THE register of Australia's Commonwealth organisations has 1334 entries. It is a serious list, everything from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet to the Bureau of Meteorology and the Australian Heritage Council.
There are 35 federal authorities in the register, like the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, the National Blood Authority and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. Oh, and the High Speed Rail Authority - a story for another time.
Soon there will be one more, the Net Zero Economy Authority (NZEA), with expectations the Senate will pass the required legislation shortly.
The NZEA is much awaited, promised by Labor at the May 2022 election as the vehicle to steer Australia's fossil fuel regions out of coal and coal-fired power stations and into long-term, sustainable economic alternatives. It's for us, right? So we should be excited, right?
Having read the parliamentary debates over the NZEA bills I'm not so sure. The bills were introduced into parliament on March 27 this year, by assistant minister, Patrick Gorman, MP for Perth. The absence of a senior Labor minister signalled the bill's low priority. Minister Gorman explained the three themes of the bill: protect workers from the worst effects of redundancy, help Australia become a renewable energy superpower, and support communities in their transition out of coal economies.
By the time of the federal budget, on May 14, the bill seemed an orphan, undebated.
But the budget delivered handsomely, at least for the bureaucratic tasks of NZEA.
Over $50 million annually will be available to support NZEA's administrative costs, which will pay for a pretty decent Canberra office and fill it with dutiful public servants. A further $35 million annually is budgeted for support of displaced workers and $11 million annually for an energy industry jobs plan.
Debate on the bill commenced on May 28, with lively discussion over two days. The line-up of speakers was telling. Labor MPs from inner metropolitan seats queued to display their support for net zero initiatives. Greens MPs, from neighbouring inner metropolitan seats, criticised the bill for its failure to arrest Australia's ongoing investments in coal and gas extraction. Teal independent MPs, representing the remaining inner metropolitan seats, argued for more transition assistance to affected communities. Coalition MPs, most from the regions, seemed upset that the new authority is to have power and resources to ensure orderly power station closures.
Outnumbered, MPs speaking from fossil fuel regions made the case for a tenacious NZEA. Alison Byrnes (MP for Cunningham) spoke about the challenges facing workers and communities in the Illawarra. Susan Templeman (MP for Macquarie) spoke similarly about the Lithgow district, Libby Coker (MP for Corangamite) about Geelong, and Josh Wilson (MP Fremantle) about southwest Western Australia. For the Hunter, the good fight was pressed by minister Pat Conroy (MP for Shortland) and Sharon Claydon (MP for Newcastle).
Sadly, Labor members for the two most affected electorates in our region - Dan Repacholi, MP for Hunter, and Meryl Swanson, MP for Paterson - didn't speak in the debate. These two electorates were home in 2021 at the census to around 9000 coal miners and 300 power station workers. There is much to do to ensure a just transition in their communities. A voice in key parliamentary debates is a must.
So what is next? Hunter MPs, all four of them, need to ensure the NZEA is more than a bureau of paper shufflers, as predicted by the Coalition. Hunter MPs need to ensure the costs of ending fossil fuel extraction and burning don't fall on the few.
They need to kick start the process of environmental restoration and community regeneration. And they need to insist on stable jobs with good pay packets well into the future. Neglected, absent of political pressure, NZEA might be an episode of Utopia. But the NZEA can be otherwise, an opportunity grabbed by a foursome of Labor MPs, fired up by the opportunities available from transitioning out of coal, fuelled by local knowledge and ideas, desperate for the nation's newest authority to deliver.
