[Greens-Media] 200 green jobs axed as NSW flounders in dead-end economy

[John Kaye]

200 green jobs axed as NSW flounders in dead-end economy
 
Media release: 18 November 2008
 
News that renewable energy manufacturer BP Solar is closing its Sydney
plant is yet another example of the Rees government squandering
opportunities to future-proof the state’s economy, according to Greens
NSW MP John Kaye.
 
Dr Kaye said: "This is a tragedy not just for the 200 workers who will
lose their jobs, but for the state’s economic and environmental future.
 
"Finance and Infrastructure Minister Joe Tripodi and Energy Minister
Ian Macdonald should be doing everything within their power to attract,
develop and grow renewable energy jobs in NSW.
 
"These are the jobs that will drive the inevitable low-carbon economy
of the future.
 
"Instead Ministers Tripodi and Macdonald are stuck in last century’s
mindset entertaining the laughable proposition that we can continue as
business as usual with carbon intensive electricity generation.  
 
"NSW should be a global centre for manufacturing renewable energy
infrastructure, yet the state will now be missing out on a share of the
$1.5 billion BP Solar is investing globally because the Rees government
doesn’t grasp that coal is a dead end energy source.
 
"Global leaders from UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon to UK Prime
Minister Gordon Brown, French President Nicholas Sarkozy and US
President-Elect Barack Obama have publicly stated that the future for
all economies is about developing renewable energy infrastructure. 
 
"The renewable energy manufacturing sector needs the support of the
Rees government to develop the economies of scale to compete
internationally and meet future growing demand.
 
"A University of Newcastle study has shown that 73,800 jobs can be
created if we get policy right on efficiency and renewable energy.
 
"Solutions to the future energy needs of NSW are being hobbled by the
Rees government’s obsession with electricity privatisation and propping
up coal-fired power stations rather than managing the transition to the
environmentally sustainable electricity supplies of the future," Dr Kaye
said.
 
For more information: John Kaye 0407 195 455