Greens leader Adam Bandt declares Australia’s energy crisis is ‘a failure of privatisation’

Greens leader Adam Bandt has declared Australia’s embarrassing energy crisis is a failure of privatisation, calling for huge changes for the future.

Greens leader Adam Bandt has declared Australia’s ongoing energy crisis as a failure of privatisation, claiming the government “wrote the rules to suit big corporations”.

This week, the The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) took the extraordinary step of suspending the electricity market across the nation effective immediately in a bid to avoid mass blackouts.

The drastic intervention means the AEMO will now be in charge of directing supplies from energy providers to the power grid.

AEMO said it had taken the unprecedented step amid soaring electricity costs “because it has become impossible to continue operating the spot market while ensuring a secure and reliable supply of electricity for consumers”.

It’s the first time the national market – which includes Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, NSW and the ACT – has been suspended since creation in 1998.

“Governments wrote the rules to suit big corporations, not you,” Bandt tweeted on Thursday, suggesting big changes must be made as the nation slowly transitions to renewable energy.

The Greens have remained adamant against Australia ramping up coal usage or opening up more gas to deal with burgeoning power issues.

“Electricity is an essential service, and as we shift to 100 per cent renewables & support people, it‘s time to talk about how we get power in public hands again,” Bandt said.

Residents braced for the worst last night as NSW Treasurer and Energy Minister Matt Kean told Sydney residents to reduce energy usage, including the specific warning to refrain from using dishwashers, between 5.30pm and 8.30pm.

Privatisation has failed.

The energy ‘market’ has failed.

Governments wrote the rules to suit big corporations, not you.

Electricity is an essential service, and as we shift to 100% renewables & support people, it's time to talk about how we get power in public hands again.

— Adam Bandt (@AdamBandt) June 16, 2022

South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas also blasted the energy crisis, claiming the embarrassment speaks to “mass-market failure” and “long-term policy failure”.

“I don’t think the energy wars and the climate wars have served our nation very well at all,” he told Sky News Australia, going on to say the “collapsing” market should be of “great concern” to Australians.

“But that doesn’t necessarily get us anywhere, what we need now is thoughtful policy leadership.”

On the other hand, Sky News host Andrew Bolt believed the power crisis has been brought on by the Albanese Government “socialising businesses” barely a month after being elected.

“Welcome to the green socialism of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese,” Mr Bolt said, claiming the AEMO’s decision was the government “essentially stealing electricity generators that investors paid billions for and making them operate at a loss”.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Albanese warned power companies they have a responsibility to their customers amid the nation’s energy crisis.

Speaking with ABC Radio’s Paul Culliver, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said energy companies had to put their customers first.

Greens leader Adam Bandt has declared Australia’s ongoing energy crisis as a failure of privatisation, claiming the government ‘wrote the rules to suit big corporations’.

Five states across Australia have spent the week facing potential power outage fears. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw.

“My message to the energy companies is that they have a responsibility to their customers, whether they be households or businesses, to do the right thing,” Mr Albanese said.

“We need to end the sort of nonsense that we’ve seen over the last decade, where we had 22 different energy policies announced, but none of them landed.

“We’ve got one policy. We’re going to land it. We’re going to implement it. And it will make a difference because it will provide the certainty that business requires to be able to invest.”

It came as incoming Greens Griffith MP Max Chandler-Mather slammed the Albanese Government for refusing to rule out increasing coal-fired power output to deal with energy shortages.

“Fire chiefs and climate scientists are begging Labor to take urgent climate action – but instead, they’re doing the complete opposite by backing massive new gas projects,” he said.

“Across the country, millions of people have backed the Greens and climate independents because they’re sick of the major parties’ addiction to coal and gas.”

While several states were plunged into an electricity crisis, the AEMO believed generators were withholding 2000 megawatts of power, which had not been bid into the market in NSW and Queensland.

Chair of the Australian Energy Regulator Clare Savage warned that “market participants must not, by any act or omission, whether intentionally or recklessly, cause or significantly contribute to the circumstances causing a direction to be issues, without reasonable cause”.

“This behaviour may be motivated by generators seeking to avoid the administered pricing compensation process in favour of the AEMO directions compensation process,” she said.

— with Jessica Wang

Originally published as Greens leader Adam Bandt declares Australia’s energy crisis is ‘a failure of privatisation’