COAL-FIRED POWER STATIONS — CLOSURE
358. Dr D.J. HONEY to the Minister for Energy:
I
refer to the announced closure of the Collie and Muja power stations by 2027
and 2029, which is estimated to result in around 1 200 job losses in
Collie.
(1) Given the
first major closure is only five years away, what specific new industries are
planned for Collie to replace these lost jobs?
(2) Can the
minister guarantee that the Collie community will suffer no net job losses as a
result of this government's decision?
Mr W.J.
JOHNSTON replied:
(1)–(2) It
is an interesting question. Of course it could have been directed to the
correct minister, who would be the Premier. I am the Minister for Energy and my
job is in the energy space. The Collie industry attraction fund is not in my
portfolio of ministerial responsibilities, so I do not have the standing order
capacity to answer that part of the
question. But I want to address the question about the closure of the coal
plant because I am not the first person to suggest that the Collie coal
plant be closed. In fact, the member for Cottesloe suggested it. He did not
suggest that it should be done in a staged and coordinated fashion in
conjunction with the single largest investment into jobs in Collie in the state's
history that the Premier has brought forward. His plan was to do it by 2025.
Whereas the Premier; Treasurer has supported the investment of $662 million into new jobs for Collie, how much
investment did the member for Cottesloe, the person who asked me this
question, think was satisfactory to support the transition? It was $100 million.
In framing his supplementary question in a moment, I want the member for
Cottesloe to tell me how many jobs he thought that $100 million would create. I
can tell the member that $662 million is a genuine investment in the future of Collie. As I have said on a number
of occasions, the people of Collie have been good to the people of this
state and now it is our turn to return the favour. We have a plan for each
individual worker who is impacted by this decision to help them to manage what
they do. We are also investing in the people of Collie by bringing industries
to Collie. I look forward to the member for Cottesloe explaining to everybody
in this chamber why he thought $100 million was sufficient for the people of
Collie and why he thinks that a figure that is six and a half times more is
apparently not sufficient.