George Christensen hits Malcolm Turnbull with list of demands over NEG

George Christensen has issued a list of demands to Malcolm Turnbull over the national energy guarantee and has issued a threat if they’re not met.

George Christensen, left, has presented a list of demands over the NEG to Malcolm Turnbull.

George Christensen has publicly committed to crossing the floor of parliament to vote against Malcolm Turnbull’s national energy guarantee in its current form, ahead of the government putting legislation into the lower house early next week.

Mr Christensen is one of at least 10 Coalition MPs who have reserved their position on the government’s signature energy policy, but the first to say he will demonstrate his opposition by voting against the NEG rather than abstaining.

The maverick Queensland MP, who holds the seat of Dawson by a margin of 3.3 per cent, issued a list of demands to the Prime Minister in a meeting late yesterday as part of an attempt to reach a compromise.

The demands — exclusively obtained by The Australian — include the creation of a new clean coal fund, a cut in the NEG’s emissions reduction target from 26 to 17 per cent and changes that would allow the competition watchdog to keep AGL’s Liddell coal fired power plant operating in NSW beyond its planned 2022 closure date.

Mr Christensen — whose Queensland Nationals colleague Keith Pitt is understood to be considering standing down from the frontbench over his concerns with the NEG — is also asking for a range of other measures including the implementation of a price target in the architecture of the NEG, an increase to the pensioner energy supplement and the adoption of all 56 recommendations of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s recent report on the electricity market.

“If I am being asked to vote for an emissions reduction target based on the Paris agreement, I would have to vote against it,” Mr Christensen told The Australian. “I will be voting against it.”

As revealed this morning by The Australian, Mr Turnbull held crisis meetings yesterday with Mr Christensen as well as former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce, South Australian Liberal MP Tony Pasin and NSW Nationals MP Andrew Gee. Mr Turnbull also met with marginal seat holder Lucy Wicks, who holds the seat of Robertson on the NSW Central Coast, after she expressed concerns over the NEG.

“I was called into the Prime Minister’s office with three others yesterday and the conversations have been good and cordial,” Mr Christensen told The Australian. “He wanted to know ideas that we have that could improve the NEG or deliver price reductions”.

“So I put a list to him”.

The priority item on the list is to reduce the 26 per cent emissions reduction target to 17 per cent — a change which Mr Christensen says would be more likely to win his support for the NEG and decouple the policy from the Paris agreement.

“At least if we are putting in a target like that, it does send a message that we are open to new clean coal fired power generators,” he said. “We are desperate for a coal fired generator in north Queensland”.

“One of the key things is that the Paris agreement, I believe, has to be completely decoupled from the NEG. It is a bridge too far for us to be voting to legislate the Paris Agreement … Yes, set a government target. But not a mandatory target that attracts fines”.

Mr Christensen also said the penalties for missing emissions targets needed to be lowered and an aspirational price target included in the legislation for the NEG.

He also argued there was an absence of a “big stick” to use against the large energy companies arguing that divestiture needed to be reserved as a potential weapon to ensure price reductions for customers.

A number of Mr Christensen’s demands related to the separate issue of power generation options, including the “construction of a coal-fired power station in North Queensland”.

“We need to get finance, funding or equity on the table,” Mr Christensen said.

Other demands issued to the Prime Minister were as follows:

“The power that is lost in transmission to North Queensland has to be paid by commercial energy users even though they are not receiving that power — we need to ensure that this is rectified ASAP”.

“Potential for pumped hydro in the North — Hell’s Gate, Burdekin, Kidston. This needs to be facilitated”.

“There needs to be a general fund for finance, grants and equity to enable coal-fired power stations to be built”.

“All ACCC recommendations should be adopted. Pick fights with state governments that refuse to adopt them. Use federal funding to states as leverage”.

“Change the Competition and Consumer Act to force AGL to keep Liddell open or sell it because it is an essential service”.

Mr Christensen said these ideas were raised with the Prime Minister in the context of a “conversation simply in which he’s asked me and others to come up with ideas around power pricing and what we can do to improve the NEG”.

Mobile readers can view the list of demands here