End Coal and Gas
The major parties have failed us on climate change.
Labor in Victoria has opened 5 new fossil fuel projects in the last year, even drilling near the iconic 12 Apostles. The Liberals and One Nation are no better: they want even more coal, gas and logging.
Opening new fossil fuels makes climate change worse and we all pay for it, with higher energy and insurance bills, more fires, floods and drought.
The Greens are the only ones taking climate change seriously, because we're the only ones not funded by the fossil fuel companies causing climate collapse.
We'll replace Labor's coal and gas with cheaper, publicly-owned renewables to permanently cut your energy bills and climate pollution, end logging for good, ban gas drilling in Victoria's oceans, and invest in protecting our wildlife and nature.
Our plan
- End coal & gas, build renewables
- Stop rip-off energy bills, bring energy back into public hands
- Moratorium on AI data centres
- Stronger protection for forests & habitat
Explore our plan to end Coal and Gas
- End coal & gas, build renewables
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The Greens will:
- Ban oil and gas drilling in our oceans, including stopping Labor’s drilling near the 12 Apostles, and stop Viva’s gas import terminal.
- Ensure Yallourn’s four coal-burning units close as planned in 2028, and switch off individual units at Loy Yang A earlier than planned, as more renewables come online, before its scheduled closure in 2035, ensuring we get more renewable energy online earlier.
- Undertake a massive build of publicly owned renewable energy, with an extra $2 billion for the State Electricity Commission, including putting solar panels on schools, public housing estates and government buildings, ensuring the savings go back to the public, not into corporate profits. And we'll include a publicly-owned energy retailer in the SEC, cutting out corporate profit so ordinary Victorians can access cheaper energy.
- Get more renewable energy online faster by fast-tracking planning approvals for wind farms and transmission lines, in contrast to the Liberals, Nationals and One Nation who want to rip up renewable energy infrastructure, and Labor who wants to delay it.
- Ban donations from fossil fuel corporations to politicians. We’ll make coal and gas corporations pay their fair share by doubling royalties, as well as ending subsidies and tax exemptions for fossil fuel projects, so that money can be spent on our communities.
- Make big polluting corporations fund clean-up for communities hit by climate disasters, and legislate to make gas companies pay to clean up the mess they leave behind in our oceans.
- Make polluters pay by legislating to enable everyday people who have been affected by climate disasters to sue the the coal and gas companies who caused them.
- Establish a $1 billion climate adaptation and mitigation seed fund, for communities impacted by climate disasters.
- Ban oil and gas drilling in our oceans, including stopping Labor’s drilling near the 12 Apostles, and stop Viva’s gas import terminal.
- Stop rip-off energy bills, bring energy back into public hands
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For decades, Labor and the Liberals have let private coal and gas corporations rip us off on our bills.
Our energy system was publicly-owned until it was sold off in the 1990s. Since then, power bills have skyrocketed while fossil fuel companies rake in profits and lobby to block climate action.
The Greens will bring down bills by cutting out corporate profit and returning our energy system to public hands, where it belongs.
The Greens will:
- Invest in a big build of publicly-owned renewables, investing $2 billion extra into the State Electricity Commission to put publicly-owned solar on schools, public housing and government buildings so savings go back to Victorians, not corporate shareholders.
- Establish a public energy retailer within the State Electricity Commission, so ordinary Victorians can access cheaper energy. This will cut out corporate profit to bring down your bills.
- Legislate to stop essential services ever being sold off again.
- Introduce a $3000 Greens Power voucher for renters and homeowners, to spend on solar, batteries, insulation, efficient electric hot water, reverse-cycle air conditioning, induction cooktops and draught-proofing
- Fast-track plug-in balcony solar for renters and apartments, deliver free energy assessments for renters, and offer up to $3,000 off electric cars, e-bikes and two-way chargers.
- The Greens will invest $500 million in this plan to lower energy bills through Greens Power vouchers, rebates on electric vehicles and free energy assessments for renters.
We’ll pay for our plans by doubling royalties on coal and gas companies, and making big banks and gambling corporations pay their fair share of tax.
- Invest in a big build of publicly-owned renewables, investing $2 billion extra into the State Electricity Commission to put publicly-owned solar on schools, public housing and government buildings so savings go back to Victorians, not corporate shareholders.
- Moratorium on AI data centres
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Labor has rolled out the red carpet for big overseas tech corporations to build hyperscale AI data centres across Victoria.
AI data centres have a massive environmental footprint. They're noisy, energy-guzzling industrial monsters that use huge amounts of water. And they'll keep Victoria hooked on coal and gas for longer.
Labor puts Big Tech profits ahead of our communities. They're fast-tracking these AI data centres on land meant for housing, and right near people’s homes. And they're putting our environment, First Nations cultural heritage, and Victoria's renewable energy targets at risk.
We shouldn’t let tech billionaires decide what gets built in our communities. Victorians deserve a say.
The Greens are calling for a moratorium on all new AI data centres, until we have laws that protect our communities and environment.
We'll also make tech corporations compensate residents who are already living with the damage that data centres cause.
- Stronger protection for forests & habitat
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A healthy environment isn't just a nice-to-have.
Clean air, fresh water, functioning ecosystems – these are the foundations of our health, our food, our economy, our culture. For First Nations peoples, Country is not a backdrop to life. It is life.
But Labor is treating nature and wildlife as something to be pillaged and destroyed for short-term profit. Over the last four years, Labor has slashed funding for nature protection, and backtracked on promises to create new national parks and fix our wildlife laws. The Liberals and One Nation want to go even further in destroying the environment we all rely on.
We need a fundamental shift in how our government values and invests in nature.
The Greens will:
- Reverse Labor’s cuts and invest significantly more in environment funding and workforce. Restructure the Department to put nature and First Nations knowledge first, ahead of corporate profit.
- Fix Victoria’s wildlife laws to protect animals and habitat.
- End duck shooting.
- Close Labor’s loopholes in our anti-logging laws, and protect Victoria’s native forests for good in new national parks and reserves, with Traditional Owner rights and management front-and-centre.