Tuesday, 28 May 2024

Latrobe Valley employment

Martin CAMERON (Morwell) (19:05): (673) My adjournment matter this evening is for the Minister for the State Electricity Commission, and the action I seek is an explanation of why there is one single employee working in the SEC in Morwell. When the state government unveiled its plan to revive the SEC prior to the 2022 election, the former Premier promised the SEC would be brought back to Morwell and create some 59,000 jobs. Eighteen months since this announcement, what has been delivered is an absolute farce: one single employee working for the SEC in a pre-existing GovHub. Labor used the SEC as a dangling carrot for the Latrobe Valley, promising thousands of jobs for a region that desperately needs them – a region relying on the state government to lead it through the impending closure of the coal-fired power industry. Hazelwood shut in 2017, the timber industry has been shut and so has the white paper mill at Maryvale. Yallourn is set to close in 2028, Loy Yang ‍A is closing in 2032 and Loy Yang B will close later that decade. All of these closures will amount to the loss of thousands of jobs in the Latrobe Valley, yet there is no indication the state government has any concrete plan to help the region transition.

All we have been given is a glossy brochure from the Latrobe Valley Authority devoid of any action, deliverables or timelines. Now the LVA, which is meant to help the region transition, will be shut in six months. Jobs growth in the Latrobe Valley over the past 10 years has been the equivalent of just 0.47 per cent on an annual basis, while jobs in Wodonga have grown 2.7 per cent and jobs in Geelong have grown 3.4 per cent. The illusory promise that a revived SEC would create 59,000 jobs reeks of the government weaponising a very real issue in a disgraceful grab for votes. The state government must explain why there is one single employee working in the SEC in Morwell in an already existing office when thousands of jobs were promised and we were led to believe Morwell would be the centre of the job boom. The time is now for the state government to deliver on its promise to create and deliver jobs for the Latrobe Valley instead of making hollow promises and turning its back on the region that has powered Victoria for a century.