Bundaberg mayor and former Queensland LNP minister Jack Dempsey has described the Morrison government as being “obsessed by coal” and out of step with almost everybody on the climate crisis “except the big polluters”.
Dempsey also alleged federal resources minister and member for Hinkler, Keith Pitt, who has strongly advocated for the coal industry, was out of step with his electorate, which stretches from Hervey Bay to Bundaberg – an area he called the “heartland of Queensland”.
“It’s a false stereotype that all regional Queenslanders are coal-loving climate-change deniers,” Dempsey said.
“The minister for coal – Keith Pitt – he doesn’t actually reflect the views of our community on environmental issues.”
“We’re about clean, green, quality products.”
Asked to comment on Dempsey’s claim that he was out of step with his electorate’s views on coal and climate, Pitt said the Bundaberg mayor should confirm whether or not he was running in this year’s federal election.
“If Mr Dempsey wants to end the guessing games and confirm his candidacy for the coming federal election to run on these issues then he should be up front with the ratepayers of Bundaberg immediately,” the minister said in a statement.
The comments came after Dempsey told a natural resource management forum on Tuesday that Australia was increasingly isolated on the world stage when it came to fossil fuels and emission reductions.
On Thursday, he said voters in his electorate did not want to see new coalmines and advocated for 2030 and 2040 interim emissions targets, towards net zero by 2050.
“We oppose coal,” Dempsey said.
“Our future is in agriculture, it’s in education, it’s in health, it’s in manufacturing – and all of those things rely on the reputation of the area.”
A YouGov poll commissioned by the Australian Conservation Foundation before widespread flooding across the state – but released on Wednesday – found 57% of voters in Hinkler believed climate action would produce long-term economic benefits, compared to 27% who thought it would harm the economy.
The poll found 54% of regional Queenslanders were not convinced the prime minister’s commitment to net zero by 2050 was enough action.
Pitt has been a vocal advocate of the coal industry, previously saying Australia would mine the fossil fuel for as long as the world wanted to buy it, and has strongly backed the Carmichael and New Acland coalmines.
His seat of Hinkler encompasses 3,818 sq km, extending inland to include the towns of Childers and Monto.
The seat was retained by Pitt in 2019, with a swing of more than 6% to a comfortable 64.5% of the two-party preferred vote.
Dempsey said the Coalition had argued “very effectively” against curtailing fossil fuel extraction at the last election but that “a lot of people have wised up” since then.
“Mr Coal wants to go and say, ‘life is gonna finish if we don’t have these fossil products coming in’,” he said.
“Every other industry – banking, construction, everyone else – is moving with the times, they understand that there is a transitional change and they see the jobs being created in innovation and technology,” he said.
“They want a future for their kids.”
The former LNP stalwart said the Morrison government was also failing on disaster mitigation and that Bundaberg had narrowly avoided being “wiped out” again after it dodged the state’s recent “rain bomb”.
Dempsey said the commonwealth had “knocked back” funding the East Bundaberg flood levee, despite the Queensland government putting it forward last year as its top priority disaster mitigation project.
Asked whether he intended to run for Hinkler, Dempsey said he did not respond to rumours.
“They said this at the last election,” he said.
“They’ve had me running for Flynn, they’ve had me running for the Senate, they’ve had me running for different bloody political persuasions.”
“I just think they need to concentrate on doing a good job to get infrastructure and jobs into our area.”
Dempsey said he dropped his LNP membership after entering local politics in 2016.
Dempsey and Pitt have clashed previously over the trial of cashless welfare in the region, which the mayor opposed.
