{"id":771837,"date":"2026-07-01T10:11:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T10:11:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/771837\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T10:11:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T10:11:13","slug":"nsw-news-thousands-of-coal-worker-jobs-at-risk-as-bill-hangs-in-balance-advocates-warn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/771837\/","title":{"rendered":"NSW news: Thousands of coal worker jobs at risk as bill hangs in balance, advocates warn"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tens of thousands of NSW coal workers face losing their jobs<\/a> with no warning or safety net as a bill aimed at protecting those in the fraught sector sits in Upper House purgatory.<\/p>\n

The NSW<\/a> government\u2019s Future Jobs and Investment Bill 2025 was introduced in late 2025 and is touted as a strategic intervention to protect coal or coal-fired power workers from \u201cstructural economic change\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Tahmoor<\/p>\n

Tahmoor Coking Coal Mine in Bargo, NSW. \u00a0Oscar Colman<\/p>\n

But the government has been accused of \u201csitting on its hands\u201d as the bill remains stalled in the Upper House, despite bipartisan support.<\/p>\n

It passed the Legislative Assembly on March 18 and has been gathering dust for four months.<\/p>\n

Once made law, NSW mine owners will be obligated to give early notice of mine closures and prepare transition plans for redundant workers.<\/a><\/p>\n

It comes after resources giant Yancoal announced it will pull the plug on its Ashton mine site<\/a> in Camberwell by 2028, with 60 employees immediately stood down and hundreds of workers left facing redundancy.<\/p>\n

Another 69 workers will be impacted by early 2027 and a final 146 employees could lose their jobs by the site\u2019s official closure in February 2028.<\/p>\n

Yancoal blamed \u201csignificant technical challenges and operational risks\u201d along with evolving market conditions for the decision to close Ashton.<\/p>\n

The ASX-listed company told Nine.com.au<\/a> on Tuesday that it would work closely with impacted staff, including redeployment and career transition.<\/p>\n

In the 2023-2024 financial year, the NSW coal mining industry employed\u00a025,800 people.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A map of coal mining sites in NSW.\u00a0NSW Mining<\/p>\n

Hunter Renewal Coordinator Steve Phillips said there are 15,000 coal workers in the Hunter region alone who have been \u201cleft in the lurch\u201d as the bill stalls in parliament.<\/p>\n

He said livelihood should not depend on the good will of mining companies <\/p>\n

\u201cDecisions to close a mine can be made very suddenly,\u201d Phillips told nine.com.au<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cCommunities in the Hunter are economically reliant on these jobs and the money that it brings in.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we can\u2019t be left at the whims of the mining companies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coal mines face mass closures<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s coal industry is rapidly shrinking.<\/p>\n

Analysis shared by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) projects that nearly 240 Australian mines, many of them coal, will be closed by 2040.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need obligations in place to ready our regions, especially the Hunter,\u201d Phillips added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what this bill from the NSW government will begin to do, and it\u2019s very welcome, but it needs more urgency.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt needs to be in place now and it needs to be strengthened.<\/p>\n

\u201cOtherwise, the ripple effects on communities will be potentially catastrophic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Yancoal's<\/p>\n

Yancoal’s Ashton site will be closed by 2028.\u00a0Photo: Peter Rae<\/p>\n

District President for Northern Mining and NSW Energy District MEU Robin Williams said Ashton\u2019s closure is a sober reminder of what thousands of coal workers face in the next few years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reality is that coal mines close for many reasons. Whether it\u2019s geology, economics or the energy transition, the impact on workers, their families and regional communities is the same,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need stronger action from state and federal governments to support displaced coal workers and invest in new industries in our regions, but coal companies should not wait for government to make them to the right thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve made billions out of our coal and should do right by workers in terms of retraining, redeployment and planning for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Singleton mayor Sue Moore has also called for \u201cless talk and more action\u201d in response to the changing face of coal in the state.<\/p>\n

Statement from NSW Minister for Natural Resources Courtney Houssos<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Ashton closure is distressing news for workers and their families. Our priority is making sure those workers are supported.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe understand how important coal mining is to the Hunter\u2019s economy \u2013 that\u2019s why we are giving certainty to industry and workers through our Coal Industry 2026-50 document, and legislating our Future Jobs and Investment Authority.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Hunter will remain a major coal-producing region for decades to come, with a strong pipeline of work and a highly skilled workforce.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur plan for the Future Jobs and Investment Authority is currently before the Legislative Council and is crucial as we build a new capability in government support workers, families and communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will also open up a new $150 million Future Jobs and Investment Fund to partner with local communities to deliver workforce planning, investment attraction and post-mine land use to enable mine sites to continue to support jobs, as they have for decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an important reform led by the Minns Labor Government to support workers, families and communities and I urge all parties to support it in the parliament.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nine.com.au<\/a> has also contacted NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tens of thousands of NSW coal workers face losing their jobs with no warning or safety net as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":771838,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":["post-771837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=771837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/771838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=771837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=771837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=771837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}