Energy targets, right-wing MPs in GetUp’s sights

GetUp says its support for a revised nat­ional energy guarantee under a Labor government should not be taken for granted.

GetUp campaign director Miriam Lyons.

Left-wing activist group GetUp says its support for a revised ­national energy guarantee under a Shorten Labor government should not be taken for granted, with a number of conditions first having to be met.

While the group’s campaign director, Miriam Lyons, was coy on exactly what those conditions would be, she said at a minimum they would resemble measures demanded by Victoria’s Andrews government last year for its support of the Coalition government’s now-abandoned policy.

Those measures — which came after a GetUp campaign in the Labor states of Queensland and Victoria — included an emissions reduction target that could never go backwards, future targets set by regulation every three years, three years in advance, and the establishment of a transparent emissions registry.

“We will be looking very closely at the form of any NEG that Labor would put up (should it form government),” Ms Lyons told The Australian.

“We had some very specific concerns with the (Coalition’s) NEG — most of those were around the target, some were around the design elements — and we would place those same conditions to support of the NEG on a future Labor government.

“We’ve not discussed whether federal Labor would meet those conditions for our support.”

Energy Minister Angus Taylor has labelled Labor’s target a “wrecking ball” for the economy, but opposition energy spokesman Mark Butler said he would continue to pursue a bipartisan NEG.

GetUp also launched a campaign calling on the public to nominate “hard-right MPs” they want targeted during the election campaign. “The out of touch, anti-­progress MPs in parliament right now are on borrowed time,” nat­ional director Paul Oosting said.

Tony Abbott, Peter Dutton, Barnaby Joyce, and George Christensen are among those listed by GetUp as potential targets.