Victoria’s coalmines are being ordered to hand over hundreds of millions of dollars more for the rehabilitation of their sites when mining ceases.

The state’s premier, Daniel Andrews, maintains the additional payments will not put jobs at risk.



The Victorian government announced on Friday the existing rehabilitation bonds would be increased in June from $15m or less to $34.25m for Yallourn, $36.7m for Hazelwood and $56m for Loy Yang.

They will all then double again – to the current estimated rehabilitation liability for each mine – by January.

On Thursday, the fourth and final report into the Hazelwood mine fire concluded Latrobe valley mines were not making sufficient payments to cover rehabilitation costs.

It urged an immediately increase of tens of millions of dollars in the bonds until a review into the system was complete.

Andrews said on Friday the mines’ owners were profitable enough to absorb the additional costs.



“We’ve had companies for too long that have been allowed to put aside just a fraction of what it costs to keep their mines safe and return those mine sites to the community ... at the end of their useful life,” Andrews told reporters in Morwell.

“These are profitable companies. Let’s not have any of this talk that jobs are at risk – they are not at all.”