PM Malcolm Turnbull faces backlash over energy

MALCOLM Turnbull is set to address calls for Australia to become a republic but monarchists warn any breakaway talk could cost him votes.

PM Malcolm Turnbull with state and Territory leaders at the COAG Meeting last week. Picture: Kym Smith

MALCOLM Turnbull is set to address calls for Australia to break away from the UK as a republic this weekend.

The Prime Minister is due to give a speech at the 25th anniversary dinner of the Australian Republican Movement at Sydney University on Saturday night.

Despite being a founding member and former chair of the movement, Mr Turnbull has effectively put the issue on ice as Prime Minister until now.

“It is an occasion to honour those who’ve got us to this point, and the PM is, of course, at the forefront of our founding fathers and mothers,” national chair Peter Fitzsimons said in a statement on Monday.

The Australian Monarchist League warned Mr Turnbull would lose more voters to minor parties like One Nation by actively supporting the republican movement.

“Malcolm Turnbull is forgetting the reality of politics,” chair Philip Benwell said.

“We know that more coalition voters support the constitutional monarchy than not — they are prepared to tolerate Malcolm Turnbull because he has made the proviso ‘not yet’.”

It comes as the Prime Minister faces a fresh headache today on energy security with the market regulator set to recommend two multi-billion dollar infrastructure projects to stabilise the nation’s energy network.

Mr Turnbull came under fire last week from his own party, the energy industry and the Opposition after carbon pricing was put back on the agenda.

He was forced to rule out an emissions intensity scheme for power companies, a carbon tax or any form of emissions trading scheme after an outcry from his backbench despite a report from Chief Scientist Alan Finkel noting an EIS would be a low cost solution.

PM Malcolm Turnbull has been criticised by his own political party after carbon pricing was put back on the agenda. Picture: Kym Smith

The Australian Energy Market Operator reported today that Australia’s power grid needs a multi-billion dollar upgrade to safeguard future energy supply amid the shift away from coal-fired power stations.

The next 20 years will see unprecedented transformation in the power industry as it transitions to a low-carbon future.

It’s calling for major interconnector development, costing between $1 billion and $3 billion, to help the connection of renewable generation to existing infrastructure.

In the AEMO’s latest national transmission network development plan, it says a new interconnector could be built between South Australia and NSW or Victoria as well as a second Bass Strait link.

The network, historically designed to transport energy from traditional coal and gas generation centres, will be asked to support large-scale renewable generation, including 32 gigawatts of new wind and solar generation to be connected by 2036.

Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg speaks in front of the Aurora Australis, docked in Hobart before departing to Antarctica Picture: Luke Bowden

“In short - we’re projecting that a more decentralised grid must be a more interconnected grid,” AEMO chair Tony Marxsen said.

The energy industry believes new interconnectors would make the system worse off and has renewed calls for a national climate and energy strategy. “In the absence of a national climate and energy strategy, it is difficult to predict what conditions a new interconnector will be dealing with in 10 years, let alone by the end of its working life,” Australian Energy Council chief executive Matthew Warren said.

“These are 50-year assets that have material impacts on generation at both ends of the line. The risk is they increase costs without necessarily solving the system security problem they were meant to fix.”

Federal Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg said renewable energy targets in SA, Victoria and Queensland were driving up power costs and putting energy security at risk.

Meanwhile, the Commonwealth faces more demands on its coffers for infrastructure funding from the resource states.

WA and QLD are calling for more infrastructure funding to stave off an economic downturn after the mining construction boom, The Australian reports.

Queensland is pushing for the Turnbull Government to add more funds on top of a ‘city deal’ it announced for Townsville at Friday’s Council of Australian Government’s meeting.

WA is pushing for a similar city deal to gain infrastructure funding for Perth.

Both states backed NSW Premier Mike Baird’s calls on Friday for extra infrastructure spending to boost the nation’s economy following the release of data showing the worst quarter of economic growth for eight years.

Originally published as PM Malcolm Turnbull faces backlash over energy