The state opposition has lashed Mark McGowan for his response to Andrew Forrest’s comments about WA "dithering" on green hydrogen, after he said he would not hand over billions of dollars simply to attract industry.
The state opposition has lashed Premier Mark McGowan for his response to mining magnate Andrew Forrest’s comments about the state's inaction on green hydrogen, after he said he would not hand over billions of dollars of taxpayers money simply to attract the industry.
In an address to the National Press Club yesterday, Mr Forrest accused the state government of “dithering” on green hydrogen, explaining that he would have preferred to build his new $1 billion green hydrogen hub in his home state, but that the WA government had delivered “little more than words”.
The comments came just days after the former Fortescue Metals Group chief executive confirmed the hub would be built in Queensland and appeared alongside NSW premier Dominic Perrottet, who announced $3 billion in subsidies to support green hydrogen projects.
He said he had written to the Premier in “increasingly strident terms” calling on him to prioritise attracting investment, saying he could not wish a WA-based project into existence.
Liberal leader and hydrogen spokesperson David Honey quizzed Mr McGowan in parliament yesterday over the comments, demanding he explain why the state government had failed to facilitate a “once-in-a-lifetime” generational economic and jobs opportunity.
Mr McGowan said the state government was reviewing 30 projects across WA, but that it was working through land tenure issues made complicated by being a pastoral state, with land potentially subject to native title.
He said the Queensland government had supported the project to the tune of between $100 million and $150 million, while New South Wales was look to issue billions of dollars in grants.
While the state had a more modest hydrogen fund of its own, Mr McGowan told Dr Honey there were innovative ways of achieving outcomes that did not involve giving away billions of dollars of taxpayers money to multinationals.
“We are not going to give billions of dollars to multinationals, but we will look at strategic investments and leveraging land tenure issues and capital to secure strategic approaches to hydrogen that will work,” he told parliament.
“As we saw the other day, we are attracting new industries to Western Australia, and we will attract hydrogen investment in large amounts to Western Australia, but destroying our finances in order to do it is not something I am going to do.”
In a statement released this afternoon, Dr Honey accused the Premier of deflecting the government’s failure to provide the infrastructure necessary to support the growth of the sector.
“It defies belief Andrew Forrest was unable to develop the first global green hydrogen energy hub here in Western Australia because WA Labor failed to provide basic industrial land,” he said.
“He is not being asked to give taxpayers money to multinationals, he is being asked to do his job and provide common user infrastructure and industrial land to unlock private sector investment.
“The reality is, Andrew Forrest is willing to invest billions to develop this new and exciting industry with highly skilled jobs for current and future generations.
“Instead, these jobs are now being created in Queensland, New South Wales and Tasmania because the Premier has failed to provide basic common user infrastructure, which is the responsibility of the state government.”
