Backbenchers challenge Turnbull over Clean Energy Target
MALCOLM Turnbull is staring down backbench unrest over the proposed Clean Energy Target, with more than 20 Coalition MPs raising concerns about the government’s energy policy.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Energy Minister defends Chief Scientist clean energy plan
- Chief scientist’s green scheme could save households hundreds
- Citizenship, energy to dominate parliament
PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull is staring down backbench unrest over the proposed Clean Energy Target, with at least 22 Coalition MPs raising concerns in a closed partyroom meeting tonight.
In a marathon meeting that required a second sitting lasting over three hours, former PM Tony Abbott was among a group Liberal and National MPs who queried the chief scientist’s proposal in various degrees of ferocity.
The energy policy — which would see electricity prices fall by $90 a year — is politically sensitive for Mr Turnbull, who lost the Liberal leadership in 2009 after committing to an emissions reduction scheme.
The others including Victorian MP Kevin Andrews, West Australians Rick Wilson, Andrew Hastie, Chris Back and Ben Morton, South Australian Tony Pasin and Nationals Ken O’Dowd, Bridget McKenzie, Mark Coulton, Andrew Broad, George Christensen and Andrew Gee raised concerns about the proposals.
About 11 MPs were stridently against those recommendations. Mr Abbott on Monday said it was “effectively, a tax on coal”.
But Mr Turnbull yesterday rejected that characterisation. He said the proposal would “not penalise coal, it does not prohibit the construction of a coal-fired power station”.
“What (Dr Finkel) seeks to do there is to provide incentives for lower emission technologies including but not exclusively renewables,” he said.
Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg last night said it was “too early to say” whether his colleagues would support a Clean Energy Target.
“Many colleagues want to understand what is the true impact on price of the clean energy target,” Mr Frydenberg told the ABC.
A handful of MPs also spoke in favour of it.
Some MPs raising concerns were not opposed to a scheme, with several referring to the Finkel report as a good starting point for an energy policy which could be strengthened with changes.
The Clean Energy Target would replace the current renewable energy target by 2020 as part of Australia’s commitment to reach the emissions cuts in the Paris climate agreement.
Labor is open to the plan, but any move to accommodate more coal power would jeopardise that support.
‘Don’t call me a Teal’: David Pocock on politics, rugby and fatherhood
In an exclusive interview, new dad David Pocock opens up about shielding his new baby from the brutality of politics, shedding the ghost of rugby stardom and why he’s a different type of independent.
Ray quickly and quietly downsizes
Award-winning media veteran Ray Martin, who has quietly sold his Waverton home of 35 years, has bought in nearby Cammeray.