NATIONAL ENERGY MARKET FALLING APART UNDER THE LIBERALS

The Tasmanian Liberal Government has belled the cat on Malcolm Turnbull’s failed energy policy, announcing a plan to separate their State from the National Energy Market (NEM).

The NEM is in crisis and the Tasmanian Liberal Government has no faith in the Turnbull Government’s ability to fix it, seeing “de-linking from inflated mainland electricity prices in the National Electricity Market” as the best strategy for the State.

This decision follows the Energy Security Board warning late last year that the health of the NEM is in “intensive care” and is currently delivering an electricity system where “reliability risks are increasing, electricity bills are not affordable, and future carbon emissions policy is uncertain.”

If the Tasmanian Liberal Government has no faith in Malcolm Turnbull’s energy policy, how can Australian households and businesses?

Malcolm Turnbull and Josh Frydenberg have achieved nothing to relieve price pressures, remove investment uncertainty to support new supply into the market, or reduce carbon pollution.

Their National Energy Guarantee, three months after it was first flagged, is still nothing more than a thought bubble that promises to strangle renewable investment and boost the position of the big power companies.

Only today a new report flags increases in electricity prices of $430 in NSW and $250 in Victoria to 2019 due to the Government’s inability to address the gas crisis.

The NEM is desperately in need of credible energy policy that supports the transition to a cleaner, reliable and affordable energy system. It doesn’t need more Liberal blame shifting and empty slogans.