Labor states politicking, posturing on NEG: Josh Frydenberg

Josh Frydenberg has accused Labor states of “politicking and posturing” ahead of Friday’s COAG meeting of energy ministers.

Josh Frydenberg has slapped down the Labor states over the NEG. Picture: AAP.

Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg has accused Labor states of “politicking and posturing” ahead of Friday’s COAG meeting of energy ministers.

Victoria and Queensland have threatened to scuttle Mr Frydenberg’s national energy guarantee unless they can be assured it will have the support of the Coalition party room in Canberra.

They are also calling for the 26 per cent emissions reduction target to be increased, and want it to be regulated rather than legislated, to make lifting the target in future easier.

“This is politicking and posturing ahead of Friday’s meeting, because the states know all well and good that what will hopefully occur on Friday is that we agree to the design of the national energy guarantee subject to a phone hook-up after the policy has been through the federal Coalition party room,” Mr Frydenberg told ABC radio.

“Then the draft legislation is released for comment. That goes for a period of four weeks. Any changes as necessary will be made, and then a final tick-off will be required from the states.

“So there’s still some time to go, but importantly we’ve seen a broad cross-section of industry and consumer groups coming out strongly in support of the national energy guarantee saying any delay will be denying people lower power prices.”

Mr Frydenberg was asked about opposition to the NEG within his own party room, including from former prime minister Tony Abbott.

“There are some usual voices, but by and large there is strong, overwhelming support in the Coalition party room for this policy, and we saw on the weekend former prime minister John Howard come out and support the national energy guarantee, so my colleagues have been briefed by the large miners, the manufacturers, the Australian Industry Group, the farmers, and they’ve been told very unequivocally that in order to lower power prices and increase the stability of the system, we need the national energy guarantee, and so anybody who opposes the national energy guarantee will be condemning the families and businesses of Australia to higher power prices than they would otherwise have paid,” Mr Frydenberg said.

Mr Frydenberg said the Energy Security Board had found 38 million tonnes of carbon emissions would be abated as a result of the 26 per cent target being achieved.

The Energy Security Board has found that we have already reached 24 per cent.

“It’s a 38 million tonne reduction, but importantly it’s a $550 annual saving to Australian households and a 20 per cent reduction in wholesale prices,” he said.

“The clear statement of the ESP and the commonwealth right throughout this process is that a Turnbull government, as the signatory to the Paris agreement is the party that determines the trajectory.

“Nothing in this policy prevents the states from having their own renewable energy targets. “They complement what is being done at the federal level, but we do need the federal government to maintain whole responsibility for this, because it’s a national problem and it requires a national solution, and it’s the federal government that is the signatory to Paris, not the states.”

Mr Frydenberg said the target could “absolutely” be negotiated up at a future point.

“Firstly there is a review, that we have committed to holding in 2024 to change the targets, potentially, from 2025 to 2030,” he said.

“There will be a process in place, but the states wanted a review and we’re happy to provide it.

He accused Labor of wanting to regulate, rather than legislate targets because they did not want to have to deal with the Greens to change legislation.

“When Labor was last in government during the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years, they legislated twice for the renewable energy target,” he said.

“They chose specifically not to go to regulation, because they said the sector needed investment certainty. The same applies here.

“You can’t just flick a switch to turn a target from 26 per cent to (Labor’s target of) 45 per cent with all the subsequent consequences that that will mean for the energy companies.

“We have a very clear recommendation from the Energy Security Board that this policy is the best in the world.

“Mark Butler, the Labor spokesman, has described in his own words as a ‘very positive’, as a ‘very good’, as a ‘Rolls Royce design’. They’re his words.

“It’s time that the Labor Party stopped fluffing around, put the national interest first, no longer prolonged these partisan wars, and actually agreed to a sustainable, durable policy that will deliver lower power prices.”

Asked to respond to Mr Abbott’s “pigs might fly” rubbishing of the ESB’s estimation that households would save $550 a year under the NEG, Mr Frydenberg said he was advising his colleagues to listen to the experts.

“The independent Energy Security Board are made up of the foremost energy experts in the country, and anybody who is against the national energy guarantee is turning their back on those experts, and if the Labor states are seeking to delay or to obstruct the national energy guarantee, they will be held to blame for the higher power prices,” he said.

Asked whether he was telling his colleagues not to listen to Mr Abbott, Mr Frydenberg said: “I’m saying Prime Minister Turnbull, myself as the Energy Minister, the cabinet of Australia, as well as a strong cross-section of support in my party room, are backing the national energy guarantee, and that is a good sign of where the discussions will go in the party room, but we do need the states to sign on.”

Low target “does nothing” for renewables: Labor

Labor frontbencher Michelle Rowland said one of the fundamental flaws of the NEG was the fact that it “does nothing” for renewable energy.

“We have a situation where we have very low emissions targets under this government’s policy, but in particular, this would absolutely stifle investment in renewable energy, and if you want to talk about jobs, you need those large scale renewable energy investment decisions to be made in order to drive those jobs into the future in this sector,” Mr Rowland told Sky News.

“This government wants to say it’s focused on innovation and science and all the rest of it. “Again, this shows that there is absolutely nothing joined up when it comes to their policies in this area.”

Ms Rowland said Labor was “open-minded” to having a policy framework that works.

“But we are not going to be locked into pathetic rates of emissions reduction targets, and if this government was so keen on getting this through, then it knows full-well the position of Labor, it knows full well the position of the other states, and it needs to understand, it needs to actually respond in its policy, but I think what this comes down to is the failure to actually convince everyone in its own policy room,” she said.

“I’ll say this: I note the frustration of the energy minister in his comments with you earlier.

“I think the frustration needs a mirror, because he needs to direct that at himself and his Prime Minister, to note that in five years – we’re nearing the end of this government’s second term in office – we have not actually had an energy policy, and lo and behold energy prices have skyrocketed and pollution levels have gone up.

“Josh Frydenberg will be meeting with these states and territories, and I know that this week is an important one for them, so now is the time for him to articulate his concerns in this area, articulate to those states and deal with the actual misgivings that they have about that policy, and that’s his job, and I would have thought that after nearly five years of not having a policy in this area, this government would be very keen to put its best foot forward to get it over the line, but it is quite clear that this government has no intention and no capability of doing that at this stage.”

‘If Daniel Andrews wants lower power prices, he should back the NEG’: PM

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the NEG had backing of the Coalition party room.

“The real test for Daniel Andrews is does he want Victorians to pay even higher prices for electricity? Right now Victorians pay the second-highest prices for electricity,” Mr Turnbull told ABC radio.

“You’ve got the energy security board, that board of experts. They’ve come up with a plan that will bring these energy wars and energy uncertainty to an end, and will deliver lower prices for electricity for families and for business, and those state premiers, if any of them want to oppose the NEG, what they are saying is they want their citizens to pay more for electricity.

“My government is a government committed to reducing the cost of power: reducing the cost of electricity and gas, and we have turned the corner on electricity prices. They are starting to come down. We’ve reduced the wholesale price of gas.

“We’ve succeeded in reducing the wholesale price of electricity, but there’s more work to be done.

“The NEG is the way to do it, and so I say to those premiers, Daniel Andrews and all of them, if you sincerely want your citizens to pay lower prices for electricity, then take the advice of the experts, take the advice of all the industry bodies unanimously, and back the NEG.”