Australia needs to shift to green economy: trade unions
- Source: Xinhua
- [17:44 August 24 2009]
- Comments
Australia needs to urgently shift towards a green economy to help the nation recover from the global financial crisis, trade unions said Monday.
Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) President Sharan Burrow said while Australia's economy had not fared as badly as Europe, Africa and the US, up to 5,000 workers were still losing their jobs every week, Australian Associated Press reported Monday.
Speaking at an international industrial relations conference in Sydney, Burrow said maximizing jobs, reviewing targeted labor market programs for women, and urgently shifting towards a green economy would help Australia on the path to recovery.
She said the government had made headway with its renewable energy target legislation which would unleash 20 billion dollars (16.2 billion US dollars) in investment and translate into jobs.
She urged there is a 6-trillion-dollar (5.04-trillion-US-dollar) green economy global market out there right now and Australia is not getting cracking to take hold of that.
"Nobody would have asked for the global financial crisis, but it is an opportunity to shift our economy to a green economy and strengthen our domestic base," she said.
Chief executive of the Australian Industry Group said Australia faced big challenges with its move towards a green economy.
"Fundamentally the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), which is a market-driven mechanism, is to do the heavy lifting if we are not to export jobs overseas," she said.
