Energy minister says electricity sector wants stability, ‘not necessarily handouts’ suggesting renewables won’t be subsidised b after 2020
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| Josh Frydenberg said industry is ‘looking for a settled bipartisan investment climate’ in a speech that hinted the clean energy target may be abandoned. Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP |
The energy minister, Josh Frydenberg,
says Australia’s electricity sector is looking for stability, “not
necessarily” for handouts, in a signal the Turnbull government is poised
to abandon the clean energy target.
In comments to an energy summit on Monday, Frydenberg pointed to the falling costs of renewable energy as one of the calculations in the government’s consideration of the clean energy target recommended by the chief scientist, Alan Finkel.
Asking whether the falling costs of renewables meant Australia no longer need a clean energy target, which subsidises renewables, Frydenberg said: “Industry is looking for stability, they’re not necessarily looking for a handout.
“What they’re looking for is a settled bipartisan investment climate whether there are subsidies or not.”
The Turnbull government is finalising its new investment framework for energy policy, which it wants to settle during the remaining parliamentary sitting weeks before the summer recess.
Given it faces considerable internal opposition,
it has been clear for some time the government would not adopt the
clean energy target modelled in the Finkel review, and would look to
rule changes in the national electricity market as one of the
foundations of the overhaul.
Frydenberg’s comments to the Australian Financial Review summit on Monday suggest the government is not convinced renewable energy requires ongoing subsidies once the current renewable energy target winds down after 2020.
But asked by reporters in Sydney whether the government had abandoned the Finkel recommendation, Malcolm Turnbull hedged.
“What we are determined to do is to ensure that energy is reliable, affordable and that we meet our emissions reduction commitments that we have made through the Paris agreement,” the prime minister said.
Speaking to the AFR summit, the chief scientist dismissed the point that the falling cost for renewables meant a clean energy target was no longer required.
Finkel told the gathering a clean energy target was a framework allowing an orderly transition away from carbon-intensive power sources to low-emissions power sources.
“It remains a useful tool even if there is an extreme rate of reduction in the price of the new technologies,” Finkel said. “You need a managed transition.”
Speaking immediately after Finkel, the Labor leader, Bill Shorten, called for a truce in the decade-long climate wars, and urged Turnbull to hold the line.
Shorten said it was “troubling” to see signals from the government that they intended to dump the clean energy target. The Labor leader said Turnbull had previously argued the Finkel recommendation had a lot of merit.
“Walking away is the worst possible option. It would leave investors in the lurch, sentence business to more uncertainty, more chopping and changing,” Shorten told the summit.
“It would make Australia’s job harder to reduce emissions.
“If Turnbull caves in to Tony Abbott and a ... rump of conservative backbenchers and walks away from a clean energy target, it will mean continued higher prices for Australian families and Australian industry.
“It is a simple choice that Mr Turnbull faces – work with Labor to deliver a clean energy target that is meaningful, or lock in higher power bills for businesses and families.”
Links
In comments to an energy summit on Monday, Frydenberg pointed to the falling costs of renewable energy as one of the calculations in the government’s consideration of the clean energy target recommended by the chief scientist, Alan Finkel.
Asking whether the falling costs of renewables meant Australia no longer need a clean energy target, which subsidises renewables, Frydenberg said: “Industry is looking for stability, they’re not necessarily looking for a handout.
“What they’re looking for is a settled bipartisan investment climate whether there are subsidies or not.”
The Turnbull government is finalising its new investment framework for energy policy, which it wants to settle during the remaining parliamentary sitting weeks before the summer recess.
Frydenberg’s comments to the Australian Financial Review summit on Monday suggest the government is not convinced renewable energy requires ongoing subsidies once the current renewable energy target winds down after 2020.
But asked by reporters in Sydney whether the government had abandoned the Finkel recommendation, Malcolm Turnbull hedged.
“What we are determined to do is to ensure that energy is reliable, affordable and that we meet our emissions reduction commitments that we have made through the Paris agreement,” the prime minister said.
Speaking to the AFR summit, the chief scientist dismissed the point that the falling cost for renewables meant a clean energy target was no longer required.
Finkel told the gathering a clean energy target was a framework allowing an orderly transition away from carbon-intensive power sources to low-emissions power sources.
“It remains a useful tool even if there is an extreme rate of reduction in the price of the new technologies,” Finkel said. “You need a managed transition.”
Speaking immediately after Finkel, the Labor leader, Bill Shorten, called for a truce in the decade-long climate wars, and urged Turnbull to hold the line.
Shorten said it was “troubling” to see signals from the government that they intended to dump the clean energy target. The Labor leader said Turnbull had previously argued the Finkel recommendation had a lot of merit.
“Walking away is the worst possible option. It would leave investors in the lurch, sentence business to more uncertainty, more chopping and changing,” Shorten told the summit.
“It would make Australia’s job harder to reduce emissions.
“If Turnbull caves in to Tony Abbott and a ... rump of conservative backbenchers and walks away from a clean energy target, it will mean continued higher prices for Australian families and Australian industry.
“It is a simple choice that Mr Turnbull faces – work with Labor to deliver a clean energy target that is meaningful, or lock in higher power bills for businesses and families.”
Links
- Back to the future as old climate battlelines re-emerge
- Shorten pledges to overhaul energy market and renewable investment rules
- Climate crunch: Australia to fail on Paris commitments without massive renewable switch
- Tony Abbott says dumping clean energy target would help Coalition win election
- Alan Finkel urges Turnbull to adopt clean energy target before states act
- Turnbull rejects efforts to ‘dumb down’ energy debate into renewables v coal
- Greens warn Labor not to do clean energy deal that protects coal power
- Coalition's Finkel response won't rule out new coal power stations, PM says
- Barnaby Joyce: I'll support a clean energy target – if coal is included
- Malcolm Turnbull leaves open alternative to clean energy target after internal criticism
- 'Too early to say' if Coalition will back clean energy target, Frydenberg says
- BlueScope Steel backs low emissions target as way to achieve energy balance
- Power prices will soar if energy policy doesn't change, Frydenberg warns
- Berejiklian to extend coalmine
- Shorten’s green jobs vision
- No surprise over CET end
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