A day out from the federal election, Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes is halfway through a campaign of his own. Speaking to a handful of true-believers at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney’s church of modern science, the billionaire’s message is clear: AGL Energy must not be allowed to split.

The demerger would see the giant electricity and gas supplier divided in two: Accel Energy – “bad AGL” – with the existing coal-fired power station assets, and a “good” AGL Australia, with most of the renewable plays and the valuable retail business.