Territory Labor’s energy policies, like its electric vehicle strategy, has abandoned the battlers and appeased the wealthy

Territory Labor seems to have forgotten its roots when it comes to the NT’s energy policy, which has abandoned the battlers and appeased the wealthy, writes MATT CUNNINGHAM

THERE’S little difference between the two main political parties in this country.

Even less in the Northern Territory.

But if you had to try to boil each one down to its fundamental principles, you might say the CLP/Liberal/National parties believe in free market enterprise and the rights of the individual, while the Labor Party supports a system of larger government ensuring a more even distribution of wealth.

To over-simplify it; the CLP is the party of business and bosses, Labor the party for the battlers.

But there’s one policy area where Labor seems to have completely forgotten its roots.

Instead, it’s developed policy that appears to have been framed to suit someone living in Toorak who can’t decide if they’ll vote Liberal or Green.

Up until February 2020, the NT Government offered a one-for-one feed-in-tariff for solar energy fed back into the electricity grid. Picture: AAP Image/Lucy Hughes Jones

Territory Labor’s energy policy has abandoned the battlers and instead supported initiatives that provide generous taxpayer subsidies to the wealthiest members of society.

Consider its recent policy on rooftop solar. Until last year the NT Government offered a one-for-one feed-in-tariff for solar energy fed back into the electricity grid.

This meant a household who installed solar panels could effectively receive free or close-to-free electricity.

But who did this policy benefit? Only those wealthy enough to A; buy their own home, and B; fork out the $10,000 plus to put solar panels on the roof. Pity the poor battler in a rented commission house – they’re still paying full bottle.

Labor kept the one-for-one feed-in-tariff far longer than it should have, ignoring warnings that the uptake in rooftop solar was putting grid stability at risk.

Surely a more Labor-friendly policy would have been to reduce that tariff sooner and use the savings to put more solar on public housing. Those installations could then have been staggered to prevent grid instability, and low-income earners could have enjoyed the same cheap electricity available to their wealthy neighbours.

Instead, Labor kept this generous feed-in-tariff until last year. It was eventually cut last February - from 24 cents per kilowatt hour down to eight – amid warnings from the Utilities Commission that we were on a sure path to a blackout. But the policy was grandfathered so those lucky (and wealthy) enough to already be getting free electricity could continue to do so.

Last week the NT Government released its Electric Vehicle Strategy and Implementation Plan.

Again, it was a policy that was more bourgeoisie than battler.

The NT government is proposing subsidies for those who purchase an electric vehicle, like the increasingly popular Tesla models. Picture: ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

The Government is proposing free registration for five years and a $1500 reduction on stamp duty for electric vehicles from July next year. This is great news if you’ve got a lazy $60,000 to spend on a new Model 3 Tesla. But while the Fannie Bay silvertails are enjoying free rego, in Hermannsburg they’ll still be paying full price on a Commodore.

The Government’s implementation plan included a survey that showed 76 per cent of respondents believed EV use should be encouraged by subsidising reduced stamp duty and registrations costs. It didn’t say how many respondents there had been or where they were from.

But I’d hazard a guess they didn’t ask too many owners of Toyota Landcruisers who need a 4WD to get from their community to the nearest major centre because of the deplorable state of the NT’s unsealed remote roads. If it’s possible, the uptake in EVs might see the state of those goat tracks get even worse.

While the Territory is proposing a free ride for EV owners, other states are introducing road-user charges to compensate for the drop in fuel excise revenue, which is used to help maintain roads.

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In New South Wales the government will impose a road-user charge of 2.5 cents per kilometre for electric vehicles from 2027.

The NT Government’s plan makes no mention of any such charge.

This is not to say the government shouldn’t be doing its bit to reduce emissions. But there are ways this can be done without handing generous subsidies to those members of our society who need them the least.

A decent, electrified public transport system, for instance, might be a better option than free rego for electric vehicles.

Yet the Government’s plan makes just one passing suggestion to “investigate” the “feasibility” of “trialling” low and zero emission buses.

These policies are very un-Labor-like – certainly in the traditional sense. But they might prove popular.

Giving free stuff to people who don’t really need it has proved an incredibly successful election strategy in this part of the country.