Councils have welcomed the federal government’s announcement of a legislated Net Zero authority, saying it will provide crucial support to local communities during the transition to a low carbon emissions economy.

The new authority will work with local, state and territory governments, regional bodies, unions, industry, investors, First Nations people and other stakeholders, the government says. 

Queensland’s peak body for local government, LGAQ, voted to advocate for a transformation authority at last year’s Annual Conference.

On Friday, the association’s CEO Alison Smith said the announcement recognised the need for councils and communities to be involved in creating a roadmap towards net zero.
 
“The effective management of this change is critical – principally for coal mining regions but also for all local government areas that supply or rely on the economic output of coal mining, as well as heavily coal reliant industrial regions,” she said.
  

Cr Smith said without a responsible authority with a clear mandate and statutory powers to manage change, many communities would be left fighting for the existence as mining ended and global climate change responses kicked in.  

“.. it is welcome news today to see a legislated authority that will include councils and local communities in the coordination and implementation of transformation actions, with locally led place-based solutions.

LGAQ CEO Alison Smith

“So it is welcome news today to see a legislated authority that will include councils and local communities in the coordination and implementation of transformation actions, with locally led place-based solutions key to enhancing the social and economic sustainability of every local community, with a particular focus on those communities that will be most deeply impacted,” she said.

“We look forward to working with the federal government to help ensure this authority delivers the coordinated response local communities need.”

Executive agency to advise on design

Work to create the authority will begin with the establishment of an executive agency within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet from July 1, the government says.

The new agency will advise the government on the final design and establishment of the national Net Zero Authority.

The Net Zero Authority will:

• Support workers in emissions-intensive sectors to access new employment, skills and support
• Coordinate programs and policies across government to help regions and communities attract new clean energy industries
• Help investors and companies to engage with net zero transformation opportunities

Funding for the announcement, foreshadowed during Labor’s election campaign, is expected to be detailed in Tuesday’s federal budget.

One stop shop

The new authority will function as a “one-stop shop for workers who are thinking about the transformation and how they prepare for the jobs of the future,” climate change and energy minister Chris Bowen told reporters in Muswellbrook in the NSW Hunter region last Friday.

Mr Bowen joined Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers at the site of the now shut down Liddell coal fired power station to make the announcement.

Mr Bowen said the authority will help communities attract new clean energy industries and support investors.

Regions with mines and coal-fired generators like the NSW Hunter Valley, Victoria’s Latrobe Valley, central Queensland, and Collie in Western Australia would be a priority, the minister said.

The government has also announced a new $400 million funding stream administered by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, to support decarbonisation initiatives in the regions.

“We know it’s in the nation’s interest for Australian industries in the regions to be investing in decarbonising and therefore it is in the interests of the government to help,” Mr Bowen said.

New jobs, investment, industries for regions

The ACTU has also welcomed the announcement, saying it will ensure workers in emissions-intensive industries will be fully supported with transition plans to provide access to jobs in new industries.

The authority will also create new opportunities in Australia’s energy regions by creating new jobs, facilitating investment, developing new industries, and supporting ‘place-based economic diversification’, ACTU president Michele O’Neil said.

“The National Net Zero Authority creates a sturdy bridge for workers, their families and communities to a clean energy future,” Ms O’Neil said in statement.

Renewable energy initiatives

Mr Chalmers has indicated there will be more to come on renewable energy when he hands down the federal budget on Tuesday night.

Speaking to the Nine Network on Sunday, the Treasurer said important trade partners like the US have been making major investments in cleaner and cheaper energy, and and Australia was doing the same.

“We’ll see that in the Budget,” he said. “I’ll have more to say about that on Tuesday night. But we’ve said that cleaner and cheaper energy is the central part of our plans to grow the economy into the future. We want to be beneficiaries, not victims of what the Americans are doing, and that’s within our reach.

“Whether it’s the Net Zero Transformation Authority that Chris Bowen announced, whether it’s all of these other policies … we’ve got to maximise our industrial and economic opportunities from this transformation.

“I think Australia can be a renewable energy superpower and that will be central to our prospects in the decades ahead.”