2025-04-15
The Greens are the only party with a plan to protect the futures of Queensland’s coal and gas communities, with the announcement of a financial support package for workers impacted by the energy transition.
The Job-for-Job Guarantee package will provide 50% of a coal or gas worker's wage for a decade, provided as a wage subsidy to employers who provide an equivalent paying job. Workers over 55 will be able to receive the wage subsidy for up to 12 years as they transition to retirement. Workers who cannot find alternative work can receive the subsidy directly.
Under the Greens plan, these wage subsidies would be put in place for eligible thermal coal mine workers and domestic coal generation workers from 1 July 2025, and for eligible metallurgical coal and gas workers from 1 July 2030.
A generous financial support package to support coal workers moving to new industries was a central component of the successful strategy employed by Germany to phase out their coal industry without a single worker losing their job.
Comments attributable to Gladstone-based Greens spokesperson on Energy Transition, Senator Penny Allman-Payne:
“Labor and the LNP are lying to regional communities like mine about the future of coal and gas jobs.
“The energy transition is happening and the writing is on the wall for fossil fuels. That’s why we should be talking to coal and gas workers about their futures, rather than misleading them.
“We owe coal and gas workers a debt of thanks for powering our country. They know they’re going to get screwed over by coal and gas corporations; they just want a clear pathway that will ensure their financial security and keep their communities in place.
“We don’t need to choose between taking urgent climate action and supporting coal communities. We can and must do both.
“The Greens job-for-job guarantee program will secure new jobs for coal and gas workers, including in mining and energy, without loss of pay.
“No worker should suffer the anxiety and financial insecurity that comes from suddenly losing their job. With a planned transition, we can assure workers that they will continue in gainful employment until retirement, and that their children will have jobs in the region that they love, long after the coal and gas mines and plants have closed.
“Queenslanders can’t keep voting for the same two parties and expecting a different result. Change takes time, but it starts with voting for a party that will fight for you, not for the profits of the coal and gas industry.
“Unlike Labor and the LNP the Greens aren’t funded by big corporations so we’re not afraid to make them cough up their share of tax so that we can pay for the things that we all deserve: dental into Medicare, seeing the GP for free, truly free public education, affordable housing and a managed energy transition that leaves no coal and gas worker behind.”