Essay by Eric Worrall
$52 million of wasted taxpayer’s money which could have been used to improve hospitals or roads.
Energy Minister Chris Bowen’s green hydrogen plan unravels as taxpayers left out of pocket over failed hubs
The Albanese government’s green hydrogen dream has collapsed as three regional hubs have been abandoned after more than $52 million in grants were awarded to the failed projects.
Oscar Godsell Political Reporter
August 13, 2026 – 5:00AMThe Albanese government’s green hydrogen plan has suffered another major blow, as three flagship regional hydrogen hubs have been abandoned.
Information provided to News24.com.au in response to Senate Estimates Questions on Notice reveals the government paid $52 million to three failed hydrogen hubs.
According to the Department of Climate Change’s response – Kwinana, Gladstone and Townsville hydrogen hubs have been abandoned, despite receiving $52 million in grants.
The hubs were mutually terminated but the amount taxpayers will recover from the collapsed projects remains unclear.
The figures show $31.7 million was paid to the Kwinana hub, $19.3 million to Gladstone and $1.06 million to Townsville before the projects were abandoned.
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[The Kwinana hub in Western Australia] It was supposed to produce more than 14,000 tonnes of green hydrogen a year and create 150 jobs.
Read more: https://www.news24.com.au/politics/australian-politics/energy-minister-chris-bowens-green-hydrogen-plan-unravels-as-taxpayers-left-out-of-pocket-over-failed-hubs/news-story/b70bd4371708f196a6f1a9ae22ed909c
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I think our federal energy and climate change minister Chris Bowen genuinely expected these schemes to succeed, I mean if you’re going to pump money into a scheme you expect it to at least last beyond the next electoral cycle.
But green hydrogen was always a non starter – take ridiculously expensive renewable energy which already needs subsidies then put it through a process which through conversion losses eliminates half the energy content, effectively doubling the price of the already unaffordable final product. And that’s assuming the process works smoothly at scale, which it clearly doesn’t.
With scientifically illiterate true believers who think you can store energy like water in charge of the nation’s finances, such haemorrhages of taxpayer capital are inevitable. I suppose we should be grateful that in this case the loss of taxpayer capital wasn’t even worse.
