Griffin woes show urgent need for transition strategy for Collie: Greens

The Greens have called on the State Government to urgently address the “double whammy” that will soon face the Collie community, after further news today of Griffin Coal’s woes and the release of Bureau of Meteorology figures showing how climate change has hit Australia in the previous decade.

“There has been much focus in recent days on possible impacts of Griffin Coal’s troubles on the company’s employees and the broader community of Collie – but that is only part of what the future potentially holds for Collie,” said the WA Greens’ Employment Spokesperson Alison Xamon MLC.

“Unfortunately, Griffin’s woes are just the beginning of a series of challenges for Collie that the State Government must acknowledge and urgently plan for.

“Today’s report showing that the ‘noughties’ were the hottest decade ever recorded in Australia underlines the urgent need for a transition by all countries away from any use of the concentrated pollutant that is coal.”

Ms Xamon said that notwithstanding the recent defeat of the Federal Government’s emissions trading scheme, and the diplomatic baby step that was Copenhagen, serious action on global emissions would become inevitable as the severity of climate change becomes clearer.

“When deep cuts in greenhouse emissions come, as they inevitably have to, Australian communities such as Collie, and workers and their families will be particularly exposed because major cuts in the use of coal will be necessary.”

“Therefore, in light of Griffin Coal’s economic woes and the likely reduction in our reliance on this polluting industry going in to the future, the Greens are calling on the State Government to immediately start planning a transition strategy for the future of workers and families in Collie so that they can be supported and trained in a move to a sustainable regional economy,” Ms Xamon concluded.  “Collie workers deserve this protection for their futures.”