With Glencore foreshadowing coal mine closures and Alinta set to shut a coal mine and coal-fired power stations in South Australia, the Australian Greens are calling on the big parties to provide alternatives for coal workers.
Senator Larissa Waters, Australian Greens deputy leader and mining spokesperson, said, ‘The Greens have set out a plan to urgently secure the funding for mine rehabilitation jobs for coal workers, and we have announced an ambitious science-driven target of 90 per cent clean energy by 2030.
‘The old parties are failing to plan for the futures of coal workers and their families in the face of an ever-declining coal price.
‘Coal workers need action now, already the coal industry has sacked 14,000 workers since May 2012.
‘Under the Greens’ plan, the money owed to state governments by mining companies for rehabilitation would be audited and collected in a Federal Mining Trust.
‘Adequate funding for rehabilitation efforts will secure new jobs in the same communities where coal workers are losing jobs, and will stop coal companies like Glencore shirking their legal obligation to clean up their own mess.
‘We also need to embrace the clean energy jobs of the future that with training coal workers can benefit from.
‘That means boosting renewable energy to 90 per cent by 2030, not slashing the Renewable Energy Target like the old parties ganged up to do,’ Senator Waters said.
