Royalties should pay for coal workers’ transition: Liberal-aligned think tank

A Liberal-aligned think tank says a slice of coal royalties should be set aside to help workers and attract new industries to areas hit by the closure of coal-fired power stations.

A slice of coal royalties should be set aside to be used to attract new industries to regions that will be directly impacted by closure of coal-fired power stations, according to a Liberal-aligned think tank.

Six-months income insurance, early retirement packages, retraining services and even wage-subsidies for businesses hiring transitioning coal workers should all be considered, it will say.

The centre-right Blueprint Institute will on Wednesday release a report calling for state‘s facing coal-fired electricity generators and mines to set aside 5 per cent of coal royalties to set up local “adaptation authorities” to start planning new industries for affected communities, before it is too late.

For Queensland it would equate to about $175 million a year. There should also be a $20 million injection from the Federal Government to get it started.

The report stated the authorities should be independent of government, staffed mostly by locals and help workers transfer to new jobs by ensuring there were new work places to go to.

“The is not to prop up unsustainable industries, but rather prevent a handful of communities from shouldering the weight of a shifting energy grid,” it stated.

The coal-fired Gladstone Power Station in Gladstone is not expected to close until 2035. Picture: AAP Image/Dan Peled

Transitions could include setting up export of zero-emission manufactured goods, like green aluminium and steel, hydrogen, horticulture or other technologies.

Workers should be assisted with a range of support, not just retraining or early retirement, but potentially income insurance.

“Under the system, immediate support for the first six months of unemployment would give individuals the economic freedom to find high-quality job matches in the period following their exit from coal,” the report stated.

“Carefully targeted wage subsidies could be extended to firms who hire displaced coal workers in regions suffering a sufficiently large shock to employment.”

It called for coal mine and generator operators the be legally required to conduct stakeholder engagement five years before any closure to determine an economic and socially beneficial use of their infrastructure after shutdown.

There should also be increased civil penalties for operators that close earlier than the current required 42-month closure notice period.

Queensland has a relatively young set of coal-fired power station, with Millmerran, Kogan Creek, Callide C, and Tarong North all commissioned after 2000, though Gladstone, Callide B and Tarong have been operating since the 1980s.