The New South Wales
energy minister has blasted his Coalition colleagues in the federal
government for blocking his attempt to debate emissions reduction at an
energy ministers meeting.
Don Harwin said he was “very disappointed” with the outcome of the Council of Australian Governments energy council on Wednesday because an obligation to reduce emissions is “absolutely critical” to encourage investment in new power generation and lower prices.
Before the meeting in Adelaide Harwin challenged the federal energy minister, Angus Taylor, to allow a debate about tasking the Energy Security Board to draw up a new emissions trajectory with an obligation to reduce emissions.
The commonwealth was supported by Liberal states Tasmania and South Australia, but was set to lose a vote five to three before Taylor used procedural grounds to prevent a vote on what he said was “new business”.
The Australian Capital Territory energy minister, Shane Rattenbury, told Guardian Australia the meeting became “extremely tense” and noted NSW had changed position from earlier meetings when only the Labor states and the Australian Capital Territory had called for greater emissions reduction ambition.
The Victorian energy minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, said that Labor’s re-election in her state showed “voters expect governments to take action to reduce emissions” and suggested the NSW government’s renewed vigour on climate shows they have “finally woken up” but it may be “too little too late”.
Harwin said that “all the states and territories want climate and
energy policy brought together”. “They want re-election and they want
the silliness of Canberra to stop and for us to focus on getting a
sensible national approach,” he told reporters in Adelaide.Don Harwin said he was “very disappointed” with the outcome of the Council of Australian Governments energy council on Wednesday because an obligation to reduce emissions is “absolutely critical” to encourage investment in new power generation and lower prices.
Before the meeting in Adelaide Harwin challenged the federal energy minister, Angus Taylor, to allow a debate about tasking the Energy Security Board to draw up a new emissions trajectory with an obligation to reduce emissions.
The commonwealth was supported by Liberal states Tasmania and South Australia, but was set to lose a vote five to three before Taylor used procedural grounds to prevent a vote on what he said was “new business”.
The Australian Capital Territory energy minister, Shane Rattenbury, told Guardian Australia the meeting became “extremely tense” and noted NSW had changed position from earlier meetings when only the Labor states and the Australian Capital Territory had called for greater emissions reduction ambition.
The Victorian energy minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, said that Labor’s re-election in her state showed “voters expect governments to take action to reduce emissions” and suggested the NSW government’s renewed vigour on climate shows they have “finally woken up” but it may be “too little too late”.
“This is an issue that concerns a lot of Australians. This is an issue that people expect their governments to be dealing with. We’ve heard that message and we’re going to keep doing that.”
The meeting adopted South Australia’s proposal to consider emissions in an out-of-session process between meetings, starting in early February.
The federal government has not had a climate change policy since August, when Malcolm Turnbull ditched the emissions reduction component of the national energy guarantee in a bid to save his leadership.
Under Scott Morrison, the Coalition has moved to decrease power prices through competition law measures and a scheme to underwrite new power generation, including from coal power plants, but has failed to release any new emissions reduction measures.
Harwin said the need for an emissions reduction obligation became “crystal clear” in a meeting last week with investors who wanted to increase generation capacity and “by having more supply help bring prices down for the average consumer”.
Harwin said there was “no time for delay” and said it could have been dealt with at Wednesday’s meeting, denying the issue was “new business”.
“We supported the national energy guarantee. Our position hasn’t changed. It’s the federal government’s position that’s changed.
“And it’s not good enough. We want them to reconsider their position. We want Australia to move forward on climate change, not stand still.”
The energy council meeting agreed to laws to impose a reliability obligation on energy retailers, designed to “incentivise investment in dispatchable generation”. South Australia – which is on track to source 75% of its power from renewable sources – was allowed to “enact state specific settings”.
Energy ministers also agreed to prepare for a regulated standing offer price, following a recommendation of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
Victoria has its own legislation for such a price and states noted the federal government should not impose such a price without prior agreement. Taylor told the meeting the commonwealth could impose the price unilaterally.
Taylor said the federal government had “achieved everything we wanted”, citing the reliability obligation, which will apply from 1 July.
“What it means is retailers now are accountable to ensure there’s enough supply in the market years ahead of time to keep prices down and to keep the lights on and to keep Australians in work in those energy-intense industries that are so crucial to our economy,” he said.
Asked about the tussle with NSW, Taylor said: “We didn’t get distracted and had a good outcome.”
He repeated the Morrison government’s mantra that Australia will meet its emissions reduction target of 26% by 2030 “in a canter”, despite the latest emissions data and the climate scientists and economists contradicting the claim.
Taylor said the reliability obligation will “sit alongside” the Coalition’s “underwriting mechanism to attract new dispatchable 24/7 reliable supply”.
Rattenbury said there was “no pathway” for the states to dispute or derail the commonwealth’s underwriting plan.
“It wasn’t up for discussion – the commonwealth have got their pathway, and said they’re doing it.”
The energy council meeting agreed to develop a national hydrogen strategy for consideration by the end of 2019. But a push to change building codes to require seven-star energy ratings in new buildings was deferred at Tasmania’s request.
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