Malcolm Turnbull warns against protectionism during National Press Club speech

MALCOLM Turnbull believes coal will be part of Australia’s energy future and says the country needs reliable sources of electricity.

MALCOLM Turnbull has talked up the role of coal in Australia’s energy future and says the country needs reliable sources of electricity.

“Coal does have a role in the future,” the Prime Minister told the National Press Club today, adding that Australia was the world’s largest exporter of coal.

“We’ve invested $590 million since 2009 in clean coal technology research and demonstration and yet we do not have one modern high-efficiency low-emissions coal-fired power station, let alone one with carbon capture and storage.

“You’d think if anyone had a vested interest in showing that you could do really smart, clean things with coal, it would be us, wouldn’t you?”

Mr Turnbull called on all governments to co-operate on achieving the trifecta of affordable, reliable and secure electricity.

Labor wants the RET lifted to 50 per cent by 2030, which Mr Turnbull dismissed as “a mindless rush into renewables”.

“Bill Shorten’s energy plan whether it is a 50 per cent RET by 2030 or double our Paris emissions reduction target by 2030 is a sure recipe to deliver much more expensive and much less reliable power,” he said.

Mr Shorten on Tuesday told the National Press Club there were real jobs — for blue collar workers, engineers and designers — in renewables.

Conservative backbenchers — notably Tony Abbott — have been urging the prime minister to take the fight to Labor over energy policy, as well as to dump the renewable energy target.

Mr Turnbull said energy policy was not an abstract issue because higher electricity bills hurt household budgets.

“The battlelines have been drawn: it is clear that the coalition stands for cheaper energy,” he said.

“We are approaching this issue clear-eyed, pragmatic and objective. Labor’s approach is driven simply by ideology, heedless of cost or the thousands of jobs that it will destroy.”

Mr Turnbull has pledged to keep the 23 per cent renewable energy target intact, noting it was reviewed and cut from 27 per cent under Mr Abbott’s leadership.

On Wednesday he revealed the Clean Energy Finance Council and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency will now prioritise funding for large-scale storage and other flexible capacity projects, including pumped hydro.

Chief Scientist Alan Finkel will also provide advice on the role they can play in stabilising the electricity grid.

Mr Turnbull said it was an indictment on state governments that they had been pushing more renewable energy into their grids without thinking about how to back up variable sources such as wind.

“We have really underdone on storage in Australia,” he said.

Australia needs better energy storage to ensure electricity reliability, the PM says.

WARNING AGAINST ‘PROTECTIONISM’

Mr Turnbull also warned against the “bleak dead-end of protectionism” in comments that are a stark contrast to US President Donald Trump’s moves on free trade.

He said competition for capital and skilled labour was fiercer today than ever.

“We must compete aggressively to export our services in education, health, engineering, tourism and more — and we must pursue even greater access for our agriculture and our manufacturers,” Mr Turnbull said.

“We cannot retreat into the bleak dead-end of protectionism.”

While Mr Turnbull did not mention Mr Trump in his speech, he did note America’s withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal between 12 countries including Australia.

“Although disappointed by America’s withdrawal from the TPP we continue to work to open more markets for our exports with negotiations under way with India, Indonesia, the European Union and in due course the United Kingdom,” he said.

“Whatever other countries may think, it is very clear — that for Australia, more trade means more exports which means more jobs and more opportunity.

“We pursue even greater global access to the global economy because it’s good for jobs, good for investment and good for Australia.”

He said political opportunists wanted higher barriers to trade and investment but they were just offering false promises.

“They were doing nothing more than playing on the fears and hardships of those in the community who feel they had not shared in the benefits of globalisation and technological change,” he said.

“They offer the false promise that subsidies and trade barriers under the banner of Australia First are the answer to protecting jobs.

“We have seen that film and it’s not a pretty one.”

There has been concern about growing US protectionism under the leadership of Mr Trump, who withdrew America from the Trans-Pacific Partnership as one of his first acts in office.

But there is also growing protectionism in other developed economies — not only the United States — where globalisation is increasingly regarded as a responsible for sending jobs abroad and eroding living standards.

Europe hopes to restart dormant free trade talks with Gulf states partly in response to the “worrisome” rise of protectionism from the new American government, a European Commission vice-president said Tuesday.