October 24, 2011
Latrobe Valley residents will pay three times for the closure of power stations under the Gillard Labor Government’s flawed scheme according to Federal Member for Gippsland Darren Chester.
Mr Chester said he could understand why the owners of Yallourn, Hazelwood and Energy Brix had expressed interest in the ‘contract for closure’ scheme but warned the Federal Government had no plans to protect local jobs.
“Under this scheme the Latrobe Valley will be the hardest hit,” Mr Chester said.
“We will effectively pay three times as our taxes are used to pay power companies to close down, households will have higher electricity bills and local workers will lose their jobs at power stations and in supporting industries.
“The government might be able to compensate power companies, but people in the Latrobe Valley community want the decency of a job and the prospect of a future in our region.
“It doesn’t make any sense to spend billions of taxpayer dollars closing down power generating assets which are not at the end of their useful lives and forcing a switch to more expensive forms of electricity generation.
“In addition to the direct job losses in our community there will be flow-on impacts with higher production costs for a range of industries as the Gillard Labor Government’s carbon tax comes into force.”
State Member for Morwell Russell Northe has also expressed his concern about the Federal Government’s failure to manage the consequences of its policy to shut down brown coal fired power stations.
“The Federal Government doesn’t have a plan for the Latrobe Valley economy if any of these power stations are closed down under the ‘contract for closure’ scheme,” Mr Northe said.
“There’s been a lot of talk but no action by the Federal Government to protect local jobs.”