Fossil fuel exports from Queensland will end by 2030

Fossil fuel exports would end in less than a decade to drastically cut the carbon emissions that Queensland sends overseas under a Greens proposal.

Greens MP Michael Berkman also wants to set up an independent authority to work with coal and gas workers on a transition plan, including a job-for-job guarantee and free reskilling, under a bill tabled in state parliament.

The state government doesn’t account for exported fossil fuels in its emissions data, Mr Berkman says, but they still contribute to climate change in Queensland.

The bill would also ban coal oil and gas approvals and set stronger emissions targets of 75 per cent by 2030 and net zero by 2035, compared to the government’s aim of 30 per cent by 2030, and net zero by 2050.

The Greens legislation comes as locals in the state’s northwest assess the damage from recent record floods, and a year after record, disastrous floods swamped the southeast.

Politicians on both sides of the chamber interjected during the Maiwar MP’s speech with Labor’s Pine Rivers MP Nikki Boyd kicked out for an hour after making repeated interruptions.

Under the government’s energy plan announced last year, Queensland will get as much as 80 per cent of its electricity from renewables by 2035.

It will rely heavily on a mass build-out of solar and wind projects, as well as pumped hydro schemes for energy storage.

The government’s plan includes a job security guarantee for energy sector workers, but the Greens said this can be expanded further to include fossil fuel workers.