“Despite protests from Planning Minister Matthew Guy, the prospect of thousands of new jobs for Victoria in a burgeoning “green-collar” industry is now very much off the table. And all this without the government identifying what problem the laws are trying to solve.”

The following column by Andrew Bray from 100% Renewables was published in the September 2 Age.

New laws toss energy jobs to the wind

The nation is poorer for the Liberals’ stance on the ‘green-collar’ sector.

It is a telling coincidence that Premier Ted Baillieu’s new anti-wind farm laws have been sharing the headlines with Australia’s manufacturing malaise.

The Clean Energy Council estimates the laws will drive $3.6 billion of investment away from Victoria. Pacific Hydro has announced it will cease building wind farms in Victoria after it completes projects with existing planning approval, and community-owned wind projects near Castlemaine and Woodend are now in doubt.

The winner of the Premier’s own Sustainability Award, the Hepburn Community Wind Farm near Daylesford, almost certainly would not have been built under these laws.

Despite protests from Planning Minister Matthew Guy, the prospect of thousands of new jobs for Victoria in a burgeoning “green-collar” industry is now very much off the table. And all this without the government identifying what problem the laws are trying to solve.

But the story of the Liberal Party’s ambivalence towards renewable energy goes back further than this week’s announcement. The attempt by Danish wind company Vestas to set up a manufacturing base in Australia provides a perfect illustration of opportunities that, if they are not grasped, simply pass by.

In 2005, with wind projects around western Victoria, Vestas established a blade manufacturing facility in Portland and a turbine assembly plant in Wynyard, Tasmania. This was a logical step for a European company looking for a base to service the growing Asia-Pacific market, and a vote of confidence in Australia’s skilled manufacturing base.

The Howard government implemented a modest renewable energy target of 2 per cent in 2001 and this capacity was duly delivered in half the time envisaged. However, after commissioning a review of the scheme, which recommended that the target be doubled, the government went off the idea.

Instead, at a meeting between the government and fossil-fuel industry executives in late 2004, John Howard and then energy minister Ian Macfarlane opted for a $1.5 billion low-emission energy fund to try to make fossil-fuel energy cleaner.

This refusal to extend the renewable energy target stalled national investment in new wind projects and the Vestas operations were no longer viable.

Vestas closed its two virtually new factories in 2007, axing 130 jobs. Shortly afterwards it opened a new factory in Colorado, which today employs more than 1000 people. No other wind companies have attempted to set up manufacturing facilities in Australia since.

Put simply, late Howard-era Australia had the opportunity to build and export wind energy equipment to the Asia-Pacific region but chose continued support for fossil-fuel energy instead.

This story of lost opportunity has resonance for my home town of Ballarat, whose manufacturing base was severely shaken by the financial crisis of 2009.

The wind industry offers a range of jobs beyond manufacturing of equipment, including parts supply, maintenance and training services. With 1800 megawatts of new wind farms currently approved to proceed within 100 kilometres of the city, Ballarat was in an ideal position to use this one-off burst of activity to establish new jobs in these fields.

But the clampdown on development in Victoria, and fears that New South Wales could go the same way under Liberal Premier Barry O’Farrell, make that unlikely. Without an ongoing domestic market, industry does not have the incentive to invest and Ballarat will be the loser.

Renewable energy presents a number of challenges for the Liberal Party both in terms of policy and politics.

Australia’s highly carbon-intensive electricity sector is responsible for 50 per cent of our total greenhouse emissions. Cleaning that up without a significant increase in renewable energy capacity is unimaginable.

Renewables are not as easily dismissed as they were in 2004. Global investment in clean energy totalled $243 billion last year, according to the Pew Environment Group. In South Australia, wholesale power prices are consistently lower because 20 per cent of the state’s energy comes from wind.

Renewable energy is also clearly popular in the electorate. Groups associated with the 100% Renewable Energy campaign recently polled more than 14,000 Australians and found 91 per cent of respondents think we should be building more renewable energy to help create jobs.

While the federal Liberal Party under Malcolm Turnbull gave bipartisan support for the Rudd government’s expansion of the Renewable Energy Target to 20 per cent by 2020, this support must now be in doubt under Tony Abbott’s leadership. The Liberal’s Direct Action Plan proposes a large rollout of solar panels for households but is completely silent on the development of larger renewable power generation.

There must come a point where the nation’s Liberal leaders and aspiring leaders come clean on their plans for renewable energy. If it is not something they want to support then they should be ready to let us know what is their alternative.

Andrew Bray is an organiser for 100% Renewable Energy, a campaign comprising more than 100 community groups nationally.