Tasmania Labor welcomes the progress of ABEL Energy’s exciting project at Bell Bay, which stands to create hundreds of jobs and lock in the future of manufacturing in the state.

This project has tremendous potential, but it has been held back by too much red tape from a Liberal government that has been too slow to address critical hurdles for new energy projects.

The number one issue which is holding projects back has been a lack of available power, leading to the Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry to say on multiple occasions that our state is in an energy crisis.

No new renewable energy generation has come online in Tasmania for almost four years, and the timeline for the next project to start delivering power to the grid remains unclear.

Given this, where will the power needed for ABEL’s exciting project come from?

Tasmanian Labor is one hundred per cent committed to boosting renewable energy generation in Tasmania, and we stand ready to work with anyone to help provide certainty for more projects like ABEL’s.

Janie Finlay MP
Shadow Minister for Energy