The deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, says he’s not interested in giving the businessman and former politician Clive Palmer government assistance to build a new coal-fired power plant in the Galilee basin.
Joyce told Sky News on Thursday he remained interested in helping a commercial party build a new coal-fired power station in Australia – but he was not interested in the proposal from Palmer.
In early February the resources minister, Matt Canavan, flagged subsidising a “clean” coal base load power plant from the government’s $5bn northern Australia infrastructure fund and he said the government had already heard from an interested party who was eyeing off opportunities in the Galilee Basin – the planned site of the Adani coalmine.
It is not clear whether whether the interested party referenced by Canavan was Waratah Coal, one of Palmer’s companies.
This week, the Clean Energy Finance Corporation revealed it had been approached by proponents of a new $1.2bn coal-fired power station with carbon capture and storage technology.
The ABC subsequently revealed that the interested party was Palmer’s Waratah Coal company. The proposal is attached to Waratah Coal’s China First mine in the Galilee Basin.
Joyce was asked whether the government was prepared to assist the Palmer-linked proposal. He said no.
“Clive, unfortunately, has had a very bad day at the track; I think Clive’s got enough on his plate,” the deputy prime minister said on Thursday.
Joyce said building a new power station remained a “very good idea”.
“Why not, if you can do it so that you get efficient use of the coal?” he said. “You get base load power and you get reliable affordable power to the people who need it most.”
Given he remained supportive of the concept in principle, Joyce was pressed on why Palmer’s proposal – which is to build a 900 megawatt $1.2bn coal-fired power station with carbon capture and storage technology – wasn’t an attractive option.
Joyce responded: “Something about the Tyrannosaurus Rex on green number five, something about the political party that last about three weeks.”
Palmer returned to his business career after leaving politics and is currently being pursued by liquidators over the collapse of Queensland Nickel.
Officials from the CEFC told the Senate estimates a new coal-fired plant was not “financeable” without the government agreeing to indemnify the project against the future risk of a carbon price being introduced and against the cost of delays in the project prompted by likely community protest action.
The CEFC is currently banned from investing in carbon capture and storage technology but the Turnbull government has flagged changing investment guidelines to allow “clean” coal projects to be eligible for support.
