Mr Chester said he was planning to vote against the CPRS legislation which had been reintroduced to the House of Representatives.

``I fear that several thousand jobs will be at risk in my electorate over the next 10 to 15 years under this scheme,'' Mr Chester told Federal Parliament.

``My electorate is one of the most exposed to this policy of any community in Australia, perhaps even the most exposed when you consider the existence of the Latrobe Valley brown coal generators, the oil and gas industry and the quite large dairy industry in the Macalister Irrigation District.

``The flow-on impacts or flow-on benefits from these industries provide enormous opportunities for private contractors and the overall wealth of the Gippsland-Latrobe Valley region and the broader Victorian economy.''

Mr Chester stressed the need for Latrobe Valley power generators to stay viable to invest in clean coal technology but said current compensation levels were $7 billion short of the predicted asset value loss.

``The government has offered generators $3 billion in compensation, but the loss in asset value is more likely to be in the vicinity of $10 billion,'' he said.