Public money for renewables should come with strings attached: report
Centre for Future Work Media Release
The Australian Government should leverage its position as financier of renewable energy projects to guarantee strong labour standards in new energy and manufacturing jobs, according to a new report by the Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work.
According to the report, ‘Strings Attached: How Industry Policy Could Strengthen Labour Standards Through Australia’s Renewable Energy Transition,’ The Australian Government should:
- Extend the Secure Australian Jobs Code beyond procurement to apply to all renewable energy developers and to new manufacturing facilities receiving Commonwealth subsidies and incentives
- Extend the Australian Skills Guarantee program to publicly funded renewable projects
- Implement limits on minimum and maximum pay, and strong health and safety protections
“Jobs in renewable energy jobs can and should be quality jobs that genuinely support families and communities,” said report author Charlie Joyce.
“Unfortunately, too many of the jobs being created in sustainable energy and manufacturing industries are insecure, temporary, and do not provide adequate training opportunities. That undermines the development of the stable, top-quality workforce that these industries will need in the future.”
“The Australian Government needs to do a much better job of leveraging its position as funder to require subsidized projects to do the right thing by employees.
“Using public money to fund the net zero transition makes sense, but public money ought to come with strings attached. Mandating the provision of quality Australian jobs is a fantastic opportunity to strengthen the social license of renewable projects, especially in regional areas where unemployment is a real issue.
“The great news is the templates for what the government needs to do already exist. In many cases all that needs to happen is to port existing schemes across to the renewable sector. The Secure Australian Jobs Code, for example, should be expanded to renewable energy projects, and the Australian Skills Guarantee program likewise.
“The transition to net zero is obviously a win for the environment, but it can and should be a win for Australian workers too.”
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6 comments
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Steve Davis
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Harry Lime
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Steve Davis
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Peter Gumley
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Clakka
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Steve Davis
Return to home pageGreat report, and great suggestions.
My only worry is that the Centre For Future Work felt the need to include a suggestion for “strong health and safety protections.”
We already have that with pretty effective workplace health and safety Acts across the country, although these things can always be improved.
The problem is that we do not ensure compliance with the Acts.
There needs to be more frequent prosecutions and possibly harsher penalties, although more prosecutions would probably be enough.
Pink batts fiasco?
Silica dust fiasco?
Where was the monitoring?
I can’t wait for Labor to assume government,then we’ll really see some action,…won’t we?
Nice one Harry.
Yes, Labor was in power for the batts fiasco, and I assume both sides were responsible for the silica dust as it dragged on for years. My guess is that the decision to ban silica products was a cop-out to avoid WH&S obligations.
I’m pretty sure there’s safe ways to handle silica based products, but then it’s a while since I was involved in WH&S.
A bigger fiasco that has the aroma of corruption is the fact that both state and federal governments collectively contributed $11.5b of taxpayer funds in subsidies (year 2022-23) to the fossil fuel extractive industries. So, in effect, the state and federal political parties receive taxpayers funds (donations) from the fossil fuel industries. A nice little self-generating cycle that nobody complains about. Added to this we have Australia as being the world’s biggest exporter of natural gas products whilst citizens in the eastern seaboard pay an exorbitant price for domestic gas supplies – the price apparently due to “market forces” and availability of product. What…?
Guess which industry is a leading donor to political parties in Australia? Guess which industry is dominated by foreign interests that pay little tax in Australia? Do our politicians have no sense of national sovereignty when it comes to natural assets??
Yeah, good article.
And indeed SD, the WH&S Act and its subordinates and regulations are excellent.
It’s a pity parliament and MPs slither outside their control, God only knows why. If they applied there and to them, many would be ousted and quite a few behind bars.
Like for ASIC, the LNP seriously defunded and emasculated the various WH&S Authorities, on top of botching and allowing gouging by the associated insurance regimes.
Labor has been slow to bring them back to full, quality and efficient, effective service. Especially in light of the rapid increase in cowboys in the building construction industry.
Yet another task to be added to the list.
Yes Clakka, I’d forgotten about the construction industry.
We spend too much on defending the country from imaginary enemies.
No cost is too great for that nonsense.
There’s more than enough available to spend on WH&S and monitoring construction sites.
And while I’m having a whinge, re-funding of the CSIRO would not be a bad idea.
We used to be at the cutting edge of science and technology research.
Free market dogma has a lot to answer for.