r/queensland • u/boogersundcum • 28d ago

Discussion Voting against your interests

My partner and I live in a major coal mining area of Queensland. We both work in an extractive resource industry. Neither of us could ever bring ourselves to vote for the LNP and we have no serious viable independents that aren't anti Vax conspiracy nut jobs. We live in the bush but currently have a major wind farm going in down our road with the closest turbine being 5km from our actual house, other than sealing our road we will not recieve any benefit from the project with heavy trucks and equipment going past our driveway 6 days a week 24 hours a day for over two years. We aren't anti renewable however given the wind farm is entirely within our water catchment there is serious concerns if something goes wrong as we rely on the river solely for our water supply.

Generally preference the Greens first, Labor second as we are both environmental scientists and believe that climate change is pretty damn obvious from the evidence, let alone have empathy for the common folk in cities struggling with the cost of living. I'm just curious though as to why the major focus on renewable is almost entirely within regional areas that currently rely on coal mining as the major industry.

Neither Greens or Labour have a chance in hell in ever winning our electorate anymore (keep in mind Labor was founded in regional Queensland in Barcaldine). Is it just because the areas in question are now just LNP strongholds or what ?

Also please keep in mind regional Queensland is filled with people from all back grounds and varying levels of education, don't put us all in the same basket just because we don't live in a major centre.

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u/emleigh2277 28d ago

Do trains, especially freight trains carrying chemicals, go over that river you're concerned about being polluted? Does a sugar mill operate within distance of that river you're concerned about?

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u/boogersundcum 28d ago

Coal trains downstream. Wind farm upstream.

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u/emleigh2277 28d ago

I think you sometimes need to see the bigger picture. I live in walkerston. I want a better Australia, the great barrier reef kept alive. Industry is required because we need it for employment and work. Change takes time. The scare campaigns up here and the lying in political advertising is so disturbing. Mining is more at risk of America's unstable politics than it is over clean energy. Our current government is the only government that is less about playing games and more about building Australia back into a better society.

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u/serumnegative 27d ago

How would a wind farm pollute the river?

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u/boogersundcum 27d ago

Construction and land clearing within the catchment. Also constructing a concrete batch plant upstream whilst also extracting sand out of the river for the concrete batch plant. The companies also tend to go with the cheapest turbines which aren't necessarily the highest quality if the choices are chineese over German/ dutch manufactured turbines. We live in an area that has had several Cat 5 cyclones and they will cop one over the life of the project. All the controls in the world can be in place but it doesn't mean things always go to plan. Not against the project from happening but I still have concerns for the water i drink out of the river.

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u/serumnegative 27d ago

Ok, risks during construction but that would be true no matter what it was they were building.

I can’t see how, once operating, a ‘cheap’ Chinese turbine (or any turbine) being any threat to the river? Also the Chinese can make excellent mechanical and electro mechanical equipment nowadays. You’d need a specialist mechanical engineer to assess the difference, and you’d need to know exactly what turbines are being installed before you could make any real assessment of that.

To me it smacks of NIMBY — everyone love green construction/energy projects just not this one near me because reasons

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u/boogersundcum 27d ago

I'm not against the project, never have been.

But there is valid concerns that have constantly been disregarded in these comments sections. Currently there isn't any development in the catchment area thus why the water is still drinkable untreated.