Media Release
Mark Butler MP.
Shadow Minister for
Climate Change and Energy
Labor has won agreement from the Government
on a package that will secure the future of the Australian Renewable
Energy Agency (ARENA).
Labor created ARENA and the Clean Energy Finance
Corporation (CEFC) and only Labor can be trusted to protect our
renewable energy industry.
Under Labor renewable energy boomed, jobs in the
industry tripled and growth in the number of households with rooftop
solar went from 7,400 to 1.2 million.
Australia under Labor was rated one of the four
most attractive destinations for renewable energy investment – with the
US, China and Germany. This ranking plummeted under the Abbott-Turnbull
Government.
Labor has consistently resisted attempts by the
Abbott-Turnbull Government to undermine the renewable energy industry,
and we are doing so again today.
Through Labor’s strong advocacy, Labor has won
an agreement with the Government to provide ARENA with secured funding
of $800 million over 5 years. According to ARENA, this level of funding
will allow it to continue its important work.
This funding is in addition to the funding ARENA
has in place to complete around 200 existing projects and to fund the
large scale solar projects announced on 8 September.
Importantly, this package will also deliver the
industry some much needed certainty after three years of attacks by the
Abbott-Turnbull Government.
Labor took a comprehensive package of credible climate change policies to the election, including:
· $300 million of funding for ARENA;
· a commitment to 50 per cent renewable energy by 2030; and
· $300
million for a strategic industries fund to ensure emission intensive
industries and their workers are able to make the transition to a clean
energy economy.
We promised strong climate change policies at the election and we will continue to deliver on those policies.
That is why as part of this package, Labor
has also secured the Government’s agreement for the Minister for
Environment and Energy, the Hon Josh Frydenberg to meet with me, to
discuss the profile of remaining funds over the forward estimates and a
forward work program, which:
(a) safeguards Australia's reputation as a
world leader in research and innovation in renewable energy, building
on the work of our universities and CSIRO; and
(b) ensures there is support for
demonstration or 'proof of concept' stage development where debt and
equity finance is insufficient to support projects.
In addition, Labor and the Government have
agreed to discussions about opportunities for bipartisan agreement
around policies to:
(a) accelerate the transition to a modern,
clean energy system that delivers reliable, affordable energy to
Australian households and business, and
(b) ensure that this transition is - to
use the terms of the Paris Agreement - a 'just transition' for impacted
workers and communities.
The package Labor has secured will strengthen
renewables in Australia, while also assisting in the task of budget
repair that is fair.
We remain committed to effective climate change
and energy policy, and we have heard the clear calls from the community,
business and environment groups for this Parliament to develop a
greater level of bipartisanship in these policy areas.
This agreement is a first step in what Labor
hopes will be a new effort to reach a bipartisan approach to renewable
energy and climate change policy more broadly.
The onus is now on the Government to move away
from ineffective policies and past deep divisions over climate change
and energy policy, towards what Australians want and expect from the new
Parliament: real action on a clean energy future.
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