United Australia Party urges North Queenslanders to take the power back

North Queensland Secretary of the United Australia Party, Jen Sackley, has urged voters to “take the power back” at the next federal election, saying current governments were showing complete disregard for North Queenslanders over climbing energy prices.

“Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk continues to deny regional Queenslanders the choices that the South East corner receive,’’ Ms Sackley said.

“On the floor of parliament this week Premier Palaszczuk said Queensland had the best energy mix in Australia, demonstrating a complete disregard for North Queenslanders in respect to climbing electricity prices and lack of choice.”

Ms Sackley said the United Australia Party was the only party with real policies to ensure secure, sustainable energy for regional Queenslanders.

“While the United Australia Party is a strong advocate for and has policies around renewable energy, the economic future of Queenslanders must be underpinned in the early stages by clean coal and baseload power,’’ she said.

“Regional Queenslanders are tired of being the major financial contributor to the South East corner while being continually denied equitable opportunities from their southern counterparts.”

Ms Sackley said in North Queensland today that she was appalled by the Premier’s comments that electricity prices are coming down.

“We know about 50% of every electricity bill is attributed to network charges.  Is the Premier planning on stripping infrastructure from North Queensland to reduce our ever increasing electricity prices?

“I recently spoke with a North Queensland local who had installed solar more than five years ago and recently received an electricity bill of $700 even though the panels had been cleaned and were found to be 100% operational.

“The United Australia Party will be fighting for an energy deal that puts Australians first. I urge all North Queenslanders to stand together at the next election and send a clear message,’’ she said.