Last week, a new ACCC report showed that treating electricity like a stock market has failed. But in a recommendation that made no sense, it called for more of the same in the vain hope of a different outcome. It also proposed to axe support for rooftop solar and to provide new public funds to gas and coal-fired power stations.
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“The government must immediately rule out this Trump-like proposal to cut support for rooftop solar and provide new subsidies for gas and coal-fired power stations. To bring down power bills and cut pollution, we need more renewable energy, not less,” Greens climate change and energy spokesman Adam Bandt said.
In even more disturbing news, over recent weeks we have seen former PM Tony Abbott – who promised to go quietly to the back bench and not wreck Malcolm Turnbull’s government – doing exactly the opposite by calling for the government to abandon the Paris climate change agreement.
Mr Abbott, perish the thought, is also channelling US President Donald Trump who disappointed all sensible people by pulling out of the Paris agreement several months ago. Mr Abbott tells us he would not have signed up to the Paris treaty had he known the US would withdraw from it.
As reported in The Guardian, Mr Abbott now claims that he didn’t anticipate, as prime minister, “how the aspirational targets we agreed to at Paris would, in different hands, become binding commitments.”
His speech was the culmination of months of campaigning against first the clean energy target recommended by the chief scientist, Alan Finkel, and then the National Energy Guarantee, which would impose emissions reduction and reliability obligations of energy retailers from 2020.
His campaign is also an effort to exploit divisions within the government on the NEG, with some Nationals demanding a transitional fix on coal-fired power as the price of supporting it; and also an effort to rally the Liberal party’s conservative base.
Abbott framed his contribution not as a deliberate wrecking exercise but as an effort to “save” the government. Of course he would. Thank goodness some in politics can call Mr Abbott out on his wrecking tactics. Mr Bandt, for example, slammed Mr Abbott for calling on the government to abandon the Paris agreement.
He said Mr Abbott’s comments coincide with a push from the coal-hugging National Party to establish a $5 billion coal fund, both of which are designed to sabotage the NEG.
Mr Bandt is demanding that Josh Frydenberg provide all details of the government’s energy package before the upcoming COAG meeting in August.
“Tony Abbott will only be satisfied when a verse about coal-fired power stations is inserted into our national anthem,” Mr Bandt said.
Abbott and the Nationals are working together to try and water down the already inadequate NEG and sabotage effective action to combat dangerous global warming.
As Mr Bandt pointed out: “Since this government came to power, we’ve gone from world leading climate change legislation to rising pollution and a touted $5 billion coal fund.”
Indeed, it as clear as daylight that any push to subsidise coal will affect how the NEG works.
Full transparency is essential so that states and territories know exactly what they’re being asked to sign up to, and for us to know what to expect.
