Newsroom

November 29, 2024

Katter’s Australian Party (KAP) Leader and Member for Traeger, Robbie Katter, has issued an urgent call for changes to ensure the success of the CopperString 2.0 project. Mr Katter has laid the blame for the multi-billion-dollar cost blowouts of the project squarely on Powerlink, criticising its management of lacking the expertise and determination to deliver the critical nation-building transmission line.

“The failure of Powerlink to manage and proactively drive this project highlights a shocking lack of competence,’ Mr Katter said.

“Powerlink was brought in as a developer for the first time to take on the biggest transmission line in Australia’s history and they’ve stumbled right out of the gate.

“This was never a task for asset managers. It’s about building infrastructure at a scale and complexity they’re clearly unprepared for.

“AEMO’s (Australian Energy Market Operator) standards are clear on costs, yet somehow Powerlink’s team has doubled the price with no reasonable explanation,” Mr Katter said.

Mr Katter has long pushed for a company with proven capability to take over the project, emphasising its state-wide importance by likening it to Queensland’s coal royalty-funded railways.

“Delivering poles and wires isn’t as complicated as Powerlink is making it out to be, but their lack of experience and leadership has put it on track to be a bureaucratic debacle,” he said.

CopperString’s impact and windfall will resonate far beyond North Queensland. State-building projects like the Eva Copper Mine in Cloncurry rely on the project for feasibility.

“Royalties from projects like the Eva Mine will largely flow to the southeast. Brisbane should be as outraged as we are as this isn’t just a regional issue – it’s a state-wide economic disaster in the making,” Mr Katter warned.

Mr Katter vowed to keep fighting until CopperString 2.0 delivers on its promise to unlock Queensland’s economic potential.

“The stakes are too high to accept mediocrity or mismanagement,” the KAP Leader said.