This grassroots campaign is about getting the Victorian State Government to shut down the Hazelwood power station in the Latrobe valley and to transition away from coal to clean, renewable energy. This power station is currently responsible for a staggering 17 million tonnes of greenhouse pollution each year and is one of the developed world's most polluting power stations.

In 2005, Hazelwood topped a WWF list of the developed world's most polluting power stations. This 40-year-old power station produces more carbon dioxide per unit of electricity delivered than the dirtiest coal-fired power stations in other leading industrialised nations - including the USA, Germany, Canada, Mexico, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Japan and Italy. Victoria's out-dated Hazelwood power station spews out an astonishing 1.58 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every month and should be decommisioned as soon as possible.

The closure of the Hazelwood power station would immediately eliminate the largest single source of dioxin pollution in the country. Moreover, the Hazelwood power station's annual water use is 27 billion litres, which is the equivalent of a month's worth of Melbourne's total water use every year. And the power stations in Gippsland alone account for 3% of total water use in this state. By decomissioning Hazelwood, much of this water could be returned to the struggling Latrobe River which flows into the Gippsland Lakes. 

The Gippsland Lakes are the largest freshwater lakes system in Australia. They are internationally significant as a haven for the world's declining water-bird populations and are considered the region's greatest asset for tourism, lifestyle, commercial and recreational fishing and boating.

But in the face of climate change and the impacts of consumptive users, inflows into the rivers that feed the Gippsland Lakes have reduced by a massive 41%. Without enough freshwater, the Lakes system is being devastated. 

The best way to restore the balance is to reduce the impacts of climate change and return water to the rivers that flow into the internationally significant Lakes system.