New minister Angus Taylor points to new era of power politics

The free ride for renewable energy has ended with the appointment of Angus Taylor as energy minister.

The new Energy Minister Angus Taylor. Picture: AAP

The free ride for renewable energy has ended with the appointment of Angus Taylor as energy minister.

Breaking apart the energy and environment portfolios is both a symbolic and a concrete sign that a new era of electricity market reform has begun.

Mr Taylor, a Rhodes scholar and former McKinsey analyst, is regarded as having the sharpest mind on the issue that plagued and eventually sank the Turnbull prime ministership.

He has been seen as the go-to hard man by many Coalition MPs seeking a reality check on negotiations over the renewable energy target and later the national energy guarantee. His public comments have summed up all that has been wrong with the debate.

‘‘The problem with energy policy for years is it doesn’t focus on the energy, it focuses on if you are in favour of coal, wind, solar or hydro,’’ Mr Taylor said.

‘‘What we should be wanting is reliable, affordable power that brings down our emissions.”

My Taylor brings experience and pedigree to the energy portfolio. His grandfather, William Hudson, headed construction of the Snowy Mountains Scheme for hydro-electricity and irrigation in Australia from 1949 to 1967.

As a financial analyst, Mr Taylor wrote a report on reducing the cost of electricity that suggested the government immediately drop the RET and save up to $3.2 billion by 2020.

He was a member of a Victorian government task force that recommended the state promote the production of additional and largely on-shore gas supply, including coal-seam gas.

Mr Taylor is a vocal opponent of what he considers was the easy ride given to wind-farm developments in his NSW electorate of Hume. His concerns centred on poor planning and the impact of large-scale industrialisation on a fast-growing regional centre.

He does not reject the threat posed by climate change but has a track record of being financially literate and having an evidence-based approach.

He supports the objectives of the NEG to secure energy supplies, cut prices and reduce emissions.

His background demonstrates he will be a tough advocate for consumers and a difficult challenge for vested interests in the renewable energy industry.

By breaking apart the environment and energy portfolios, Mr Morrison has acknowledged the joint portfolio was an experiment that failed.

Former minister Josh Frydenberg was so bogged down in energy that major decisions on the environment went begging.

The incoming environment minister, Western Australia’s Melissa Price, inherits issues over landclearing and a bloated list of species on the endangered list.

Her immediate headache will be to clear up the Turnbull government’s decision to award $443 million to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation without tender.

A tougher approach to energy policy will bring greater pressure from the environment movement.

Environment groups, which have been critical of the energy and environment link, will continue to fight the energy war on the basis of climate change.