Mr GREG PIPER (Lake Macquarie) (18:38): Earlier this year the Lake Macquarie community was beset with fear and confusion as Myuna Colliery, a major local employer, faced an uncertain future. The mine's supply contract with Eraring Power Station was set to end this year, which would have resulted in the mine's closure. Centennial Coal, the owner of the colliery, and Origin Energy, which runs Eraring Power Station, ultimately reached a deal for the supply of coal until the scheduled retirement of the power station. That situation demonstrated that we need to start planning immediately for a future beyond coal. The move towards net zero in Australia and beyond has a human cost to workers and communities. Unfortunately, the rate of change is outpacing our planning. There is a real risk that regional workers, businesses and communities will get left behind if we do not approach the shift with a greater sense of urgency.
As I have said in this House and to the Minister, businesses and my community, we need to see meaningful efforts to plan for the economic future of our coal regions, and quickly. The Future Jobs and Investment Bill 2025 would set up a framework to support that economic transition, including by facilitating strategic planning around land use and economic diversification, as well as workforce planning. The bill was debated and passed by this House, with my amendments, the day after I reflected in this House on the deal between Myuna Colliery and Eraring Power Station and called for urgent action on transition planning. During debate, members from the Government, the Opposition, The Greens and the Independent crossbench all voiced strong support for a just transition. Despite that apparent agreement and the seemingly obvious need for action, the Future Jobs and Investment Bill 2025 remains stranded in the Legislative Council.
It is wrong that such a significant bill is languishing in legislative no-man's-land rather than being passed as a priority. It is irresponsible to put off the economic transformation of our regional economies. In Lake Macquarie, we are keenly aware that Eraring Power Station and Myuna Colliery will close in 2029. To state what is abundantly obvious, 2029 is only 2½ years away. It appears almost inevitable that we will see job losses in Lake Macquarie as people lose high-paying jobs close to home and must find employment elsewhere. We need to know what skills workers have, where they can be applied, what retraining they need to remain employable, and what can be done to attract new investment and industries to the area. Money needs to be spent on skills mapping, training programs, infrastructure and post-mining land use planning.
The Future Jobs and Investment Authority, which the bill would establish, is set to lead that type of work. But before that work can start, the bill needs to be passed in Parliament. Speaking plainly, political games in Macquarie Street should not be allowed to undermine the future of regional New South Wales. The State, which has secured $9.3 billion in coalmining royalties from the Hunter alone since 2023, will benefit only if we can diversify our regional economy and continue to flourish. Of course, the same goes for the Central West, Illawarra and North West coal regions. If we want a real shot at successfully weathering the enormous economic shift that the energy transition will bring to our regions, we need the bill to pass Parliament as soon as possible.
I call on those standing in the way of its progress to stop playing games. Stop clouding the future of workers who want to know what their next step is, so they can plan where they will send their kids to school and how they will pay their mortgages. Stop gambling with the future of small regional businesses, which need to plan for the cascading impacts of mine closures. Stop standing in the way of a framework that gives our communities the chance to consult on their region's very future. In short, get out of the way so we can plan for the future of coal regions. The Future Jobs and Investment Bill 2025 should be passed as a priority so that the Government—together with local communities, experts and businesses—can work to ensure that the communities that have powered our State for generations can thrive into the future. One party in the Legislative Council needs to take that mature approach if it ever wishes to be taken seriously as a future government, and that is the Coalition. I call on the Coalition to step up and get the bill passed.