00:00 Well, there has been mixed reaction to this news this morning from the New South Wales
00:05 government and Origin Energy that the Araring Power Station, the largest coal-fired power
00:11 plant in Australia, would remain open for an additional two years to August 2027.
00:18 Local environmental advocates here in the Hunter Valley and Lake Macquarie regions of
00:22 New South Wales have said they are disappointed at this news, saying that it's going to have
00:27 a big impact on climate change and they've said that it goes against plans from both
00:33 the state government and the federal government to wind back on fossil fuels energy and move
00:39 towards renewable energy.
00:41 But here on the ground this morning at the Araring Coal-Fired Power Station, many workers
00:46 here and other staff have welcomed the news, a lot of them obviously waiting for certainty
00:51 on what was coming next.
00:53 And the Mining and Energy Union have welcomed this news, saying that it gives workers here
00:59 a little bit more time to plan on what they will do after the power station closes.
01:05 We think that it gives people working at the power station a little bit more time with
01:09 respect to security of employment, but importantly it gives us the ability to put in place through
01:15 the Net Zero Hour Authority moves and some transition arrangements that will protect
01:20 workers and give them the ability to transition into alternative employment into the future.
01:25 Robyn Williams there from the Mining and Energy Union.
01:29 Well the staff and management here at Origin Energy and the Araring Power Plant, they've
01:33 said that this is a bit of a reward for the current staff who have had some months and
01:38 even years of uncertainty and seeing the original closure date that was in 2025 move closer
01:46 and closer.
01:47 So they've said today that a lot of workers here quite relieved at the news from the government.
01:51 I do want to say how proud I am of the people at site.
01:55 They've been going through a number of years of uncertainty now, their performance has
01:59 been outstanding, so that's very good.
02:02 And this announcement today provides two years of certainty, not only for our employees but
02:07 our suppliers and our customers, so that's received very well.
02:11 So of course there are targets in place at a federal level for reducing emissions that
02:16 come from power plants like the Araring Coal Fired Plant.
02:20 So the Australian government has committed to net zero by 2050 and there are also targets
02:25 in place for 2030 to reduce the emissions and bring online transmission and more renewable
02:33 energy infrastructure to the grid.
02:35 So this morning Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen said that those targets are still the
02:39 goal at a national level, but it is going to be required that some of these power generators
02:45 like Araring will remain online for a little bit longer while renewable infrastructure
02:50 is built.
02:51 You're going to see coal fired power stations closures announced, you're going to see sometimes
02:55 closures brought forward, sometimes them delayed.
02:58 This is not a delay, some people expected all four units to be delayed by five years,
03:02 that hasn't happened.
03:03 Two units by two years I think strikes a reasonable balance.
03:07 Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen there.
03:09 Well across the board though this morning here in the Hunter and Lake Macquarie it has
03:13 been a mixed bag of reactions to the news that the largest coal fired power station
03:18 in the country, the Araring Power Station, will remain operational until August 2027.
03:23 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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