders.

Queensland has done the heavy lifting on gas supply – but we can and will do more. We will implement the Gas Action Plan and release over 450 square kilometres of new gas tenure for supply to the Australian market.

We’re also commissioning an Energy Security Taskforce - a team of experts to guide the state’s robust energy security for both the short and long-term and tasked with implementing COAG Energy Council agreed reforms post Finkel NEM Review recommendations.

We’re also investigating the restructure of the Government owned Corporation generators and potential establishment of ‘CleanCo’, delivering a $386m Powering North Queensland Plan to strengthen and diversify the north’s energy supply and will undertake a reverse auction for up to 400MW of renewable energy, including 100MW of energy storage.

​The Powering Queensland plan has been designed to work at the national level to support integrated policy and provide a road map for firm action to help drive down costs while continuing to meet Queensland’s future energy needs.

Mark Bailey

Energy Minister