A paid year cleaning up the mess. A job at the end of it.
When the state sold the coal stations around Lake Macquarie and the Hunter, it kept the bill for decades of pollution, and your tax dollars pay it.
What's going on
For decades, the coal stations around Lake Macquarie and the Hunter polluted the towns that hosted them. When the state sold them, it kept the bill for the mess they'd already made. The switch to clean energy is happening, with regional households at the front of it. But the jobs cleaning up are hard to get into.
By the numbers
Who pays
The kid on the Central Coast with asthma, and the parent up with them at night.
The taxpayer, who covers the hospital visits and the clean-up of land the state kept the bill for.
Communities like Muswellbrook and Lake Macquarie, which hosted the power stations for decades.
The 20-year-old who can't get a start in clean energy without a qualification, connections or a year of unpaid work.
What I'll do
- 01
A paid year for young people.
A twelve-month job for anyone in NSW aged 18 to 30, with no qualifications needed. Paid at least the adult minimum wage, full time, with super and full workplace protections.
- 02
Put them where the mess is.
Cleaning up damaged land and waterways, helping licensed electricians fit solar, batteries and energy upgrades in social housing, and getting towns ready for floods and fires with councils and emergency services volunteers.
- 03
Qualifications that go with you.
Everyone finishes with a nationally recognised certificate and a start on the qualifications their field needs. I'll work with universities so the year counts towards a degree.
- 04
A job at the end.
Employers sponsor places and get first look at hiring the people who finish.
What it costs
About 33 university students a year get the state's paid clean energy internships, for a few weeks of work each. I'll bring that and other scattered programs into one service, with employers and philanthropy chipping in.
Proof it works
The federal Green Army put thousands of young people to work on around a thousand projects before it was scrapped. It paid an allowance as low as $10.14 an hour, not a wage. Mine pays a real wage and is run by NSW, so it doesn't depend on Canberra.
What changes for you
Cleaner land and waterways in the towns that powered the state, and homes better ready for floods and fires. If you're 18 to 30, anywhere in NSW, a paid year, a qualification and a first look from employers.