We, the undersigned groups, call on the Albanese government to commit funding for Victoria’s first offshore wind auction, and to ensure it will be held by the end of 2025.

To: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese MP and the Hon. Chris Bowen MP, Minister for Climate and Energy

We are halfway through a decade of transformation to tackle the climate crisis and shift our energy system away from fossil fuels. Offshore wind will be critical to the success of this transformation.

The Albanese government is to be commended for accelerating the energy transition after a decade of denial and delay. Your government’s Emissions Reduction Targets, Renewable Energy Target, and declaration of Offshore Wind Zones have created momentum for an Australian offshore wind industry. 

In Victoria, there is a narrowing window of opportunity for the first offshore wind auction to be held before the end of 2025. In keeping with the tradition of state and federal governments sharing the cost of major new public good infrastructure projects, it’s now time for your government to support the Victorian government with the funding needed for the auction to go ahead, so that the first projects can progress to construction and a pipeline of the next projects can be established. 

Victoria is the most advanced state in planning for the construction and operation of offshore wind. It is the only Australian jurisdiction to have set offshore wind targets. The leading projects in Gippsland are ready to press go after years of feasibility studies and development.

The speed and success with which Victoria’s first offshore wind project begins operating is seen by industry and energy experts as a key indicator for the success of the industry rollout across the rest of the country. 

If Victoria’s first offshore wind auction is delayed, the consequences are significant and will be felt at the national level. They include:

• Insufficient energy supply and interstate pressure: Victoria’s remaining coal power stations have all announced closure dates. If offshore wind is not constructed on schedule, we will not be able to replace the capacity lost when coal stations close. This would also mean Victoria will become a net importer of energy from interstate, and won’t be able to supply other states when they experience shortfalls.
  
  
• Delaying coal closure: Victoria’s ageing coal stations are increasingly faulty, unreliable, and expensive to operate. If they are forced to stay open because offshore wind is delayed, it will result in more blackouts and higher electricity costs for Victorian communities.
  
  
• Worsening environmental and health impacts: prolonging the operation of polluting coal stations means that Latrobe Valley residents continue to suffer from the effects of the toxic emissions, including childhood asthma and premature deaths.
  
  
• Foregone investment and job opportunities: If Victoria’s auction is delayed, companies and investors are likely to lose interest and shift their focus overseas. This will also reduce investment stability for proponents looking at the potential of other offshore wind zones around Australia.
  
  
• Climate target failure: Offshore wind will be crucial for Victoria and Australia to meet our Emissions Reduction Targets. Kicking the can down the road means exposing communities to intensified impacts such as bushfires, floods, and drought, which wreak social, ecological and financial havoc. 

Holding Victoria’s first offshore wind auction on time this year will:

• Create the confidence needed to establish a growing national offshore wind industry: We need this pipeline to maintain investor interest, maximise jobs and local content, and provide a just transition for communities.
  
  
• Bring long-promised jobs: including 15,000 (7,500 ongoing) in the Gippsland Offshore Wind Zone alone.
  
  
• Increase climate credibility: If Australia hosts the COP31 Climate Conference in 2026, the government will need to be able to point to big-ticket concrete steps it is taking to decarbonise, such as building offshore wind.
  
  
• Ensure energy stability: Offshore wind is needed to complement onshore wind and solar, which on their own are not sufficient to produce the energy needed to replace coal-fired power stations.
  
  

• Create a safe haven for climate action industry: With President Trump wreaking havoc on the US offshore wind industry, Australia could become a fruitful investment alternative for energy companies and attract billions in capital investment.
  
  

• Reduce climate risk: When it comes to acting on the climate crisis, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. The faster we bring offshore wind online and stop burning fossil fuels, the sooner we can limit dangerous levels of global warming, which threaten our communities, ecosystems and economies.

Minister Bowen, as you noted in your 2024 Climate Change Statement, “Between now and 2035, the market operator expects 90% of Australia’s ageing, increasingly unreliable, coal fired power generators to retire.” 

Both your government and the Victorian government have sent the signal that the end of coal fired power is nigh for Australia. We now need swift action to ensure that offshore wind is built at the speed needed to fill the energy generation gap left by coal. 

We would also like to see the federal government establish its own process for supporting the nationwide development of offshore wind. But we make the case that the Victorian auction and planning process are playing a critical role in providing confidence to industry investing in offshore wind, and that any delay or disruption to that process will be a blow to the industry’s development at the national level.

We call on you to work with the Victorian government to secure the required funding to hold the first offshore wind auction by the end of 2025, ensuring the first projects are constructed on time.

Bringing the first offshore wind projects online, on time, will be a proud legacy for the Albanese government. It will create thousands of jobs, attract international investment, secure our future energy supply, and make a strong contribution to our emissions reduction targets. 

Signed:

350 Eurobodalla

Australian Conservation Foundation

Australian Religious Response to Climate Change

ACF Illawarra and South Coast

Citizens’ Climate Lobby

Climate Action Monaro

Climate Action Now Signs Incorporated

Cooperative Power

Currie Country Social Change

Darebin Climate Action Now

Doctors for the Environment Australia

Environment Victoria

Friends of the Earth Melbourne

Gippsland Energy Innovation Coop

Glen Eira Emergency Climate Action Network

GN Corp Consulting

Good for the Gong

Green Music Australia

Hunter Jobs Alliance

Kindred Spirits Enterprises

Latrobe Valley Sustainability Group

Lighter Footprints

Maritime Union of Australia

Nillumbik Climate Action Team

Peoples Climate Assembly

Port Phillip Emergency Climate Action Network

Repower Shoalhaven

Rewiring Australia

South Coast Health and Sustainability Alliance

South East Region Conservation Alliance

Surfers for Climate

Tomorrow Movement

Uniting Church in Australia, Synod of Victoria and Tasmania

Victorian Trades Hall Council

Voices of the Valley

Wellington Climate Action Network

Yarra Climate Action Now