Federal Election 2022: Greens candidate for Paterson Louise Ihlein outlines policy on future of energy

Ms Ihlein was reiterating a recent speech by Greens leader Adam Bandt which set out the main planks of the party's federal election policy platform, and was a beacon to voters in the seat of Port Stephens.

"More than 100 new mines across the country supported by both the Coalition and Labor would prevent Australia from meeting its targets under the Paris Climate Agreement. The Greens platform rejects the need for more new coal and gas mining projects," he said.

Ms Ilhein said that the Paterson electorate had a higher percentage of coal and power production workers than most other areas in NSW, "so we need a well thought out strategy to make sure workers are not worse off".

"Our plan assures existing coal and energy workers in the Hunter of on-going jobs at good rates as their coal and power station jobs are phased out.

"Many coal, gas and power station workers will be able to find new well paid jobs in mining the many minerals that will be needed for the new industries supporting sustainable power generation, like wind and solar as well as batteries, and in the associated high tech manufacturing.

"But this requires quick action by the federal government."

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The Greens are increasingly confident of holding the balance of power after the election - and would use it to ensure stronger climate action to help hold global temperatures to a survivable level.

"We are already seeing the looming climate chaos in the more frequent and more extreme bushfires and floods," said Ms Ilhein.

She said she was proud that The Greens' priorities were to make life better for ordinary people, not to make big corporations, multi-nationals and billionaires even richer.

"The Greens will ensure that billionaires and large corporations pay a fair share of tax to fund: retraining and new jobs especially in the energy sector; extending Medicare to cover dental care and mental health; providing low cost housing for all who need it; and wiping the debts of TAFE and uni students and ensuring all public education is free.

Meanwhile, The Greens have called for greater protection for aged care residents.

"People should be able to age with dignity in their local communities," said Ms Ihlein, commenting on the distressing number of smaller aged care facilities being forced to close their doors due to inadequate funding.

The Greens 'Aged Care for All' policy would see an additional $6 billion a year invested in aged care, to provide high quality, safe and timely care to meet the needs of all older Australians.

"This is an essential national reform. Aged care is an essential social service that should be provided based on need, not a commodity that can be outsourced and bought or sold at the lowest price. Both policies can be funded by a wealth tax on billionaires, and ensuring large corporations pay a fair share of tax."

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