Federal Senator for Victoria, Sarah Henderson, has called on the state government to provide substantial support for Viva Energy’s Geelong refinery.
Last month, the federal government announced a fuel security plan aimed at increasing Australia’s onshore stockholdings and support an appropriate refining capacity for the future.
Senator Henderson said the federal government’s comprehensive fuel security package would:
INVEST $200 million in a competitive grants program to build an additional 780ML of onshore diesel storage;
CREATE a minimum stockholding obligation for key transport fuels; and,
BACK the refining sector by entering into a detailed market design process for a refinery production payment which is estimated will deliver the Geelong Refinery $70 million per annum.
“Richard Marles’s comments today calling for additional federal support show him to be a complete hypocrite,” Senator Henerson said.
“In 2012 and under Labor’s carbon tax, Shell’s Clyde Refinery and Caltex’s Kurnell Refinery announced their closure – when Richard Marles and Labor were last in government.
I call on the state Labor government to back the 700 manufacturing jobs at the Geelong refinery and deliver support.”
Extracted from Geelong Advertiser