Extract from ABC News
Updated
South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill will call on
state and territory leaders to establish an emissions trading scheme
without federal leadership at a COAG meeting on Friday.
Key points:
- Federal Government will not impose carbon tax, emissions trading scheme
- Jay Weatherill will propose states unite to implement their own carbon scheme
- Mr Weatherill expects the scheme to lower SA's electricity prices
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has since made it clear that his Government would not impose a carbon tax or an emissions trading scheme, after two days of confusion about a review of climate change policies.
Mr Weatherill said he had preliminary discussions with some premiers but would outline the proposal in more detail on Friday.
"[States would] simply join together and exercise their own carbon emissions intensity scheme," he told the ABC's AM program.
"We have had advice that this is certainly possible."
State and territory governments called for a national state-based scheme a decade ago when majority Labor governments were in power.
A discussion paper was prepared by the National Emissions Trading Taskforce but the proposal was abandoned once Kevin Rudd became prime minister in 2007 and introduced a carbon tax.
Mr Weatherill said he would prefer a national bipartisan scheme that would provide long-term certainty for investors but claimed the Federal Government was "very firmly bought and sold by the coal club".
"We have seen that in the space of the last 24 hours," he said.
"An emissions intensity scheme that they were going to press ahead with has been binned."
New South Wales Liberal Premier Mike Baird has all but ruled out a state-led emissions trading scheme.
"It would seem an unusual approach for state governments to go alone," he said.Northern Territory Chief Minister Michael Gunner said he supported Mr Weatherill's proposal for national action, while Queensland Premier Anna Palaszczuk said she would discuss the proposal with her South Australian counterpart before commenting.
Government backtracks on scope of review
On Monday, Mr Frydenberg announced an energy review that would examine the best ways to meet Australia's climate commitments and told the ABC that an emission intensity scheme was being considered.Decade of backflips over emissions trading
On December 10, 2016, it will be 10 years since John Howard announced an investigation into an emissions trading scheme. Since then we have seen dizzying U-turns.
Within hours, the proposal was criticised by Liberal backbenchers including Cory Berardi who described it as "one of the dumbest things" he had heard and warned there would be political costs.
The next day, Mr Frydenberg said he did not mention an emissions intensity scheme and was instead focused on keeping electricity prices low.
The Financial Review reports Australia's Chief Scientist Alan Finkel will recommend the scheme as the best way to more away from coal towards gas and renewable energy, despite the Government refusing to consider it.
Mr Weatherill said an emissions intensity scheme would lower electricity prices in South Australia.
Video: Carbon price for power companies will be considered, Josh Frydenberg says (ABC News)
"It would put downward pressure on prices because you would introduce more competition in the South Australian energy market."
'Complete bunkum'
Treasurer Scott Morrison said Labor's claim the Prime Minister had caved into pressure from the right wing of his party was "complete bunkum"."This is a fabricated position that is being put to me," he told Sky News.
Mr Morrison said the energy review was a low-level housekeeping procedure and had caused a national overreaction.
"The Government has never been contemplating the issue of an emissions trading scheme or a carbon tax," he said.
Mr Turnbull dismissed Mr Weatherill's proposal and accused him of putting South Australian jobs at risk.
"The South Australian Labor Government has delivered a double whammy of not being able to keep the lights on and having the most expensive energy prices in Australia," he told Melbourne's 3AW Radio.
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