Two more MPs join rebels lining up to pull plug on the NEG

Malcolm Turnbull’s energy policy reset risks fuelling a gathering backbench revolt as two more MPs oppose last-minute changes.

Liberal MP Tim Wilson. Picture: AAP

Malcolm Turnbull’s energy policy reset risks fuelling a gathering backbench revolt as Victorian MPs Tim Wilson and James Paterson signal their strong opposition to last-minute changes to the ­national energy guarantee.

Mr Wilson and Senator Paterson are reserving their right to ­oppose the NEG if the energy minister is given the power to set an emissions-reduction target without first seeking the approval of the parliament.

Their position increases the number of Coalition energy rebels from 10 to 12. Both MPs are taking the stand on principle because they believe it would allow a future Labor government to ramp up emissions-reduction targets.

“Parliamentary sovereignty should not be sidestepped by ministerial discretion on such a significant, long-term policy question,” Senator Paterson said.

Mr Wilson said: “Granting a minister regulatory power over a major economic lever and not the parliament would be a worrying precedent because you just can’t trust Labor.”

The Prime Minister used a video message on his Facebook page yesterday to outline the key details of the energy policy revamp, which are geared towards achieving power-bill reductions based on recommendations proposed by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission. The government hopes the reset will quell the backbench rebellion, win the backing of the Labor states — which still need to endorse the NEG — and strengthen public support for its energy reforms.

Key members of the group of 10 Coalition MPs who threatened to withhold support for the NEG were not satisfied by the policy revamp. Tasmanian senator Eric Abetz told The Australian the plan to mandate Australia’s 2015 climate change commitment by ministerial order following advice from the ACCC would be “worse than legislating it”.

West Australian Liberal MP Andrew Hastie — who said he could not support a legislated 26 per cent emissions-reduction target — told The Australian that his position “remains the same”. “I’m open to working with the government to land a solution. But until I actually see legislation, I’m not committed to anything,” he said.

Chair of the government’s backbench committee on energy policy Craig Kelly warned that the plan to use a more flexible mechanism to set emissions-­reduction targets “was exactly what the state Labor governments have been asking for”.

Queensland senator Ian Macdonald said he was surprised at the change. “One of the arguments in the partyroom last week was that legislating the target would prevent a future government massively increasing it unreasonably,” Senator Macdonald said.

Victorian MP Sarah Henderson said the government needed the “strongest possible regulations to drive down electricity prices”.

The Labor states argued the last-minute energy policy reset was a vindication of their decision to withhold support for the NEG.

Victorian Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said Mr Turnbull’s NEG “changes every hour, while we remain completely in the dark”.