Rosalie Woodruff MP | Greens' Energy spokesperson
The ABS statistics for Employment in the Renewable Energy Sector*, released last week, show the stark cost of the anti-renewables ideology of the Federal and State Liberals.
The Hodgman Government has overseen a dramatic collapse in solar and wind project investment, with the state’s renewable energy sector losing 280 full-time jobs since 2013/14.
Minister Groom’s refusal to act and attract investment in large-scale renewable projects in Tasmania has meant jobs in wind farms fell from 120 in 2013/14 to just 30 last year. Given Minister Groom’s continued inaction on renewables, his pitch to Canberra looks like false political swagger.
The number of Tasmanians employed in the solar industry fell from 230 full time jobs in 2013/14 to only 100 last year. This is due to the Liberals' ideological resistance to building the solar energy sector.
The State's unfair solar feed-in-tariff, and charging Tasmanians for the energy they generate to heat their homes and water, are two examples. Despite initially promising to do so, the Liberals have consistently refused to fix this.
Some 8,000 full time jobs have been lost in the renewable sector across the country since 2011-12. At a time when global investment in renewables continues to break record highs, Liberal governments around Australia have reduced renewable industry jobs from 19,220 to only 11,150.
Along with an energy crisis that cost Tasmania $140 million, Minister Groom’s legacy will be his determined resistance to acting on climate change and building a jobs-rich renewable sector.
*ABS Employment Table 8, Employment in Renewable Energy Sector (Tasmania) attached.
