Will closing Australia’s biggest coal-fired power station early really cost thousands of jobs?

Research from the Institute of Public Affairs claims 10,000 jobs are at risk if Origin Energy’s Eraring power station is closed early. But their logic doesn’t stack up. Photograph: Dean Sewell

Closing Australia’s biggest coal-fired power plant would be an “Electric Shock”, the headline screamed, that would do almost nothing for the climate and cost thousands of jobs.

So said a page one story for Sydney’s Daily Telegraph last week on the supposed impact of a decision by Origin Energy to close its Eraring power station in 2025, seven years earlier than planned.