To the Legislative Assembly of Victoria:
The petition of the residents of the Latrobe Valley community draws the attention of the house to the matter of Hazelwood power station closing at the end of March 2017.
Hundreds of workers, contractors, businesses and families will be impacted, with unemployment expected to rise significantly in a region that already has high unemployment. Energy prices in Victoria will rise by more than 10 per cent for many consumers, whilst the loss of substantial baseload power means that Victoria will likely need to import electricity on critical days.
Whilst the Labor Party has had a policy to close Hazelwood since 2010 it said it would do so over a period of time. This is now not the case and thousands of locals face an uncertain future. There are no plans to replace critically important baseload energy generation in the Latrobe Valley once Hazelwood power station closes.
Daniel Andrews also imposed an additional $252 million of taxes on Latrobe Valley generators in its 2016–17 budget and said it would not make a difference to the companies or consumers. Well, Premier, you are wrong. Hazelwood is closing its doors with hundreds of jobs to be lost and prices are going through the roof.
The petitioners request the Legislative Assembly of Victoria to call upon the Premier of Victoria to at least honour his party’s initial commitment to close Hazelwood power station gradually over a period of time whilst advancing new baseload energy solutions, to urgently adopt a pooled redundancy scheme for Hazelwood workers impacted by the station’s closure and to support Latrobe Valley workers by retaining and creating local jobs for local people.
By Mr NORTHE (Morwell) (1801 signatures).