Hansard debates

Mr NORTHE (Morwell) (15:02:16): It is my pleasure to rise this afternoon to participate in the grievance debate. My grievance is with respect to the concerns of my community about future employment opportunities, particularly in the areas of energy and resources, agriculture and the timber industries. These industries are absolutely crucial to not only the Morwell electorate but the wider Gippsland region. Unfortunately we are experiencing constant threats through various forums to those particular jobs. Energy, resources and timber—agriculture, collectively—are just so crucial to not only our region but also Victoria’s and Australia’s economy. The threats that I refer to can be in the form of poor government policy or representations and advocacy from specific groups, particularly environmental groups putting pressure on those particular industries. I raise unemployment in the Morwell electorate as a key issue, and it is something that I have highlighted in this chamber on many occasions over the past few years. Whilst in some quarters the state government is doing things in my electorate to try to improve that situation, such as investing in some infrastructure projects, there is still a long way to go. When you reflect upon the unemployment statistics within Latrobe city, which is the major municipality within my electorate, you will get some sense of the challenges that we have. If you reflect back to December 2014, a month before there was a change of government, the Latrobe city unemployment rate was too high at that time—anyone could see that—at 7.2 per cent. It is now at about 8 per cent. Some of our towns and communities within Latrobe are experiencing some enormous challenges when it comes to unemployment. Again if you look at specific towns, such as the township of Morwell, unemployment has risen from 13.3 per cent four years ago to 15.3 per cent now. Moe-Newborough has gone from 9.6 per cent to 10.6 per cent. If you quantify that by the number of people who are on the unemployment line, what we have seen in that period of time is that Morwell has an extra 133 people unemployed, Moe-Newborough has an extra 91 and Traralgon has an extra 87. That is just a demonstration of some of the challenges we are confronted with at the moment. I note that the Treasurer quite rightly—it is his right to do so—will come into this place and talk about regional unemployment figures and note that across the regions of Victoria unemployment is down. But the reality is that that is not occurring and is not accurate with respect to what is happening in the Morwell electorate. My concerns are shared by many people. We are concerned about government policy going forward, and we are concerned about activists and their role in trying to diminish those particular industries. One only has to look back at the closure of the Hazelwood power station. It is not something I like to harp on about, but it is an issue of bad government policy. One example is introducing an extra $252 million in taxes to a specific industry in a specific region with already high unemployment and closing those doors within six months. You do not have to be Einstein to work out what that meant for not only the local community but also the state of Victoria through high electricity prices and security of supply being under threat. From a local perspective the impacts of that are still being felt quite substantially, because the reality is that when you have 750 or 800 individuals who were remunerated quite well and you take that remuneration away and do not replace it, there is less disposable income in your community. Again you do not have to be Einstein to work out the flow-on effects that has on other businesses, suppliers and contractors within our region. The other concern moving forward, and again I raised this issue in question time earlier this year, is government policy settings. In this case the state government has set a 50 per cent renewable energy target by 2030. Again it is the right of the government to set that, but from my community’s perspective, what impact will that have on our workers, our families and our local businesses? The reality is that the latest statistics show that coal and gas provide more than 80 per cent of Victoria’s energy needs. If you reduce that to 50 per cent, then quite rightly we ask, 'What are the impacts? Does that mean another power station has to close? If so, how are we going to do that? When is that going to happen?’. These questions come in the context of the fact that all our power stations in the Latrobe Valley have operating licences beyond that target of 2030. In this particular conversation I get very frustrated that you are either lumped in as a coal supporter or a renewables supporter. Personally I am supportive of renewables, and I am happy to support worthy projects in my electorate that are renewables. The fact is that the percentage of renewables compared to coal gas is increasing. It is happening. I like to think that I have common sense; I realise that in future years there will have to be a mix of them. But unfortunately some want to target you as being one way or the other. We get very frustrated as a community when the Greens come into this place and ask questions. Now not surprisingly they are saying, 'We want to close Yallourn power station’. They basically want to close the industry by 2030. They want that to start happening from next year. There is just no regard for the individuals or the people in the communities involved. The jobs that are being undertaken in the energy industry and at our local power stations are actually being done by real people with real families. I think sometimes the lobbyists who are anti-coal just completely and utterly forget that and the impact that Hazelwood’s closure and any future closure will have on real people, real families and real communities. Any future closure that is proposed has to be long, has to be slow and has to be respectful of the workers and their families. The Greens want to simplify the closure of power stations by making the motherhood statement, 'We will just transition all those jobs into renewable jobs’. Rhetorically I ask the question of the Greens and others: how many former Hazelwood workers and contractors are actually working in renewable jobs now? I think it is a fair question, and I can tell you that there are not too many at all. To make these statements without having a plan in place and so forth is, I think, outrageous. I think they forget the fact that there are real people involved here. I was speaking to a former Hazelwood worker last night, and one of the programs we talked about in relation to unemployment or employment in the sector was the fact that there was a commitment made to a worker transfer scheme, which was something I strongly supported. There was a commitment made by the government before Hazelwood closed that 150 workers would be part of this worker transfer scheme. At this point in time we have only had approximately 80, and it is two years down the track. So it has not worked as well as we would have liked. There are still a number of former workers and contractors doing it tough. I had an email from a former worker just last week. He said he is unemployed and asked if I could offer any guidance or assistance. This is what is happening on the ground. The worker transfer scheme needs to be enhanced, and that commitment to 150 workers needs to be supported. If the current criteria is not making that happen, then change the criteria to make it work. In the timber industry we saw the closure of Carter Holt Harvey. We saw the government step in and purchase a sawmill at Heyfield. It was disappointing from our perspective that the same support was not gleaned in the Morwell electorate for timber workers. Again, talking about the worker transfer scheme, which I should clarify was to transfer workers from one power station to another, the same was touted as a way for workers at Carter Holt Harvey to go to Australian Paper. That was never realised. That was a great disappointment to people within that sector. Last week we had an announcement of the $110 million new plantation proposal that the government had touted a couple of budgets ago. Mr D O’Brien: It was a sham. Mr NORTHE: Yes, as the member for Gippsland South said, 'a sham’. It is a sham by the fact that it was proposed as a new plantation. There is a little bit of history there. The land they are now talking about was previously leased by Hancock Victoria Plantations from the government for plantation purposes. After the logging coupes were harvested there, HVP could not come to an agreement with the government on re‑leasing it. The next minute we heard that the government had entered into an arrangement with one of its own agencies to do the work. Potentially we have a number of HVP employees and workers not knowing their future now because the government has now basically said, 'Go away’ and has got into bed, if you like, with VicForests on this particular proposal on land that was already harvested. It was going to be replanted anyway. It is little wonder that there is not a great deal of confidence in some of the decisions made by the government with respect to the timber industry. As I said earlier, from a local perspective I do give the government credit. There are some things happening within our community, and they have made contributions to those—the regional aquatic centre, Latrobe creative precinct, Traralgon basketball stadium and some of the school upgrades that are happening—and they are very, very much welcome. Of course they are welcome, but a concern that was expressed to me when I caught up with a number of local builders and contractors just recently was that while they were pleased on that front—that there is activity happening—they are really, really concerned the locals are not getting the opportunities to participate in the work. While I understand there are policies in place through the Victorian Industry Participation Policy, or VIPP, and otherwise, they are concerned that they are not being adhered to as they should and that local contractors and workers are not getting those opportunities. From my perspective it is really important that where there are government‑related projects, we should not be shy about saying we should be using local content at every single opportunity that we can. Obviously there will be situations where that is not possible—I understand that—but there is a level of frustration from local builders and local contractors that they are not getting to see that work themselves from a local perspective. One of the missing opportunities, which I have spoken about previously, is that there are a number of approved projects within our community that have been endorsed by council, by the relevant authorities, but they have not proceeded on the basis that we need to get infrastructure to site. One of the ideas that I suggested was a Latrobe essential services fund, where government departments and agencies for water infrastructure or road infrastructure could apply for funding to make sure that we could get that infrastructure to site, and the proponents then could get on with doing the job. It would create massive employment within our region, which is something that is desperately needed. Again opportunities are being missed at the moment with resources in the quarry sector. The quarry sector is a substantial industry within the Latrobe Valley, and all of them—all the quarries, the five that I can think of—want to grow and expand. But they have been held up, for years in some cases, from doing so, and my fear is that if we do not assist and support them with those resources, then Victoria will just end up importing produce and material from other states, and that is not good for anybody in this state. The last thing I would like to say concerns other issues that I have raised around where I believe Latrobe Valley people are missing out in comparison to other programs that are running. I mentioned one issue in a question today about our farmers, where programs are being run and eligibility is being denied to them on certain programs, and that should change. There are issues around public transport as well. If you are a student or senior within the Latrobe Valley, you are not entitled to the same discounts and supports as a commuter from Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo and even the south‑west coast. As has been told to me many times, 'Why should we be paying more for inferior services?’. That is something that needs to change as well.