A retired coal miner and a young mum have cemented an unlikely friendship after starring in an episode of Good Neighbours, hosted by Ryan Moloney (aka ‘Toadie’ in Neighbours).

Wollongong locals Darryl Best and Ali Gerritsen were both part of the local Good for the Gong group but had never met when they were invited to appear in an episode of the New Joneses’ film series, which follows Ryan as he hits the road to learn about Australia’s shift to solar and wind energy.

Both Darryl and Ali were happy to speak up in favour of clean energy, although nervous about appearing on film. Supporting each other through stage fright led to a friendship across the generations and they are now working together on actor Yael Stone’s charity, Hi Neighbour.

The Illawarra-based organisation helps local people upskill for renewable jobs via scholarships, which are funded by local solar projects. Darryl is on the Hi Neighbour board and Ali recently became its scholarship coordinator.

And the film series was so successful that RE-Alliance, Community Power Agency and Yes2Renewables recently lodged a joint submission to the Australian Senate’s Select Committee Inquiry on Energy Planning and Regulation, urging the committee to consider the stories highlighted by the films.

Thanks to Darryl and Ali for taking the time to chat.

How did the two of you meet?

Ali: I knew about Darryl before he knew about me because he’d been roped in to speak at events I’ve attended. We’ve both been volunteering in this space for a while and so when we were asked to appear in The New Joneses episode we started bouncing texts back and forth – for me, that was a way to assuage my nerves!

Darryl: As Ali said, we started texting each other some encouragement when we found out we were both doing interviews with The New Joneses. We didn't really meet in person until some time afterwards at a mutual friend’s birthday party. Ali walked over and said hi and I thought, 'Ah, I know you.'

What do a retired coal miner and a young mum with a creative arts background have in common? 

Ali: I think we have an aligned view of the potential Wollongong has as a leader in the energy transformation. It’s a pretty windy place, it absolutely blows a gale here, and there are other local ventures in the works to capture and store all that energy. 

We’re looking at a new era of how we get our energy – and it’s better. Coal has got us this far but I’d say if 100 years ago they could have figured out how to use wind and sun to power the country, I daresay they would have done it, right? Well, we’ve got the know-how and the opportunity now. All this means that our coal industry workers can stick around and transfer their skills into great clean energy jobs and not have to uproot their families and leave the Illawarra in search of towns that still have mines running. We’ll need stacks of heavy industry workers, electricians and electrical engineers, to name a few – Wollongong has got it made when it comes to jobs if we jump on this opportunity.

Darryl is also a real role model to me; he is continually sticking his neck out to get such an important message across and it holds so much weight knowing he has come from a career in coal – he’s seen how it works first-hand. As a person raising the next generation, I want to say thank you to Darryl for working hard to hand over a better future.

Darryl: We have a shared passion for leaving the world in a better place. We both see the great opportunities that the Illawarra region has been presented with the transition to renewables. With all the industrial background, it is the perfect place for massive renewable infrastructure. But we also believe that everything possible should be done to ensure those renewables are beneficial to the areas where they are established, both economically and environmentally. The destruction that climate change is causing seems to have been forgotten in this debate.

Whether you are a young mum or an older (much) dad, you are still a parent. This means you never stop worrying about your children’s future. After a lifetime proudly working in an industry that shaped Australia and the world, I realise that same industry is a major contributor to the destruction of our environment and the chaos that is now our climate. We are both working towards the same goal, reversing the catastrophic effects of climate change.

What was it like starring together in a New Joneses film?

Ali: I got pretty nervous because I hadn’t been behind the camera before – turns out it didn’t kill me – but it was bloody great to have Darryl to debrief with afterwards.

It was great to meet Toadie and Tamara, who runs the show. I was a Neighbours fan growing up, so I made sure to tell him that – hoping he’d go easy on me! 

It’s been great to see the episodes roll out, a majority of people in the Illawarra support offshore wind, and I think we address the concerns that the remaining few have really well. We also know that most people get their information about renewable energy through social media. I am proud to have been part of creating a shareable resource to provide fact-based content. We have cut through the misinformation spread locally – we know these are seeded by people with big bucks in coal.

When asked ‘but what about those who stand to make big bucks from offshore wind?’ I say: 'Well, isn’t it great that renewables are seen as so viable they make money?'

Money can be made without harming our earth – yay. And this is where we should aim to connect – if there’s going to be money being made, let’s carve out a big chunk of it and keep it for improving our community. What do you want to see done with it? Come to the table, let’s chat.

Darryl: It is really nerve racking doing something like that. The average person has no experience at doing this. It isn’t just the fact that you are getting asked a lot of questions while having a camera pointed at you, but also you want to try and get your answers to be meaningful, coherent and factual. I was more fortunate than Ali as I did some media training last year which really helped, although watching us both you would think it was the other way around.

The New Joneses crew were great, though. Tamara was so encouraging and helpful, while Ryan – Toadfish from Neighbours – was excellent at making you feel relaxed and was really interesting to talk to. I didn’t have the heart to tell him the only episode of Neighbours that I had seen was when Kylie was married. It was also good to be one of the five stories from different places. It helps to feel that we are part of something big and great.

What motivated you to speak up about clean energy in Wollongong?

Ali: I have been deeply worried about the future for my kids and we know that climate change is the biggest threat to nature. We live in a beautiful place here on Dharawal Country, I want to protect it. It was then that I learned about the incredible opportunity our community has to act on climate change and benefit from being a renewable energy zone. You’re looking at reduced energy bills, investment in schools, roads, public amenities, and funds to regenerate our beautiful green escarpment and creeks – simply put, a better quality of life. It’s a change we need to embrace; it’s not scary, it’s an exciting new chapter.

Every time I see someone make a kinder choice – like opting for an electric car, installing solar panels, getting off gas – I feel deeply grateful. These actions reflect a shift towards a sustainable way of life. I also acknowledge these things, on an individual level, cost a ton of money. I’m still on the journey and saving my pennies to tick them off. But the most impactful change we can make is on a community level and it’s how we source our energy. As a community, we hold significant influence, and it's time we feel empowered to demand the best for our future.

Darryl: As a coal miner I hated what the Thatcher government did to the coal and steel workers in the UK. It left many communities very depressed and took a lot of years for them to recover. In the USA, billions of dollars has been spent on renewables, but it has been in states like California and Texas. The communities where the coal mines had shut were devastated and countless workers and families were broken. With both of those instances, comes the massive social issues from a severely depressed community. I did not want that for Australia and definitely not for Wollongong. So I started campaigning to highlight that the governments should put renewables where fossil fuel industries will close. Because they will close and we need to be ready for that.

So I get very passionate when people campaign with vested interests against the establishment of renewables, often ignoring the scientific reports. It is also a chance to refute some of the misinformation that people hear. Genuine concerns can and should be addressed, but we should start from a “yes, let’s look at this, assess the impacts and see if we can make it work”, not a “no, I don’t like the idea for whatever reason, so I will debate against them.”

If we don’t try, we will have abandoned all those people who need jobs and our community will struggle. And that is just wrong.

You're both very positive about the Illawarra's future – why?

Ali: We’ve got to be, this is home, I grew up here and it’s where I’m raising my kids. I want local opportunities for them. The view from my deck in Figtree is of the steelworks, soon that place could be making green steel and they will want to be – I can’t imagine they would be too competitive in a global market if they don’t. 

What do you reckon, Darryl?

Darryl: I reckon you are right, Ali. They need to go green or they won't be here.

I have always believed that we achieve success by working together as people and communities. I have worked hard to bridge the divides between activists and miners, the young people and the older generations and any other groups with differences.This is really starting to make a difference with so many groups now working towards a similar goal.

I have also met so many truly caring, passionate and compassionate people in this quest. They give me great optimism that we can achieve some wonderful outcomes that will keep us thriving for many more decades. 

The energy transition has been life changing for you both – what new directions has it sent you in?  

Ali: I’ve had my family, during the early years I took a little break from the paid workforce, since then I have been looking for a new direction. I started my career with a degree in Art Therapy and have worked in varied roles since, now I want to switch to clean energy. I want job security, I want to pay off my enormous HECS debt, I want to provide a good life for my kids and I also want to use my career and all my energy to make a real impact.

We know clean energy is a sector that’s going to boom – like the mining boom did in its day. There’s another one coming and it’s in renewables, I want to be upskilled and ready to hit the ground running when the opportunities roll in locally.

Darryl: I never imagined being on TV, in the papers, or radio or talking at renewable events or rallies, or at a New Energy Conference in Gippsland. I even went to Parliament House in Canberra and presented a proposal for a skills and training audit for the Illawarra region to a federal minister. It is quite amazing that all this has happened. It has certainly made retirement interesting.

Anything else you'd like to add?

Ali: Darryl and I are supporting the push for the federal government to fund Local Energy Hubs in regional communities, this is a joint campaign being run by Community Power Agency, RE-Alliance, Yes to Renewables/Friends of the Earth and the Australian Conservation Foundation. 

A Local Energy Hub is a physical drop-in centre staffed by locals – more jobs, yay! – aiming to provide factual information on the energy transformation for communities. The hub will be somewhere you can walk in and have a chat to learn more about what energy developers are planning locally or simply get help with how to navigate electrifying your house. They’ll be independent of governments and industry and supported by a national body to ensure collaboration and knowledge sharing across regions. They’ll address the lack of clear national communication on energy transformation and ensure that the benefits of the transition are equitably distributed.

Sounds like a pretty good idea to me. Does that cover it, Darryl?

Darryl: It sure does, Ali.

To watch the videos go to thenewjoneses.com or search for The New Joneses on YouTube