Already a subscriber?One of Australia’s top green energy superpower advocates says it is unclear whether the nation has a comparative advantage in the solar panel industry that the, including in regions facing the likely loss of thousands of coal-fired power station workers, some earning up to $170,000.
, comes as government modelling revealed between 50 per cent and 80 per cent of workers at coal-fired power stations may fail to find new jobs when fossil-fuel generation collapses in the next decade or so. “We’ll export solar panels to the world, creating secure jobs for the Hunter in NSW,” Anthony Albanese said last week.
Getting such investments wrong would mean “putting people into jobs that will be low paying because they’re not natural industries to be involved in” for Australia.Labor tabled legislation last week to establish the Net Zero Economy Authority, one of Mr Albanese’s key pre-election promises to workers exposed by the accelerating closure of coal-fired power stations.
However, while the net cost of the government’s preferred approach will be minus $33.1 million, the calculation does not include “unquantified impacts” such as the benefits of employers winning access to a pool of skilled workers and the “social, health and welfare benefits for workers, families and communities of maintaining ongoing employment”.
It suggests the government will consider paying for the early retirement of workers aged 55 to 64, whose salary plus super averages $169,177, to create vacancies for younger retrenched workers.