THOSE of us interested in ensuring a real jobs-led recovery from COVID-19, and one that has all the elements of also being good for the planet, are taking heart from a recent letter by most Australian doctors to the Prime Minister recently.
Peak medical groups representing about 75 per cent of Australia's 90,000 doctors have written to the prime minister to ask him to make a response to climate change central to the government's post-coronavirus economic stimulus plans.
This call from doctors adds to the report from the Climate Council ('Clean energy jobs target', Newcastle Herald 21/7) which gets behind a plan to rebuild the economy by creating 76,000 jobs across Australia in renewable energy and other industries that tackle climate change.
This report, which relies on modelling, suggested thousands of jobs could be created across Australia in large scale renewable energy farms and ecosystem restoration. Further jobs could be created in the collection and processing of organic waste, making more energy efficient homes and buildings and expanding electric vehicle infrastructure.
The fact that here in the Hunter many coal mining jobs are either going or slowing down sends a sense of urgency to us in the community. We will rely to a greater extent on unemployment being reduced, not increasing.
The report alluding to US multinational Peabody Energy laying off half its workforce of the Wambo's Singleton underground coal mine and BHP's announced impending sale of Mt Arthur open cut in Muswellbrook ('Big retreat', Herald 19/8) underscores the urgency we face.
The most recent forecast from the Office of the Chief Economist shows likely declines in coal imports in our three biggest coal customers: Japan, South Korea and China. If the Hunter region does not prepare for these global changes that are underway by supporting other industries to grow, over 5000 jobs and $705 million in wages and salaries could be lost if predicted global declines in coal occur.
Four of NSW's five coal fired power stations are also expected to close in the next 17 years. All of them are in the greater Hunter region - two in Lake Macquarie and two in Muswellbrook. On 15th September 2019, Hunter Environment Lobby Inc. (HEL) submitted the above information to The Environment and Planning Committee of the NSW Parliament - sustainability of energy supply and resources.
Replacing coal power stations and rehabilitating their ash dams can also bring new jobs and affordable energy to the Hunter region with targeted support.
Raising the standard of mine rehabilitation can provide a crucial jobs bridge for coal workers while new industries are building. This is a very important part of returning the Hunter Valley to a degree of normalcy we have lost sight of.
However, HEL realizes that adjusting regional economies is a big job and it is not easy. Regional communities have been seeking major government investment and strong diversification planning, with direct community participation and leadership.
We see unhappy experiences in other coal mining regions of the world - unmanaged and unplanned coal closure in the Appalachia region in the United States was "characterised by short-term, reactive and fragmented responses to closures of coal mines, resulting in entrenched, intergenerational poverty and social dysfunction."
In contrast, in Germany's Ruhr Valley, a decision was taken in 2007 to manage the adjustment over an 11-year period, involving communities, stakeholders and unions in an orderly process.
We saw Germany's dedicated Coal Commission, made up of workers, companies, experts and environmentalists, releasing a plan with funding and environmental protections.
Lessons from elsewhere in Australia, including the La Trobe Valley and Port Augusta, have highlighted that worker assistance and support for re-training and re-employment is crucial.
But this urgency needs to be repeated and reported widely. We can do without shadow ministers like Joel Fitzgibbon who trumpet the so-called benefits of coal, much like his opponents in the Liberals like Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
As we can see, planning for change in our communities is no quick easy process, along with the related plan to help preserve the habitat of our precious icon, the koala. Koala habitat is disappearing rapidly in local government areas across the Hunter and this threat must be seriously addressed if we are to turn around the impending loss of koala in the wild.
While looking at creation of green jobs here in the Hunter we can look at the opportunities for arresting urban sprawl and industrial spread into prime koala habitat. This could start with the Brandy Hill Quarry permission to decimate over 50 hectares of koala habitat in the Port Stephens Local Government area and looking at the ongoing incremental spread of destruction, we need to look holistically and have real political will shown to preserve our precious icons.
Local, state and federal governments need an overarching body tasked with this important job. Our communities will not stand for ongoing inaction for ever.
