The Australian Council of Trade Unions believes strong partnerships between regional communities and a future National Transition Authority would be essential to achieving a just and effective clean energy transition in places like the Hunter.
"The authority would be tasked with making sure that workers and their communities affected by closures are given the support they need, including skills and training and other supports, so affected workers can get secure jobs with fair pay and conditions," ACTU President Michele O'Neil said.
"The authority will also play a role in ensuring that new jobs are good quality, real and in the communities that need them. This requires long planning horizons, serious coordination, and investment across all levels of government, industry and unions; and it must involve, critically, those local communities and workers, especially in regional Australia."
The ACTU's comments back up a joint statement with the the Business Council of Australia during the recent skills summit about the need for a National Transition Authority.
It is envisaged that regional authorities would feed into a national authority.
The peak union body's emphasis on partnership building is consistent with the comments from the former LaTrobe Valley Transition Authority chief executive Karen Cain.
"There are some common things like the need to support workers and business, opportunities for jobs in the future, the role that renewables might play down the track," she said.
"I think one of the big questions is about the timing of transition and when you should start to do it.
"Our advice is that you need to start as soon as you can."
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