We recently made a submission to the senate enquiry into the closure of the Hazelwood and Yallourn power stations in Victoria. This submission responds to the three points listed in the inquiry Terms of Reference, outlined below:
(a) impact of the closure of the Hazelwood Power Station on the economy and jobs of the Latrobe Valley, and the success or otherwise of economic recovery efforts to date;
(b) expected economic impacts of the proposed closure of Yallourn Power Station in 2028 and options the State Government can pursue to offset the loss of more than 1,000 direct jobs from the plant, as well as associated contractors;
(c) success or otherwise of the Latrobe Valley Authority (LVA) to help the region transition, in light of the decline of funding made available to the LVA over successive State Budgets.
We worked with the Queensland government’s Just Transitions Group to develop transition related policies and programs, including the Energy Transition Roadshow (in Rockhampton, Gladstone, Townsville and Cairns) funded by the Queensland Government in 2019/20. The TNE team brought together all levels of government, industry, unions, universities, environment and community groups together to explore how the energy transition was impacting on regions and how it could generate new economic opportunities.
We worked with Stanwell in the development of their corporate strategy, which has led to the company not only integrating transition planning into their five-year strategy but has also led to the development of a workforce and community engagement plan to enable the company to start talking about the inevitability of transition out of coal.
