Labor will match the $82million in funding for a Hunter Super Hydrogen hub, that has the potential to attract 2500 jobs in coming decades.
Labor's pledge followed an announcement by Energy Minister Angus Taylor on Thursday to fund the establishment of the Port of Newcastle hydrogen hub ($41 million) and Origin Energy Future Fuels Pty Ltd's Hunter Valley H2 Hub implementation project ($42 million).
The hubs' funding is complemented by the $100 million committed in the last month's federal budget to support pre-final investment decision activities and early works to make the port 'hydrogen ready'.
Australian Hydrogen Council chief executive Fiona Simon said co-locating hydrogen users and producers in areas with access to port, road and rail infrastructure was an important step forward for the hydrogen industry.
"The Hunter ticks all those boxes and also offers a large workforce that's ready to make the transition to a hydrogen economy a reality," Dr Simon said.
"This is another building block being put in place to create lasting jobs and build our export capacity."
In recent weeks funding has been announced for hubs in Gladstone and Townsville in Queensland, Kwinana and The Pilbara in Western Australia and Darwin in the Northern Territory.
"These hubs are crucial to enable Australia to meet its net zero targets. We look forward to working with industry and government to accelerate the development of hydrogen hubs around Australia," Dr Simon said.
Hunter Hydrogen Technology Cluster (NewH2) was established in 2021 to support the emerging hydrogen economy in the region.
Cluster manager Clare Sykes said the government's backing for the hubs would bring a new level of confidence to the development of future clean hydrogen industries.
"The Hunter region has always been and will remain an energy, research and innovation powerhouse. Our region is host to some of the most sophisticated manufacturing and export supply chains in the world," she said.
"NewH2 looks forward to collaborating with the Hub proponents to bring about our vision for the region to be globally recognised as a one stop shop across hydrogen production, use, manufacturing, technology, skills and services - and enjoy strong employment across the hydrogen supply chain."
Hunter Jobs Alliance coordinator Warrick Jordan said the evolution of the Hunter's hydrogen economy had advanced in leaps and bounds in recent months.
"A few months back the Hunter was playing catch up football compared to Gladstone, WA, Tassie and Victoria," he said.
"Now we are right in the game. If we can get these projects up and running for domestic users like power stations and transport, and use our trade relationships with partners like Japan and South Korea, we will have a launchpad to make this a significant employer for the region in coming decades."
He said the combination of significant industry players combined with government support was cause for optimism about the region's future.
"Without that type of industrial grunt, collaboration, and government coming to the party, other regions and countries will get the jump on us. It's still early days, but we should be optimistic about the activity we are starting to see," he said.
"It's actually a relief to see more of the conversation turn to some sensible public investment that looks to the region's future, rather than some of the garbage and scare mongering that we seem to get so much of these days. The local community and the business community have really led the discussion, and created an expectation that we deserve some decent policy to back us in for the next generation of jobs," he said.
"These type of practical, sensible policies are what the region needs and deserves. Hopefully we see more of it in some of the other critical areas for attracting new industries to the region, like unscrambling the mess that has been made of the vocational training sector.
