“New South Wales is facing a regional jobs crisis, courtesy of the emission reduction policies both major parties are taking to the March state election, leaving voters with little choice,” said Daniel Wild, Deputy Executive Director of the Institute of Public Affairs.

Today, the Institute of Public Affairs released a new research report, An analysis of the employment consequences of a net zero emissions target in New South Wales, which found the election policies on emissions reductions from both major parties will put more than 138,000 jobs at risk across the state.

In addition to the 138,000 jobs to be put at risk, the report’s key findings also include;

• Of the jobs threatened by New South Wales’ net zero policies, 67% are located in rural and regional parts of the state.
• The top ten New South Wales Legislative Assembly seats with the most jobs at risk are in rural or regional areas.
• The heaviest job losses would occur in the agricultural (63,765 jobs), coal mining (20,960 jobs), primary metal and metal product manufacturing (15,136 jobs), and electricity supply (14,704 jobs) sectors.

“On a global scale, any reduction in emissions from these policies would be negligible at best, yet the leaders of New South Wales are willing to inflict all this pain on families, for barely any environmental gain,” said Mr Wild.

The Legislative Assembly seats with the most jobs at risk are:

1. Upper Hunter, where jobs at risk make up 26% of all jobs in the electorate.
2. Barwon, where jobs at risk make up 20% of all jobs in the electorate.
3. Cootamundra, where jobs at risk make up 19% of all jobs in the electorate.
4. Murray, where jobs at risk make up 16% of all jobs in the electorate.
5. Northern Tablelands, where jobs at risk make up 16% of all jobs in the electorate.

“Many regional communities face the risk of being wiped out as local industries they rely on for employment, and the rest of the country relies on for energy and food, are to be destroyed due to reckless emission reduction mandates,” said Mr Wild.

An analysis of the major parties’ commitments show that policy promises of new ‘green’ jobs will not even see the creation of 10% of the jobs that are likely to be lost due to bipartisan emission reduction plans.

“Previous IPA research has shown that for every one job created in ‘renewable activities’ since 2010, five manufacturing jobs have been destroyed,” said Mr Wild.

“We need our political leaders to back our regions, which have so much promise and potential, but are being held back by short-sighted policies which risk closing critical industries, and ending well-paid, full-time jobs.”