Hazelwood closure has flow on effects

Local businesses impacted

Next year’s closure of Hazelwood Power Station will not only impact employees living in Baw Baw Shire but also small businesses.

Member for Narracan Gary Blackwood used debate in state parliament last week to highlight the true impact of the closure of Hazelwood on the wider community.

Mr Blackwood said businesses across his electorate of Narracan relied on cost-effective power from Hazelwood and the closure would increase costs at a time when business could least afford it.

But, he told parliament, the closure also would be a direct blow to local business and employers.

Mr Blackwood said Warragul based business Gippsland Precision Engineering, was established by Garry Olsson more than 23 years ago and had been providing fabrication services to Hazelwood, which had grown to represent 95 per cent of his business activity.

“Gary started with four employees and gradually expanded and grew to employ 20.

“Over the past two years Hazelwood has reduced its maintenance spend to almost nothing and Gippsland Precision Engineering now employs only three, and closure of this family business is imminent,” he said.

Mr Blackwood was critical of the lack of intervention by the state government in the past two years to assist a reasonable staged closure of Hazelwood highlighting the increased coal royalties which had been imposed as well as the impact on policy by extreme groups such as the Greens who had no real understanding of industry within the Valley.

“There is no doubt that the Andrews’ Government decision to increase coal royalty by $252 million per year, which has ripped $20 million from the bottom line of Hazelwood, has a direct hit on the future of Gippsland Precision Engineering and the employment opportunities of boilermakers and other tradespeople right across Gippsland.

“Perhaps the treasurer could have seen fit to discuss (with Engie) the future energy needs of Victoria.

“The treasurer has publicly stated that he did not ask Engie to keep Hazelwood open.

“Most genuine, sane-thinking, business-minded people would have raised the option of keeping Hazelwood open to allow a timely transition to closure.

“Perhaps the opportunity could have been grabbed to suggest a set time frame of, say, five years, which may have given governments time to actually encourage the establishment of new businesses in the Valley or relocation of others to the Valley.

“I would have thought it entirely appropriate to discuss the opportunities for a new power station, a power station that would provide baseload power and real jobs and would employ a workforce that is already trained up, experienced and ready to go.

“But, no; because that would have upset the Greens. So bugger the Valley and its workers, and who cares about future demand for baseload,” he told parliament.

Mr Blackwood said that the valley was a very resilient community that did not deserve to have key investment and job opportunities taken away from it.

“Gippsland and the Latrobe Valley can’t afford to have job and investment opportunities ripped away by ideological activists who have no regard for the region beyond their own closure crusade,” he said.

Mr Blackwood said closure of Hazelwood would have far reaching impacts on public and private sectors who had access to reliable and readily available base load power for generations.

He warned Victoria could lose its competitive advantage against other states in a number of industries.

“Hazelwood provides power that is critical to the operation of business, in particular those that depend on reliable, consistent and costeffective electricity supply 24/7,” Mr Blackwood said.

“The economy of Victoria has for years been underpinned by the energy of the Valley.

“Our manufacturing sector, dairy farming, sawmilling, heavy and light industrial enterprises and our metropolitan train system, to name a few, have all enjoyed reliable, consistent and cost-effective energy at the flick of a switch and that has given Victorian businesses a massive competitive edge in the marketplace.

“The influence and impact of the economic benefit of the power industry is felt across so many communities in Gippsland, far beyond the boundaries of Traralgon, Morwell and Moe,” he said.