The federal government has announced a new authority to guide coal-dominated regions away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy.
Key points:
- The national Net Zero Authority will start work on July 1, focusing on jobs moving away from coal
- It includes a $400 million funding stream for regional businesses to decarbonise
- The federal government will seek to legislate the new authority
Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen unveiled plans for the Net Zero Authority to support workers to find new jobs and training.
He made the announcement on a visit to Muswellbrook in the coal-rich Hunter Valley, where the Liddell coal-fired power station was closed last week.
“We want it to be a one-stop shop for workers who are thinking about the transformation [and] how they prepare for the jobs of the future,” Mr Bowen said.
The authority will also help communities attract new clean energy industries and support investors with those opportunities.
Mr Bowen said regions with mines and coal-fired generators like the NSW Hunter Valley, Victoria’s Latrobe Valley, central Queensland, and Collie in Western Australia would be a priority.
“We want this authority to focus like a laser on any obstacles to job creation and investment,” he said.
The minister also announced a new $400 million stream of funding, administered by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, to be made available to support decarbonisation initiatives in the regions.
“We know it’s in the nation’s interest for Australian industries in the regions to be investing in decarbonising and therefore it is in the interests of the government to help,” Mr Bowen said.
The authority will start working as an agency on July 1, and the government will seek to have it legislated.
The move has been applauded by union leaders who have been advocating for an authority to support mining and energy workers and plan for the closure of power stations and coal mines.
“We’ve been campaigning for such an authority for about 15 years,” national president of the Mining and Energy Union Tony Maher said.
“The important things are looking after the workers, looking after the host communities, and diversifying the economic base.”
Latrobe Valley reacts to Net Zero Authority
The new authority has received strong backing from community representatives in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley where the state’s first coal-fired power station closed in 2017.
The region has a history of high unemployment stretching back to the privatisation of the power sector in the 1990s and the Yallourn power station is set to close in 2028.
Voices of the Valley president Wendy Farmer said the authority would centralise the transition for the renewable energy industry across Australia.
“It will have a bigger picture of actually looking across the whole of Australia and identifying the needs but also then be able to guide businesses in particular regions that have the expertise,” she said.
“It’s about giving us jobs, it’s about giving us a possibility to move forward, but also a possibility that our kids can stay in the area after school because there are jobs here for them.”
Chris Barfoot worked at the Hazelwood power station, which suddenly shut in 2017, giving workers only five months to reassess their careers.
“If you’ve ever been retrenched before and the only thing you have available to you is Centrelink, it’s really hard,” he said.
An authority in Gippsland was announced the same day as Hazelwood’s closure.
“Was it useful? Absolutely!’ Mr Barfoot said.
“It gave you a single location where you could go and get solid advice from any government department.”
“When you’ve got an authority set up, which has those same facilities and has the ability to work across government agencies, it is a great thing.”