The establishment of a Net Zero Authority is a crucial step towards a managed transition that brings communities on this journey, Business Council chief executive Jennifer Westacott said.

“Decarbonisation is monumental economic change, so we need to coordinate and plan to take advantage of the opportunities in front of us.

“Businesses are making this change now in response to global markets, but no one wants to see communities and regions left behind.

"Strong regions powered by strong businesses have helped keep the lights on across the nation.

“Regions like the Hunter, the Illawarra and Western Sydney represent the arc of our economic opportunity, but better coordination is crucial to unleash their full potential.

“We support the government’s three pillared approach to supporting workers, regions and working with the businesses who will need to invest as old operations scale down and new ones ramp up.

“The investment task of decarbonisation is huge, to make sure businesses can do the heavy lifting we need to get the right skills, infrastructure and policies in place.

“Australia’s transition has been held up in part because communities lost confidence in our ability to make this monumental change.  This is an opportunity for better jobs and better living standards, this agency will do some of the work needed to fix that.

“A better planned and managed transition will also help support an affordable, sustainable energy supply, a crucial step to keeping manufacturing jobs here in Australia.  

“As the Business Council has repeatedly said - in our Sunshot collaboration with workers and environmental groups and our 2021 Achieving a net zero economy paper - a transition authority can build confidence and plan for a stronger economic future.

“We look forward to working with the government to get the design of this agency right to build stronger regions, unlock opportunities and leave Australians better off.”