Getting off Coal and Gas
It's time to get Victoria off coal and gas.
Coal and gas are the leading causes of the climate crisis.
Yet the Labor Government in Victoria has used public money to keep coal stations running for longer, and is opening up new gas drilling, including near the 12 Apostles.
The Greens have a plan to rapidly move Victoria beyond coal and gas, while creating jobs and supporting workers and the Latrobe Valley community as we repower Victoria with 100% renewable energy.
The Greens' plan includes:
- An immediate ban on any new coal, oil and gas projects, including gas drilling in Victoria’s oceans, and seismic blasting, which deafens whales.
- A plan to get 1 million Victoria homes off gas.
- Reducing Victoria's greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2030 and reaching net zero by 2035 or sooner.
- New laws to ensure the orderly phase-out of Victoria’s remaining coal plants by 2030, and a guaranteed job for all Victoria’s coal and gas workers.
- Increasing Victoria's legislated renewable energy target to 100%.
- Creation of an independent and properly funded Latrobe Valley Authority to oversee the transition away from coal and the economic revival of the Latrobe Valley region. The Authority will establish an offshore wind centre of excellence, a renewables workforce training centre and will pioneer world leading coal mine rehabilitation and land restoration.
- Tough new coal pollution standards to protect the health of people in the Latrobe Valley.
- Ending government support for the CarbonNet project, which is investigating the failed technology of carbon capture and storage.
- Making fossil fuel corporations pay their fair share of state taxes by ending land tax exemptions for mines in the Latrobe Valley.
A BIG BUILD OF RENEWABLE ENERGY AND STORAGE
Power Victoria with 100% renewable electricity by 2030
The Victorian Greens have successfully pushed Labor to build more renewable energy. But we are still lagging behind other states and what climate science demands.
Victoria gets 70% of our electricity from coal, and 2 million homes are hooked up to gas.
We need to go a lot faster in building new renewable energy and storage to replace these fossil fuels.
The good news is that a big build of renewable energy for a 100% renewable Victoria will create more than 50,000 new jobs and every household will save money on their energy bills.
We also need to bring energy back into public hands, to reverse the damage done by privatisation and ensure power is for the good of all of us, not private profit.
The Greens' plan includes:
- Increasing Victoria’s Renewable Energy Target to 100% by 2030.
- Investing $10 billion to build new renewable energy, including publicly-owned renewable energy for the benefit of all Victorians.
- Legislating a 3 gigawatt target for building offshore wind by 2030, and allocating funding to the Latrobe Valley Authority to develop Victoria’s offshore wind workforce.
- Facilitating more large-scale storage of renewable energy – including pumped hydro and big batteries, and expanding neighbourhood batteries and local micro-grids.
- A grants program for First Nations groups to build renewable energy enterprises
- Solar and batteries for public housing, and ensuring renters and people in apartments can access solar through ‘solar gardens’.
- Establishing Power Victoria, a new agency to bring our power system back into public hands and ensure it’s run for the public good, not private profit. This would include establishing a budget neutral public energy retailer to provide cost-price electricity to all Victorians, and a process to prioritise the return of energy infrastructure (‘poles and wires’) to public hands.
CLIMATE-FRIENDLY TRANSPORT REVOLUTION
Victoria needs to cut transport emissions
Transport is Victoria’s fastest growing source of climate emissions, producing around 20% of the state’s total emissions.
While governments around the world are lowering the cost of electric vehicles by thousands of dollars, the Victorian Labor Government has put a new tax on electric vehicles, making them even more expensive.
To tackle the climate crisis, Victoria needs to invest in public transport, more bike lanes and better footpaths. We also need to help people rapidly shift from polluting petrol cars to cleaner electric vehicles.
The Greens' plan includes:
- More frequent and high quality public transport services.
- More funding for separated bike lanes, safer footpaths and pedestrian crossings.
- Making electric vehicles more affordable and installing more charging stations, including up to $15,000 to replace on old petrol car with an electric vehicle and a grant scheme to connect homes to electric vehicles.
- Powering our public transport network and our cars with clean renewable energy and powering our homes with batteries on wheels (electric vehicles).
Revive manufacturing
Revive manufacturing in Victoria, powered by 100% renewable energy
Victoria was once the manufacturing power-house of Australia. Industries like smelting, brick manufacturing, car manufacturing and food production created jobs and helped to drive Australia’s economy.
Yet in the last two decades, electricity and gas companies have hiked prices and many manufacturers have abandoned Victoria, taking jobs with them.
Now, as we replace coal and gas with cheap, renewable energy, Victoria has a huge opportunity.
We can bring manufacturing back to Victoria, this time powered by cheap, abundant renewable energy.
The Greens plan includes:
- A revamped and properly funded Latrobe Valley Authority whose functions include expanding clean manufacturing as Victoria transitions away from coal.
- Buying the Portland Aluminium smelter and repowering it with renewable energy to showcase clean smelting and also operate the smelter as a publicly-owned ‘reverse battery’ to help release energy into Victoria’s grid when we need it most.
- Building three publicly-owned solar panel manufacturing and recycling factories in strategic locations across Victoria.
- $190 million in grants for businesses to switch from gas to renewables and help balance the grid as a network of ‘virtual power-plants’.
Livable, climate-safe homes
Efficient electric homes are cheap to run, comfy and good for the climate
So much of Victoria’s housing is not fit for our climate. Our homes often feel like glorified tents: freezing in winter and boiling in summer, forcing us to waste a lot of money and energy on heating and cooling.
Fixing our homes and making them all-electric by removing gas will save us money and make a big dent in Victoria’s emissions.
The Greens’ plan includes:
- A plan to get 1 million homes off gas over six years with financial incentives for households to replace polluting gas, hot water, heating and cooking with efficient electric appliances.
- Increasing the minimum energy efficiency rules for new homes to 8 stars and mandatory display of ‘home energy ratings’ when putting up a home for sale or rent.
- Mandating and enforcing strong minimum energy efficiency standards for rental homes.
PROTECT NATURE AND CARE FOR COUNTRY
We can only solve the climate crisis when we also Care for Country
To return us to a safe climate, it’s not enough to stop burning coal, oil and gas. We also need working ecosystems – forests, wetlands and grasslands – to pull climate pollution out of the atmosphere.
People depend on a healthy environment to thrive, yet in Victoria we are facing an extinction crisis and many of our ecosystems are on the brink of collapse.
This cannot continue. It’s vital for Victoria to prioritise nature, for a safe climate and a prosperous future.
The Greens' plan includes:
- A $1 billion per year, Zero Extinction Fund to protect and restore our degraded forests, grasslands, rivers and wetlands to store carbon and ensure no more species go extinct in Victoria.
- Centre First Nations people in decision making about caring for Country on public land.
- Create a $15 million Victorian Centre for Regenerative Agriculture to research and promote regen agriculture as a way to support farmers to reduce emissions, restore land and improve yield.
- Establish a ‘land restoration industry’ in Victoria to drive the recovery of our landscapes while creating new jobs and opportunities (just like they have in the United States), starting with $500,000 to develop the strategy.
PREPARING FOR CLIMATE DISASTERS
Supporting communities facing climate disasters
The climate crisis is here now. Fires and floods are becoming more frequent, and communities are being left behind.
We need to build critical infrastructure and upgrade our homes to keep people safe as we face the impacts of successive governments not taking action on climate.
The Greens' plan includes:
- Expanding funding for Victoria’s SES to respond to increasing climate disasters, via a comprehensive investigation of funding and capability.
- Changes to planning laws so new homes and suburbs are green and climate resilient.
- Requiring more green space and trees in new developments, to reduce urban heat.
- Increasing the minimum energy efficiency rules for new homes to 8 stars, and enforcing energy efficiency standards for rental homes so people are safe during extreme weather events.
STOP DODGY FOSSIL FUEL DEALS
Politicians should represent us, not big corporations
Coal and gas corporations and billionaires are polluting our air and water, and fuelling the climate crisis.
In 2021, Labor made a secret financial deal to extend the life of Yallourn, Australia’s most polluting coal plant.
It’s time for Victoria to stop bankrolling fossil fuel corporations and billionaires, and instead spend public money on school, hospitals, housing and repowering our state with renewable energy.
The Greens plan includes:
- Ban all donations from fossil fuels companies to political parties and candidates at state, federal and local government level.
- Stop the subsidies to big coal, oil and gas corporations, including the secret deal to extend the life of the Yallourn coal plant, CarbonNet’s failing carbon capture and storage project, and a publicly funded project to make the world’s most polluting hydrogen from brown coal.
- Publish a register of meetings between ministers and mining and other lobbyists to improve transparency and shine a light on dodgy deals.
- Stop ministers and advisers from working for the fossil fuel industry within five years of leaving parliament.
- Doubling royalties for fossil fuel corporations.
HOW WE'LL PAY FOR OUR POLICIES
- Making big corporations pay their fair share
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The Greens will make the big banks, property developers and the gambling industry pay their fair share of tax so we can invest in climate action, affordable housing and public services for all.
Our plans will also be paid for by spending smarter and making our state borrowings work for the community.
Together, we’re powerful.
With more Greens in parliament, we can tackle the climate crisis, make housing affordable and hold the major parties to account.