Julie Bishop says Australia needs ‘some kind’ of NEG

Australia will need to adopt ‘some kind’ of national energy guarantee, former foreign minister Julie Bishop says.

Former foreign minister Julie Bishop. Picture: AAP

Australia will need to adopt “some kind” of national energy guarantee to give electricity gener­ators the confidence to invest­, former foreign minister Julie Bishop says.

In a speech to the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, she said it was no secret that the Coalition had been divid­ed on energy policy.

“The closest we have come to achieving bipartisan consensus on climate change and energy policy was the national energy guarantee,” she said. “It is no longer Coalition policy.”

Although opinion polls consist­ently showed strong communi­ty support for action on climate change, she said she did not see any immediate solution to the current impasse within the Coalition on energy policy.

“But in future there will be some kind of national energy guarantee,” she said. “We have to give generators the confidence to invest in Australia.

“We are seeing the closure of coal-fired power stations, the ­advent of renewables, not yet a debate on nuclear power. We need to have an energy policy which does deliver affordable, ­reliable energy that allows us to meet our international oblig­ations.”

Ms Bishop confirmed that she would be contesting the next election. “I am preselected as the candidate for Curtin and it is my intention to run,” she said, when asked about her future.

She said she did not want to discuss her future further in the event the Morrison government lost in the expected May election.

“These are hypothetical questions. I take each day as it comes,” she said. “I am confident the Morriso­n government can win.

“I am confident that as we roll out policies over the next few months the Australian people will understand the focus that we put on economic security, national security. In both of those areas the Labor opposition is wanting.”

She said she believed proposed changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax showed Labor was out of touch.

Ms Bishop said she was dis­appointed that former Liberal MP Julia Banks had decided to leave the party and contest the seat of Flinders against Health Minister Greg Hunt, but it was inevitable there would be independents running against sitting candid­ates. “I won my seat off an independent Liberal in 1998, so I know the challenge ahead,” she said.