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Energy transition will test Queensland’s resilience like never before – we need to act now | Anne Tiernan and James Boyle
Unlike disaster management, there’s no playbook for the shift to green energy. With more than half of all jobs at risk in some LGAs, here’s how Queensland can ensure nobody is left behind
A decade on from Queensland’s “summer of disasters”, the state’s south-east faces another mammoth clean-up and recovery effort. According to the deputy premier, Steven Miles, the recent floods are the 90th natural disaster event to impact Queensland since 2011. Recovery will take time, requiring resilience, discipline and focus from leaders and communities who were tired and depleted from a pandemic even before the rivers and creeks started rising.
But a bigger test of Queensland’s resilience is looming. Geopolitical tensions may be driving demand for (and royalties from) exports like coal and liquid natural gas, but globally the energy transition is accelerating. Recent research from the Centre for Policy Development reveals the Australian impacts will be concentrated in Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia. CPD’s analysis estimates more than 10% of jobs are exposed in seven Queensland local government areas, with more than half of all jobs at risk of disappearing in the Isaac and Central Highlands LGAs.
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