Our community faces the impacts of climate change firsthand through extreme weather, coastal erosion, and rising energy costs.
We need practical action that protects our environment while creating local opportunities. I will will support science-based climate action at national, state and local levels to meet climate targets as recommended by experts.
My comprehensive plan focused on four key areas:
1. Clean, reliable and affordable energy
I will fight for clean, reliable and affordable energy by:
- Providing solar and battery subsidies for homes, schools, and businesses
- Securing funding for community batteries and microgrids
- Supporting the transition to electric vehicles and charging infrastructure
- Improving building energy efficiency to lower household bills
- Utilising existing transmission infrastructure more effectively
2. Supporting our region's energy transition
I will ensure our community benefits from energy transition through:
- Supporting workers in aging power plants to transition to long-term jobs
- Developing new industries in the Latrobe Valley that use existing skills
- Creating local jobs in renewable energy and infrastructure
- Ensuring our region receives its fair share of energy transition funding
- Stopping approvals of new fossil fuel projects and removing subsidies
- Building community resilience through solar-powered community hubs
3. Building community resilience
I will work to prepare our community for extreme weather by:
- Increasing funding for CFA, SES, and emergency services
- Improving telecommunications and radio networks
- Ensuring mobile towers remain online for longer during outages
- Creating emergency-ready community hubs with power backup
- Supporting local disaster preparedness initiatives
4. Protecting our environment
I will advocate to:
- Support local Landcare and Watercare groups
- Ensure communities are properly consulted on developments that impact them
- Strengthen protection for native habitats, threatened species and biodiversity
- Promote healthy rivers and strong coastlines
- Reduce plastic pollution through better packaging regulations
- Promote respectful consultation and partnerships with Traditional Owners to draw on their insight
- Establish independent environmental protection oversight