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Regions to win from White Paper

Regions to win from White Paper actions

Regional Victoria will benefit from millions of dollars of new investment and thousands of new jobs as a result of the actions announced in Taking Action for Victoria’s Future, the Victorian Climate Change White Paper – The Action Plan.

Premier John Brumby said that the actions contained in the Governments’ White Paper would see significant new investment across country Victoria in both renewable and clean energy generation as well as in new opportunities in environmental technologies.

“The measures announced today – in addition to investment already resulting from the national renewable energy target – will see around $10 billion of new investment in regional Victoria over the next decade,” Mr Brumby said.

“In addition to driving more a more sustainable future, this investment will directly generate thousands of new jobs and create new opportunities for flow on industries particularly environmental technologies.”

Mr Brumby said actions contained in the action plan that would particularly benefit regional Victoria were:
• Victoria’s 5 per cent solar target that will see between $1.5 billion and $2 billion of new solar investment in north west and northern Victoria;
• Around $4 billion of investment in wind generation and geothermal generation as a result of the 20 per cent national renewable energy target;
• A commitment of $33 million – through the CarbonNet project – to explore the development of a network of pipelines that transport carbon to storage sites in the offshore Gippsland Basin;
• Around $50 million per annum over five years towards energy efficiency measures in households and industries through the Climate Communities program. This includes an ambitious commitment to improving the average energy efficiency of Victoria’s housing stock; to be delivered through measures such as the $8 million over two years for solar hot water rebates;
• At least $1 billion to $2 billion of potential new investment in gas generation brought forward as a result of the Governments’ staged closure of Hazelwood;
• At least $10 million per annum flowing from carbon offset investments from the governments GreenPower purchases;
• The voluntarily motor registration offset program, providing a massive boost to the local offset industry; and
• $160 million on refitting Government buildings to a higher energy efficiency standard, including upgrades to campuses operated by South West TAFE and 62 regional public schools.

Regional and Rural Development Minister Jacinta Allan said the Climate Change White Paper, in addition to the $631 million Blueprint for Regional and Rural Victoria would help drive a new era of opportunity and prosperity in regional Victoria, attracting jobs and opportunities.