Back in May the Australian government announced, with some fanfare, the establishment of the Net Zero Economy Agency. The announcement was well received in the Hunter. Unions, environmentalists, community leaders, the business community, all had lobbied for some years for the establishment of a body to transform our region away from coal.
The transition out of coal - we don't know the timing, but we do know it is inevitable - will be a momentous one for the Hunter region. New economic pathways need forging, traditional roles of towns and regional centres need restoring, rural landscapes need resuscitating, and natural environments recreated and nourished. The Hunter's transition is one of the greatest challenges this nation has ever faced.
