Andrew Hastie confirms he cannot support NEG in current form

Andrew Hastie has confirmed he cannot support the NEG in its current form and will take a stand to uphold Australia’s economic sovereignty.

Andrew Hastie in Question Time in the House of Representatives Chamber at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture Kym Smith

West Australian Liberal MP Andrew Hastie has publicly confirmed he cannot support the national energy guarantee in its current form and will take a stand to uphold Australia’s economic sovereignty.

Mr Hastie rejected suggestions that his position was part of a campaign aimed at destabilising Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership and stressed that it was an issue of principle for him which he had properly raised in the joint party-room.

However, he used an interview on Sky News this evening to challenge claims the NEG would reduce power prices by $550 a year with a 26 per cent emissions reduction target.

“I have a problem with legislating the Paris target of 26 per cent on the basis of economic sovereignty,” Mr Hastie said. “Number two, I don’t accept that we will have cheaper prices by adopting the target”.

Liberal MP Andrew Hastie: I have a problem legislating the Paris target because it undermines Australia's 'economic sovereignty.'

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— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) August 16, 2018

Mr Hastie said he had defended Australian sovereignty in the security realm — declaring that “weak nations get trampled on” — and would continue to fight for Australia to have “maximum flexibility when it comes to energy policy which is a central pillar of national power”.

He said that to legislate and impose the Paris Agreement on the energy sector was problematic and conceded that he was philosophically inclined to withdraw from the compact despite arguing it was a “paper tiger”.

Liberal MP Andrew Hastie: The Paris Treaty is a 'paper tiger.'

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— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) August 16, 2018

The former SAS captain said he wanted to ensure families had greater disposal incomes and a higher standard of living and openly challenged the ability of the NEG to deliver power bill reductions with renewables rising from 17 per cent to 36 per cent of the energy generation mix by 2030.

“The USA and Asia Pacific, they account for 65 per cent of the world’s global emissions. Australia is only 1.2 per cent. And the US has walked away. China’s emissions are growing. India’s emissions are growing. Coal has gone up in consumption in the last year,” he said. “Why would we hurt ourselves economically when no-one else is? So, that’s my economic sovereignty case”.

Mr Hastie said Australia had “bountiful reserves” of coal, gas and uranium “but for some reason we have the highest prices in the world”.

“Our government is seeking to fix this problem. I just quibble, or I disagree rather, on the Paris emissions target. And I cannot support it”.

Mr Hastie said he was allowed to vote in accord with his conscience as a backbench member of the Liberal Party, denying that he was defying Mr Turnbull’s leadership.

“On being a former army officer, one of the reasons why I got into politics is because I have been on the end of bad policy. And I’ve had to do things which frankly have been troubling for my conscience”.

“And now that I am in a position to make considered deliberate decisions on how I vote, I sure as heck am not going to wound my conscience to please people”.

NSW Liberal Senator Jim Molan told Sky News on Wednesday night that he supported the NEG if it was accompanied by other measures to help bring down power prices — an approach being referred to as the “NEG-plus”.

Senator Molan — who was the chief of operations for Coalition forces in Iraq — said that he argued in the joint party room meeting on Tuesday for a “NEG, plus, plus, plus”.

“Energy policy is not just the NEG. It covers the beaut stuff we’ve done with gas, the great stuff we’ve done with the retailers, it covers our pressure on the states in relation to poles and wires and gas, and it covers the NEG”.

However, Senator Molan also conceded that he did not think that Australia should legislate the Paris targets on the energy sector.

“I don’t think we should make it the law,” he said.