Michelle Slater
The Victorian Greens are proposing to bring forward the closure of Yallourn by four years to 2024 under a Bill to legislate an end date for the state’s coal by 2030.
The Transition from Coal Bill is being introduced into parliament today and is set to be debated and voted upon next month.
It would bring the closure of Yallourn forward from 2028, Loy Yang A would shut in 2027 instead of its scheduled closure between 2040 and 2045, and Loy Yang B would close in 2030.
Greens climate spokesperson Tim Read said it was unlikely Loy Yang A or B would be kept open until their scheduled closure dates.
Dr Read also called for transparency around a state government agreement with Yallourn operator EnergyAustralia to keep the power plant operating to 2028.
He accused the Victorian government of being “dishonest” to the Latrobe Valley’s to coal workers and community by not having any meaningful plans to move beyond coal.
“These plants are prone to shutting down accidentally every so often, and given the catastrophic climate events happening around the world, we can’t afford to keep running these plants,” Dr Read said.
“Under this Bill, we are giving more closure notice than what the government got when Hazelwood shut. We are at a stage where delay is the new denial and the government needs to accelerate.”
The Greens’ Bill is also proposing a job-for-job guarantee for coal workers as well as to secure funding for an independent Latrobe Valley Authority until 2035.
The LVA would be tasked with the closure of coal plants and developing new industries for the region such as offshore wind, clean manufacturing and mine rehabilitation.
The Bill would also double Victoria’s legislated renewable energy target to 100 per cent by 2030, supported by a $10 billion dollar investment in renewables, storage and grid upgrades.
Dr Read said Victoria was “on the right track” with its renewables targets, but was still lagging behind other states.
“We need to speed up renewables in Victoria, but overall Victoria hasn’t gone too badly, we have a pipeline of projects already approved before we even get to offshore wind,” Dr Read said.
But Member for Morwell Russell Northe described the Bill as “another Greens idiotic policy” with no substance or details around the economic or employment impacts on the Latrobe Valley.
“They are putting the cart before the horse. Some of these large scale renewables won’t be online by 2030, the timeline the Greens are proposing is nonsensical,” Mr Northe said.
“These and many other questions ought to be answered by the Greens before they come up with city-based hare-brained policies that hurt regional communities like ours.”
Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio pointed to the state’s raft of climate policies such as its two gigawatt offshore wind target by 2032, the Solar Homes program and plans for green hydrogen.
“We have led the nation in delivering climate action. We’ve cut emissions by more than any other state, tripled the share of renewables and created more jobs in clean energy than anyone else,” Ms D’Ambrosio said.
