Note: This story has been updated to reflect a second vote:
A Queensland shire council threw out eight years of work to establish a public electric vehicle charging station, on the grounds of vague claims of human rights problems in battery manufacturing.
And then voted to keep that work going.
Last week the Livingstone Shire council voted to cancel a deal to install the Capricorn Coast’s first EV charger, and a followup meeting held on Thursday to reverse the decision initially failed to win over the required number of four councillors.
But a surprise second motion from the mayor reversing last week’s decision while also asking state and national local government associations to investigate renewables, got up.
“Council rescinds the motion adopted at the ordinary Council meeting on the 15th of April, that council suspends any further action on advancing electric vehicle charging station until further notice, as a result of concerns identified in recent media,” mayor Adam Belot said.
Ironically, between the two motions the councillors were told Evie Networks – the charger provider – had pulled out of the deal the day before due to the reputation risk “particularly with this site” and the “hefty tariff charges” imposed by local electricity network provider Ergon Energy.
On Thursday, the three councillors in favour of installing an EV charger pleaded with their colleagues to think of the community, rather than problems created in myriad global supply chains. They also pointed out the council could lose itseco-accreditation – gained on April 1 – and miss out on significant tourism revenue.
“If we do not have a charger installed, we have an extreme threat, I’ll just say that again, extreme threat of losing this accreditation at the next audit,” councillor Andrea Friend said at the meeting.
“In 2032 the Olympic Games will be upon us … these spectators and participants will be traveling by electric vehicles that will need a charger installed on the Capricorn coast so that we can entice their visitation to us.”
A representative from the Australian Electric Vehicle Association (AEVA) highlighted the risk to tourism to the region, as more and more people switch to EVs.
“I recently met a couple at the Rockhampton charger behind the City Council who were in a (BYD) Atto 3…. They had visited Yeppoon but had not been able to stay more than one night because they couldn’t find a charger here,” said AEVA member Arthur Hunt.
“I also am aware of a visitor who flew to Rockhampton from Victoria to visit family. He thought he’d do the right thing and he hired an EV at Rockhampton airport.
“Coming from Victoria, he thought he’d have plenty of chargers here. He got down here and found there weren’t any. He had to curtail his visit. Wasn’t able to visit the attractions that he wanted to visit, and had to drive back to Rockhampton airport.
“There are many tourists who bypass the Capricorn coast because there are no public chargers shown on the plug share app that they use to plan their trips.”
Councillor Rhodes Watson pointed out that if Belot was basing his about-face on the heavily-debunked Channel 7 News report on nickel manufacturing in Indonesia, the council now needed to examine all supply chains.
“You can’t just pick on EVs,” he said during the meeting.
“Mr Mayor, I ask you, if we don’t pass this today, that you put up a notice of motion to stop the purchase of all mobile phones, home, solar batteries, laptops, kids, toys and to remove battery scooters from their roads.
“Please, councillors, I ask you to vote to continue with the installation of the charger and work on other avenues to solve the world issues.”
A Plugshare map showing a ring of EV chargers around the Capricorn Coast.
Investigating renewables
The rejected motion, put forward by Friend, was followed by Belot’s version that also factored in asking both the Queensland and national local government associations to investigate the ethics of all renewables.
Belot justified his position by repeating his original claims that 7 News’ nickel investigation proved the whole battery manufacturing industry is suspect, but also widened that to the whole renewable energy sector as well.
Deputy mayor Pat Eastwood said the move to delay an EV charger on the coast wasn’t about being right wing but to allow the council to “educate ourselves”, notwithstanding the amount of time council workers had been working on the project.
The meeting was standing room only for members of the public who loudly voiced their distress at the broadside on renewable energy and rejection of local chargers.
“Are petrol and diesel ethical environmental [industries]?” one member of the public called out.
With the deadline for submissions to the national conference in June now closed, that move means the council will need to wait until next year to put that motion in front of their peers.
The vote on Thursday means the deadline imposed by Evie to retain $320,000 in funding is no longer applies as that was set by Evie Networks so it could start planning for construction, but the council will stand tolose $4000 plus CPI in revenue a year for the next 15 years in license fees for the public land.
* This article has been updated to correct an error that the Livingstone shire council refused to rescind the decision to pause all EV charger installations on the Capricorn coast.
Rachel Williamson
Rachel Williamson is a science and business journalist, who focuses on climate change-related health and environmental issues.
