By James Massola, Adam Morton and Heath Aston
Australian households could save about $90 a year, or up to $1000 on their electricity bills over a decade to 2030 under a Clean Energy Target proposed by the Finkel review of the electricity sector, compared to a business-as-usual scenario.
As the long-awaited review was released on Friday at a Council of Australian Governments meeting, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull promised a CET was "no barrier to building a coal-fired power station", in a carefully calibrated message to conservative MPs who have already expressed concern about the scheme.
"There is nothing in the Clean Energy Target that would prevent a new coal-fired power station being built. It would provide an incentive for lower emissions technologies, however," he said.
But Mr Turnbull and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg will likely face a barrage of questions from conservative MPs about the CET - and whether it would, for example, facilitate investment in new coal-fired power - as soon as Tuesday, when the Parliament returns and the party room meets.
Chief Scientist Dr Alan Finkel during a Senate Estimates hearing at Parliament House in Canberra last week.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
In a significant marker, and a message to Coalition MPs sceptical about a CET, deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said he wanted a scheme that could deliver new coal-fired power and said: "I believe the low emissions target [the CET] will have the capacity to do that".
Labor has offered to work with government on the CET, but climate spokesman Mark Butler said Mr Joyce's suggestion was nonsense because "a Clean Energy Target that accommodates new coal-fired power stations is an oxymoron".
The Finkel review argues Australia has a "once-in-a-generation" opportunity to reshape the national electricity market; take advantage of technological change; improve the security and reliability of the system; reward small and large consumers who reduce electricity demand and meet the nation's 26-28 per cent emissions reduction target by 2030 under the Paris climate agreement.