Queensland premier visits Pentagon in trade mission to US and says navy’s goal to shift to renewable energy could aid industry at home

The US navy could help create a thriving biofuels industry in regional Queensland, the state’s premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, says.



Palaszczuk visited the Pentagon in Washington DC as part of her first trade mission as premier, where she met the navy’s top brass.



A renewable energy policy has set a goal for half the navy’s energy needs to be met from alternative sources by 2020.



The premier says that opens up opportunities for regional Queensland.



“We saw the boom of the LNG industry – this [biofuel] has the potential to be our next growth industry,” she said on Saturday. “We know the technology is there, we know we have the people already working in this field, what we now need to do is seek out those industry partners.”

Palaszczuk said the talks were in their early stages and the state needed to decide where it would place production plants.



“Initially, it could be in Mackay or Gladstone,” she said. “But we also know we have Townsville there – a ready port which would be able to utilise the fuels for the US navy.”