Back to the future

My old dad called Newcastle a pearler. And this was in the days when BHP dominated the city, smog hung over the suburbs and few could see a future for Newcastle outside heavy industry.

Newcastle's beaches won my father's heart. From the 1930s through to the 1950s this was an exciting holiday destination for a young working class boy from Chippendale. His surfing and fishing exploits and ventures with friends would have been the equivalent of an overseas holiday for many young people today.

Each generation throws up its own descriptors. For my father and his mates pearler was the best.

I have inherited my father's love of this region. I am fortunate to have the Hunter portfolio for the Greens so I can visit this area regularly.

These were some of the thoughts that washed over me as I joined nearly 500 Novacastrians in the annual Walk Against Warming, held this year to coincide with the United Nations Copenhagen conference on climate change.

Many of the people I talked with on Saturday asked me what I thought the conference outcome will be. People are troubled about the future.

Walking along the harbour foreshore I could see two futures for this region one jobs rich from renewable energy projects and spin-off manufacturing plants with sea level rises contained. The other is grim with Newcastle struggling to cope with storm surges and climate catastrophes and a retracting local economy.

The coal industry, poised for a record year of activity in the Hunter, Gunnedah and Gloucester region, is pushing not just Newcastle but the world to a dark, dangerous future. The expansion of Port Newcastle's coal loading activities is set to drive a coal rush as new mines and mine expansions are approved in record numbers. But the coal industry is no longer a saviour for here or anywhere.

With burning and mining of coal contributing more than 35 per cent of Australias greenhouse gas emissions this coal rush cannot continue if we are going to be serious about climate change. Record coal exports will further increase overseas emissions. Port Newcastle can annually load 66 million tonnes of coal, which when burnt releases 174 million tonnes of greenhouse emissions.

For climate justice campaigners this is a huge challenge. So often I am asked what chance is there to rein in human induced climate change when we are up against coal companies that annually make hundreds of millions dollars profits and have the ear of state and federal governments.

It is tough - probably the most challenging task humanity has faced. But the future can be bright and bring benefits to all.

Local manufacturing of wind turbines and solar panels in the Hunter would lock in renewable energy contracts across Asia. TAFE would need to expand to skill up a workforce that could undertake energy delivery systems for the local and overseas market.

These changes would drive up jobs, investment would follow and a wise state government would look to expanding and upgrading public rail and bus services from the suburbs and surrounding areas right into the heart of Newcastle.

The general public, as well as unions, local businesses and the university would all benefit. Not only would we be demonstrating to the world how quickly we can move to clean energy and expanded mass public transport services and so limit the likelihood of catastrophic climate change but we would be rejuvenating communities across the Hunter.

Providing meaningful, sustainable jobs would be a key spin off. These days jobs growth in the coal industry is limited due to the high levels of mechanisation and the retracting future for fossil fuel based energy.

And there is the added bonus that Newcastle's string of stunning surfing beaches will still be pearlers.