Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Latrobe Valley has a very special place in my heart. My father was an electrician with the SEC in Yallourn in the 1960s. My little sister, my baby sister, was, according to my mother, the second-last baby born at Yallourn Hospital. My first years of school were at Yallourn kindergarten and Yallourn primary school. My school holidays were spent with family friends in Morwell—people who are also friends of the member for McMillan. The little company town of Yallourn was consumed in the 1980s by the open-cut mine. It was not because Yallourn was unimportant; it was because Hazelwood was so significant to the community and the region. The skilled, diligent and proud workers of Hazelwood and their families have made an enormous contribution. They have powered Victoria to become the prosperous and thriving state it is today. So I was deeply affected by last week's news that Hazelwood is set to close. I want to urge this of my colleagues here in this House: now is not the time to politicise the closure. Now is the time to provide these 750 workers and their families and the Latrobe Valley community with the respect and dignity that they deserve. This is a community caught in a transitioning energy sector. We need to support and give them and their community a pathway to a new future.