The Smart Energy Council has urged all state and territory governments to reject the federal government’s pro-coal, anti-solar agenda.
The council said the Morrison government has approved an annual $7 billion CoalKeeper subsidy that will allow unprofitable, ageing, polluting coal-fired stations to operate well beyond their lifespan.
This is in addition to a new SolarStopper tax on solar farms (also known as the Congestion Management Model).
Smart Energy Council CEO, John Grimes, said these are the worst possible policies at the worst possible time.
“The world is literally burning and the Morrison Government is fuelling the fire,” Grimes said.
“The latest United Nations climate report has provided the starkest warning yet that we must stop funding coal projects and instead of increasing support for solar the government is heading in the opposite direction.
“The Morrison Government has no climate policy, no electric vehicle policy and the same emissions reduction target that it had under the Abbott Government in 2015.”
Grimes said Energy Ministers should urge Federal Energy Minister, Angus Taylor, to go back to the drawing board and develop an energy and climate change policy for the 21st Century.
Meanwhile, a national poll that sought input from more than 15,000 Australian voters has found every one of the nation’s 151 federal electorates want the federal government to do more to tackle climate change.
The YouGov poll, conducted for the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), found not one electorate where there was majority support for the government’s plans for new gas and coal-fired power. Instead, Australian voters wanted more renewable energy.