Thread by @simonahac

🧵 ladies and gentlemen, presenting #CoalGate:

(yet another) case study into the "questionable" integrity of @AngusTaylorMP🤥.

yesterday #CaymanAngus tabled an instrument formalising a $3.6m grant to brisbane-based #ShineEnergy.

…and the whole saga is dodgy AF.

THREAD…

in sep 2016 colourful queenslander #AshleyDodd establishes #ShineEnergy with ambitions to make waves in the renewables sector.

at the time his website said “as a traditional owner company which understands the natural economy, the RE sector is a natural fit for Shine Energy”.

shine shopped around an idea for a “solar production model” where someone (gov’t?) would pay for a solar farm, and shine would get to keep half. 🤷‍♂️

wow! look at all these solar projects on shine's website — impressive…

…oh hang on, shine didn’t have *anything* to do with *any* of them.

shineenergy.com.au/projects

evidently, nobody thought much of shine’s development model, and they never👏built👏a👏single👏renewable👏energy👏project.

somewhere in 2017-18 shine pivoted out of (trying to build) renewables into (trying to build) coal.

specifically, dodd wanted to build a 1,000 MW “HELE” coal project at the site of the old collinsville coal power station, closed in 2019.

(nb. construction estimate: sep 2020!)

.@Bolt_RSS thought it was a wonderful wedge!

greenies would tie themselves in knots, wondering whether to support or object to the project. mwahahahaha!

nope. pretty much everybody thought it was a bad idea.

@AngusTaylorMP claims an “independent strategic study” found that new generation was a priority for CQ/NQ, but…

QLD gov’t says it is not aware of any such study.

AEMO’s integrated system plan does not support the claim.

…and @energycouncilau, the peak body for electricity generators and retailers, could not have poured more cold water on it if they’d wanted to:

dnrme.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/…

.@energycouncilau has been pretty clear:

the @The_AiGroup reckons the project would need the government to provide an indemnity against claim risk — which they estimated to be $17,000,000,000!

theaustralian.com.au/nation/politic…

…and while #AshleyDodd has talked up the “traditional owner” angle of the project, actual representatives claim that most traditional owners, directors and elders have not been involved or consulted about the project.

theguardian.com/australia-news…

(i’m super up for projects that *actually* foster economic growth for the birri nation — but this $3.6m grant won’t.)

canadian engineering and services firm @wsp produced a business case for #Shine and for a while proudly listed it on its website.

it’s now removed. evidently not so proud of this work.

even "coal fitzgibbon" @fitzhunter has acknowledged that australia…

“…won’t have a new coal-fired generator because the market will never build one."

abc.net.au/qanda/2020-06-…

not only is the area lacking demand for power, but the site has other problems:
• old power station was only 190MW — transmission upgrades would cost 100s of $millions
• thanks to new renewables, the grid is congested
• no water allocation, so would need expensive dry cooling

as one commentator put it…

“for queensland today, to go ahead with new coal investment is the equivalent of yelling “QUEENSLANDER!” and then punching themselves in the face”.

pv-magazine-australia.com/2020/04/30/que…

even kenny’s brother (a respected environmentalist) must have thought it a bad idea — resigning as a director not long after.

dinner conversation must be a little awkward in the dodd family — while ash is part of the “start adani” crowd, kenny’s runs with “stop adani” crowd.

well hello! turns out @Glencore is behind the scenes.

shine/glencore have been allegedly been shopping the idea around with every major retailer in the country.

here’s part of a confidentiality agreement between alinta energy and “Shine Energy Pty Ltd (Glencore Coal Assets)”

…and when #Shine registered with angus’ dodgy “underwriting new generation initiative”, it named @Glencore as a project partner.

(shine’s project failed to meet the criteria to be shortlisted for the UNGI.)

theguardian.com/business/2020/…

the backing by “big mining companies” was confirmed by @MichaelHartMP, QLD’s shadow energy minister.

(hart recently “drew a line” through any QLD LNP funding, matching QLD labor’s commitment not to support the project.)

theguardian.com/australia-news…

just as an aside, one of shine’s owners is israeli-australian nissan cohen.

mr cohen has posted third party, far-right material and #QAnon conspiracies on social media.

(not that being close to #QAnon has caused @ScottMorrison any real grief, i guess.)

theguardian.com/australia-news…

#AshleyDodd claims that the project will be low emissions.

apparently gladstone emits around 90t/MWh, kogan 80MW/tC, shine 80M/tC dry cool, 70tC/MWh wet cool… a reduction of 10-20 t/CMWh”

got that? no, neither did i.

there’s nothing low emissions about a coal power station.

i think ash (appropriate name, eh?) is trying to say the project might achieve 800 kgCO₂e/MWh.

it certainly wouldn’t come close to 700.

whatever, it’s no “cleaner” than coal plants built in queensland 15 years ago and there's no such thing as low-emissions coal.

ashley, said to be a former hairdresser & prison guard, who has never built an energy project, takes umbrage when anyone suggests his company doesn’t have the skills to build a $3,000,000,000 project.

…and he never signed up to the paris agreement!
…and @AlboMP is a globalist!

if you’ve got a few minutes, the whole video is worth viewing:

adelaidenow.com.au/news/national/…

on 8 february of this year @AngusTaylor 🤥 announced that #ShineEnergy would receive a grant of “up to $4m”.

two days later shine was invited to apply!

yep, that’s right… invited to apply for grant 2 days *after* the grant was announced.

theguardian.com/environment/20…

at the end of july, @Mark_Butler_MP referred this sordid saga to the ANAO, and last week the auditor general agreed to consider adding it to the work program.

anao.gov.au/work/request/s…

remember folks…

here we have a minister of the crown giving $3,600,000 to a company clearly lacking the competency to pull off a project that’ll never stack up.

…this is also the *emissions*reduction minister*, trying to progress a highly polluting *coal* power station. 🙀

so far nobody has suggested any connection between this project and @AngusTaylor’s🤥 family.

no, here angus is allowing himself to be compromised because he’s made his bed with the hard-right pro-coal wingnuts of his party, & now he must sleep in it. eeeew!

naked ambition.

the promise to fund this project came in the lead up to the 2019 federal election.

local member @mlandryMP needed to pledge something.

even dodd *now* sees this…

“i’m very, very upset. i’m starting to feel like we’ve been used to win the election.”

theguardian.com/australia-news…

…but it’s hard to say the plan worked:

in 2019 @mlandryMP received 40.6% of first preferences, a touch more than the 40.1% she received in 2016.

each of those 853 extra votes cost us $4,220!

hilariously, #AshleyDodd has been crying poor recently — saying that he needs $4m.

keep in mind that #ShineEnergy has never built a thing… it doesn’t even have an office.

theaustralian.com.au/business/minin…

which makes this claim from dodd a little bit funny, and a little bit sad:

btw, if anyone seriously thinks this proposal is likely to proceed, head over and be the first to challenge my prediction here:

longbets.org/835/

back to parliament…

yesterday @AngusTaylorMP 🤥 tabled this instrument:

legislation.gov.au/Details/F2020L…

in the explanatory memorandum, issued under angus’ authority, the "statement of compatibility with human rights" claims:

(he's having us on!)

legislation.gov.au/Details/F2020L…

but as @jommy_tee says, it’s all academic isn’t it?

the grant was approved on 4 august.

https://twitter.com/jommy_tee/status/1296966766912921600?s=20

today @AustralianLabor brought forward a disallowance motion — if they get a majority the grant can be overturned.

but the motion will probably fail, because @PaulineHansonOz and @MRobertsQLD will join with @LiberalAus to defeat the motion.

we often forget that that there are people behind the parties.

i’d love to hear from folks like
@birmo
@SenSHenderson
@MathiasCormann
@SenatorHume
@hollieahughes and
@Anne_Ruston

Q: how would could you think giving $3.6m to this #ShineEnergy outfit is OK?

this is on you!

let me acknowledge the tireless work of @BenSmee who dug up most of this, as well as @jommy_tee, @RonniSalt and @MichaelWestBiz who, like me, despise corruption.

(hey @apatrickafr, is it now time for a puff piece praising angus for his foresight in backing this amazing project?)

please, put some pressure on the @LiberalAus — is this how they think we should be spending precious public funds?

…and remember, @AngusTaylorMP's 🤥 roll call:
• #watergate 💧
• #grassgate 🌾
• #angusgate 📑
• #coalgate 🏭

/end

you don’t need to take my word for it... listen to @Scott_SolarQ:

https://twitter.com/scott_solarq/status/1298198384080121857

...because it’s north QLD there’s even a link to bob katter and sir joh...

https://twitter.com/michaelwestbiz/status/1298197572847247360

...and then there’s this...

@AngusTaylorMP and @PaulineHansonOz are closer than you might think.

https://twitter.com/ronnisalt/status/1298202375207809025

...and this:

https://twitter.com/colinmacgregor4/status/1298241677149081600