Power station workers ready for coal, hard facts about future

Hundreds of workers at a NSW power station, due to be out of a job in three years, are angry the federal government has been reluctant to even admit there is a problem.

Eraring Power Station employee Scott King with his wife Megan at their home on the NSW Central Coast. Picture: Nick Cubbin/TWAM

Power station worker Scott King could see the renewables freight train coming down the track – he’s a smart guy with a degree in sustainable energy management – but even he has been shocked by how quickly that train is now travelling.

“The renewables change is just coming faster and faster, and we are seeing more and more projects come on line,” the 51-year-old told The Weekend Aus­tralian. “Even stuff like rooftop solar is through the roof.”

This renewables juggernaut has brought forward the closure of the Eraring Power Station, south of Newcastle, by seven years. In a bit over three years, Mr King and hundreds of his work mates will be on the hunt for new jobs. The miners in the nearby collieries that feed Eraring also face an uncertain future.

Despite this massive structural change afflicting the Hunter, and dozens of other coal communities, the federal government has been reluctant to even admit there is a problem.

In the past few decades, it has spent tens of billions of dollars on structural adjustment programs for ailing industries such as fishing, car manufacturing, dairy and steelmaking. Mr King is angry it’s not implementing similar programs for the coal industry.

“They’ve known that this change has been coming for a long, long time, and no one from within the government has taken any steps to commence a transition process for the people who are most affected,” he says.

The Weekend Australian put a series of questions to the Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister, Angus Taylor, about the need for some sort of transition authority for the Hunter which many experts are calling for. “The last thing the people of the Hunter need is more highly paid bureaucrats in Sydney and Canberra planning their lives for them,” Mr Taylor said. “They need a government that can manage the economy, create jobs and keep electricity prices low. That is what we are doing.”

His approach has been attacked by both the federal opposition and the NSW Treasurer and Minister for Energy, Matt Kean. Chris Bowen, the opposition’s energy and climate spokesman, says that as 80 per cent of the world’s economy moves towards decarbonisation, the future of Australia’s coal exports will be determined by boardrooms in Tokyo, Beijing and New York.

“For all the Coalition’s talk about coal communities, they are hanging them out to dry by denying the world is changing and not investing in future industries and training,” Mr Bowen says.

Mr Kean says the Morrison government has failed to address this problem because to do so “would be an admission that their policies have failed”.

“Coal jobs are being determined not by domestic governments but by foreign govern­ments and foreign boardrooms,” he said. “Rather than sticking your head in the sand and denying the reality, we need to make sure that we are putting in place the policies that will manage that risk and also take advantage of the new opportunities that will emerge in a low-carbon world.”

Mr King works as a highly specialised power station technician at Eraring. “We are well paid and we are well paid for a ­reason,” he says. “The work that we do is very complicated and it’s extremely dangerous.”

He’s a trained electrician, but it’s been years since he’s been on the tools. He says his experience as a technician is not easily transferable to other industries. When the news came through that Eraring would be closing seven years earlier than expected, he and his wife, Megan, a schoolteacher, sat down and discussed their future and the impact the closure would have on them. They’ll tighten their belts and try to pay off the mortgage in the next few years.

“In three years I’m gunna be 54, 55,” he says. “It’s not a great age to be trying to change tack.”

While he is anxious about his future, he also sees the need to act on climate change. “I’m not stupid,” he says. “Ninety-nine per cent of scientists around the world say it is a real thing and that we need to act.”

Charmaine Freeman, a maintenance co-ordinator at Eraring Power Station, says we need to prepare for “greener power”. Picture: Nick Cubbin/TWAM

Charmaine Freeman, 45, is a maintenance co-ordinator at the plant. She says the reality is “the world is aiming towards greener power” and we need to prepare.

Greg Piper, the state independent MP for Lake Macquarie, where Eraring is located, has a son who works at the plant. He says the workers are well aware of the changes taking place in the energy sector, and they want to see a plan for where the jobs of the future will come from. “To not get ready is to deny these communities a reasonable future,” Mr Piper says. “They deserve better.”