RE-Alliance response to the Coalition's proposed energy bill
Australians want affordable, reliable power and cleaner energy. Delivering all three requires steady, responsible policy, not stop-start changes based on ideological preference. RE-Alliance says the Coalition's proposed energy bill threatens to upend work already under way across regional Australia, and doesn't present a costed alternative showing what it would build, where or when.
RE-Alliance National Director Andrew Bray said:
"For too much of the previous decade, federal governments were caught up with ideological arguments while coal power stations kept getting older and less reliable. Meanwhile, state governments of all political stripes got on with planning and delivering the generation, storage and transmission needed to replace them.
"Regional communities are busy working to deliver new energy projects. Farmers, councils and local businesses need to know what is coming so they can shape projects, prepare for their impacts and secure lasting benefits.
"The Coalition is right that Australians are sick of ideology in energy policy. The last thing we need is another round of chopping and changing on a political whim, just as regional communities are getting on with the work needed to build a modern electricity system.
"This Coalition plan is much clearer about what it would cancel than what it would build. Where is the costed alternative? When would it produce power? Which communities would host alternative technology like nuclear power plants?
"A wrecking ball is easy to swing. Keeping the lights on while coal retires takes planning, investment and people willing to host new infrastructure. If the Coalition wants to undo the work already progressing, it must explain how that delivers lower bills and reliable power.
"The way forward is to keep building the power we need and give host communities more influence over how it is done. Fix the problems people are raising. Don't make them pay for another round of national energy paralysis.
"Australians want affordable, reliable power and cleaner technology. Polling by 89 Degrees East found 62 per cent of residents surveyed across key renewable energy zones supported Australia's shift to renewable energy. That does not mean every project gets a tick. It means politicians should listen to community feedback that improves project delivery and the shift to renewables.
"AEMO's latest system plan finds that renewables, connected by networks and supported by storage and gas backup, offer the least-cost path to reliable supply as coal retires under current policies. The Coalition is entitled to propose another path. However it owes Australians the numbers, the timetable and an honest account of what that path means for regional communities."
