ORGANISERS of this weekend’s rally to save Hazelwood power station and mind say the event has generated strong interest in the community.
The Rally for the Valley has been organised by representatives from the business and community sectors and will be held at Morwell Recreation Reserve on Sunday from noon to 2pm.
Morwell business owner Ray Burgess, who is a member of the rally’s organising committee, said details for the event were expected to be finalised yesterday.
“It’ll be a relatively short meeting but there will be activities for the kids to keep them amused and a barbie and a rally to support the people losing their jobs at Hazelwood,” Mr Burgess said.
“Given what’s happened in the last week with the heightening of the energy crisis, we’ll be asking the State Government to consider some support to help keep Hazelwood open or to put the thing up for sale to someone who might want to buy it.”
The organisers called the rally amid fears about the impact of Hazelwood’s closure on the region’s economy.
About 700 high-paying jobs are expected to be lost when the station closes at the end of next month with flow-on effects expected to be felt across other industries.
The rally has been publicised largely through social media, local media and word of mouth.
“(On) the Facebook side of it, there’s a lot of positive response and there’s been a number of people who have said they’re coming along so we’re expecting a pretty decent crowd,” Mr Burgess said.
For more information visit the ‘Rally for the Valley’ Facebook page.
