LABOR’S POLICY CERTAINTY KEY FOR LOWER POWER PRICES

After five years of no national energy policy under the Liberal government, all Energy Minister Angus Taylor can do is blame Labor for rising prices and pollution that come with this government’s anti-renewable energy policy chaos.

Yet two new studies have added to the already overwhelming evidence making clear the biggest obstacle to lower power prices is the Liberal’s energy policy paralysis.

S&P Global’s says the best way to reduce prices in the long term was to create a stable, national energy policy that provided clear directions for investment to boost new generation and increase supply, saying “Australia's continued energy policy vacuum risks delaying planned investment in new dispatchable generation capacity across the NEM, affecting wholesale power market competition and further reducing investor confidence.”

At the same time, the latest ACOSS, Frontier Economics research shows investing in renewable energy lowers prices and pollution, with Labor’s 45 per cent emissions reduction target to drive a fall of 18.3 per cent in average power bills by 2030.

Australians should be rightly outraged by Mr Taylor’s claim that “emissions reductions are the least of our problems” considering renewable energy and storage is the cheapest form of new power generation, will bring down power prices, secure our grid and start to bring down carbon pollution which has skyrocketed under the Liberals.

Australian households and businesses will only see cheaper power bills, more investment and lower pollution under a Shorten Labor Government.