One of Australia's largest wind turbine tower producers has been forced to sack 100 workers in the Premier's electorate, after the federal government moved to reduce the the renewable energy target.
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Portland's Keppel Prince Engineering made the announcement on Thursday morning, blaming the job cuts on uncertainty over large-scale renewables and significant losses.
Federal Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane indicated on Wednesday that the Abbott government supported the scaling back of the renewable energy target, reducing the amount of energy produced by renewable energy projects by 2020 from 41,000 gigawatt hours to about 26,000.
Keppel Prince is the second-largest employer in Portland, and the announcement is a significant blow for Premier Denis Napthine, who has vowed to create 200,000 new jobs in the next five years.
"After careful consideration, the decision has been taken to mothball most of the fabrication facilities at our Portland works," a statement from the company said.
"This will result in a reduction in our workforce of approximately 100 full-time employees."
The company said wind tower production was a sustainable business as long as there was a "favourable outcome" to the federal government's renewable energy target review, as well as more local content requirements for Australian projects.
In May, 76 Keppel Prince workers wrote to Dr Napthine saying a cut to the renewable energy target would devastate the local community.
"A weakened target will cost jobs, investment, and hurt businesses in the south-west," the letter reads.
Dr Napthine blamed the job losses on the local wind energy industry, who he said were using cheap turbines from Japan, Korea and China.
"The most recent wind farms built here in Victoria have used imported wind towers and similarly in South Australia and New South Wales," he said.
"They have been importing wind towers rather than using locally produced wind towers at Keppel Prince and that is why we have insisted with the East West Link project that local jobs are created with local content and local structural steel being used."
He referred to a recent project in Ballarat, where 60 wind towers were imported from overseas.
He refused to blame the job cuts on the Abbott government's moves to scale back the renewable target, and said the state government supported the 20 per cent renewable energy target.
"This is significant for those people who have lost their jobs and for Portland but those people would be employed today if the wind energy companies kept their promise and used local production for wind towers."
Under a controversial proposal by the Napthine government, the target would include gas-fired power derived from fossil fuels.
Dr Napthine made the comments while announcing expansion plans for the Australian Meat Group in Dandenong South, which he said would create 370 jobs by 2019.
Federal Liberal member for Wannon Dan Tehan said the Keppel Prince announcement was devastating news.
"The government is seeking to provide certainty on the RET by doing away with the two yearly reviews which have caused such uncertainty," Mr Tehan said.
"It demonstrates once again the need for us to get a sensible bipartisan outcome on the RET."
Mr Tehan said it was worth noting that some companies in the Renewable Energy Sector have not prioritised Australian manufacturers in establishing wind farms.
State Labor's energy spokeswoman Lily D'Ambrosio said it was a dark day for Keppel Prince, and that Dr Napthine had ignored their calls for help.
"They have reached out to the Premier - you would have thought he would have shirt-fronted Abbott when it counted."
She said Dr Napthine's submission to the Warburton renewable energy target review was "half-hearted" and he had done nothing to provide comfort to Keppel Prince workers.
She said the Napthine government's restrictive and "job-killing" planning laws for wind farms had compounded the issue.
Victorian Greens leader Greg Barber said the jobs losses were "a tragedy" for Portland, which was already struggling.
"It's an even bigger tragedy that billions of dollars of renewable energy investment is on hold indefinitely while Labor and Liberal negotiate about how deeply they will cut the Renewable Energy Target.
Friends of the Earth spokesman Leigh Ewbank said the sad news underscored the need for a state Renewable Energy Target.
"The fate of the wind workers of Portland rests on political leadership from Premier Napthine and Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews."
- with Richard Willingham
