Clean Energy Targets

MARK BUTLER, SHADOW MINISTER FOR CLIMATE CHANGE AND ENERGY, MEMBER FOR PORT ADELAIDE: Over the course of the last 24 hours we’ve received two reports from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO). One hasn’t been released yet, the very important report around dispatchability but obviously we’ve seen significant reporting in the media this morning about its contents. I’ll say a couple of things about these reports. The first is that the reports lay bare four years of utter failure by Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull on energy policy. They describe in great detail the deep energy crisis that has emerged under those two Prime Ministers. The second thing the AEMO report does is constitute a final rejection of Malcolm Turnbull’s fantasy that a proper response to the country’s deep energy crisis is to build new coal-fired power stations; a clear policy that Malcolm Turnbull outlined at his Press Club address in January and again is rejected by the whole of industry and in the AEMO report.

 

We are going to study these reports very carefully over the course of this morning. We know that the contents of the Statement of Opportunities closely reflect the South Australian Energy Plan. Indeed, the report appears to adopt the energy plan as something of a model, indicating that the fact that the South Australian State Government has had to step into the breach left by inaction by Malcolm Turnbull has probably secured the South Australian energy system over the course of the coming summer.   

 

JOURNALIST: What odds would you give the Clean Energy Target of getting through the Liberal Party Room?

 

BUTLER: This report is just the latest in a series of statements by the industry, by the Chief Scientist, and now by the Market Operator, that indicate it is urgent Malcolm Turnbull start to develop a final recommendation on the Clean Energy Target, in order to make sure investors know what the rules are going to be to replace the inevitable closure of ageing power stations over coming years. Malcolm Turnbull just has to stop the politics. He has to stop the ideological fights about energy policy, most of which are in his own Party Room, and settle on a Clean Energy Target to give investors that confidence we need to see new investment flow.    

 

JOURNALIST: How feasible do you think it is for the government to find a way to keep Liddell open for another five years?

 

BUTLER: This is chaotic. Yesterday afternoon Malcolm Turnbull indicated to the Parliament that he was in discussions with AGL about keeping the Liddell power plant open beyond 2022 and, within hours, that statement was in tatters after being rejected by the company itself. An hour or two after that, Malcolm Turnbull indicated that he was proposing to sell the Liddell power station, which is not his to sell at all. The problem with this is that it appears that the Prime Minister is making it up as he goes along. There has been very clear notice about the closure of Liddell, which will be 50 years old in 2022. There is a very clear view within the industry that it would be very difficult and extraordinarily expensive to extend the life of that particular power station given its current state of repair. Now if Malcolm Turnbull has another plan he needs to lay it out clearly to the Australian people and, as my colleague Joel Fitzgibbon said, particularly to the people of the Hunter community. It appears unfortunately that he is just making it up as he goes along.

 

JOURNALIST: Just on North Korea, if the US declares war on North Korea should Australia send troops in?

 

BUTLER: I’ll leave those comments to others I’ve had my head buried in energy policy reports this morning.

 

JOURNALIST: Just quickly on Liddell that would mean a lot of jobs for the Hunter obviously, it employs quite a few people, wouldn’t that be good news if the government could keep Liddell open? 

 

BUTLER: What we need is some honesty, not false hope. The problem that I think communities like the Hunter have with the Prime Minister at the moment is that he is making it up as he goes along. Now AGL has given five or six years notice of the closure of this power station that reaches the end of its operating life in 2022; it will be 50 years old. Contrast that with what Engie the French multinational did with Hazelwood. They gave only five months’ notice of their closure to the electricity system, but more importantly to the local community in the La Trobe Valley and the hundreds of workers who had jobs at the Hazelwood power station. What we do need is an orderly plan to manage the replacement of old power stations with new investment and make sure that those local communities, that employ hundreds of people in these power stations, have good notice and good opportunities for economic diversification. What we can’t do is give these people false hope through stories that really do appear to show that the Prime Minister is making it up as he goes along. Thanks everyone.