Malcolm Turnbull says only the threat of losing seats or power would drive the federal government to adopt what he believes to be a credible international position on carbon pollution reduction as he voiced disappointment in the lack of clean energy commitments in the budget.
“I’d say only the prospect of electoral defeat, whether that’s at the hands of the Labor Party, which would seem implausible, or independents who are supporters of climate action,” Mr Turnbull said in response to a question about what would prompt more government action after a speech at a conference hosted by the Smart Energy Council.
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NSW Energy & Environment Minister Matt Kean with former prime
minister Malcolm Turnbull at the Smart Energy conference on
Wednesday. Credit: Steven Siewert
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Mr Turnbull said Australia could increase its commitments to reduce carbon pollution and have cheaper energy as a result if it was not for entrenched coal support in the government.
“This is the craziness right? ... Those people who want to hang on to coal and gas are basically arguing for higher electricity prices and higher emissions,” he said.
Climate policy 
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| Australia pressured to step up climate action during G7 talks |
Mr Turnbull said he believed moderates had been passive by comparison to the Right in the Coalition due to the Right’s support from the “toxic combination of the fossil fuel lobby, right-wing partisan media, and right-wing sentiment”.
He again voiced his support for the independent candidate Kirsty O’Connell in the NSW Upper Hunter byelection over the Nationals’ David Layzell.
Mr Turnbull said he was disappointed the federal budget did not include more support for clean energy infrastructure, saying no new major investments in urgently needed long-term storage projects had been made since he announced the Snowy Hydro 2 project and the plan to link Tasmania’s hydro power to the mainland via an undersea cable.
He said the national grid needed the equivalent of eight times the long duration storage capacity of the Snowy Hydro 2 pumped hydro project to support the amount of renewable energy needed to ensure reliable cheap power.
Economist Nicki Hutley told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age she was also disappointed the government did not provide better support to clean energy or the environment in the budget.
“This budget was an opportunity for a game changer on climate, but there was nothing there. Around the world average [national] spending from COVID-19 recovery packages on clean energy is 20 per cent, in Australia it is 0.02 per cent,” she said.
“The word ‘renewables’ did not appear. They could have stimulated the economy, created jobs and created a positive environmental outcome, but they chose not to,” she said.
Emissions 
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| Morrison eyes deeper emissions cuts, but avoids deadline to hit net zero |
Under the Paris climate agreement Australia is committed to reducing emissions by 26 to 28 per cent by 2030.
The nation has not set a target to reach net zero, with the government saying it would get there as soon as possible through technologies, but warning of the economic risks of setting deadlines without a complete picture of where the emissions reductions would come from, and what they would cost.
Australia’s approach is at odds with other developed nations’ increasingly ambitious climate policy, with the US, UK, Japan and Canada committing to reach net zero by mid-century and setting ambitious emissions reduction goals for 2030.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg used his budget speech to emphasise the government’s climate ambitions.
“Australia is on the pathway to net zero and our goal is to get there as soon as we possibly can, preferably by 2050,” he said. “We will do this with a practical, technology-focused approach. Technology not taxes.”
Paris Agreement 
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| Morrison’s long walk to net zero |
Mr Turnbull spoke at the conference after NSW Energy
Minister Matt Kean, who recently appointed him and then sacked him as chairman of the newly created Net Zero Emissions and Clean Energy Board, created to advise the state government on emissions reductions.
Smart Energy Council chief executive John Grimes told the conference Australia risked becoming the Kodak of nations by missing out on massive opportunities in clean energy due to the “willful” blindness of the federal government.
“We have to change our thinking from one of extraction to one of creation,” he said, arguing by electrifying manufacturing with renewables Australia could export value-added goods rather than “dirt”.
He said because energy was a cost in nearly every economic transaction, bringing down its costs benefited the entire economy.
Links
- (AU RMIT/ABC Fact Check) Kevin Rudd And Malcolm Turnbull Said 70 Per Cent Of Our Trade Is With Nations Committed To Net-Zero Emissions. Is That Correct?
- (AU The Guardian) Australia’s Ambition On Climate Change Is Held Back By A Toxic Mix Of Rightwing Politics, Media And Vested Interests
- (AU) Malcolm Turnbull Has The Right Vision But Once Again Tricky Politics Got In The Way
- Former Australian PMs Put Murdoch In The Hot Seat On Climate Change
- Malcolm Turnbull Blasts Liberal Party For Being 'Incapable' Of Climate Change Action
- Turnbull Says Climate Change Has Become A 'Third Rail' For Liberal Party
- he Global Rightward Shift On Climate Change
- Australia 'Unfairly Shirking Global Responsibilities' On Climate Change
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