• Prime minister boosts conservatives’ calls for U-turn on green energy plan • Leaves door open for Coalition to do deals with Pauline Hanson’s One Nation

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Malcolm Turnbull has said Australia’s renewable energy target was “never intended to be perpetual”, giving encouragement to conservatives including Tony Abbott in Coalition ranks who are calling for it to be scrapped.

The prime minister made the statement at the National Press Club on Wednesday, after a speech in which he advocated an “agnostic” energy policy and the government’s plan for “security and prosperity”.

He also refused to answer questions about whether the Coalition would preference One Nation – both in the Western Australian election and federally – leaving the door open to deals with the party led by Senator Pauline Hanson, who he once said was not a welcome presence in the federal parliament.

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Turnbull lamented that Australia is the world’s largest exporter of coal and has invested $590m since 2009 in clean coal technology but has not produced one such modern plant.

Old high-emissions coal power stations were closing, but could not be replaced by gas, because it was too expensive, or by wind and solar, because they were intermittent, the prime minister said.

“The next incarnation of our national energy policy should be technology-agnostic – it’s security and cost that matter most, not how you deliver it,” Turnbull said.

“Policy should be ‘all of the above technologies’ working together to deliver the trifecta of secure and affordable power while meeting our emission reduction commitments.”

The event’s host, Chris Uhlmann, asked Turnbull if a completely agnostic energy policy meant abandoning the RET, which requires that 33,000 gigawatt hours of energy become renewable energy by 2020, or about 23.5%.

“The renewable energy target was never intended to be perpetual, OK?” Turnbull replied.

“The renewable energy target was designed ... to act as a pull-through of technology, to provide accelerated demand on the assumption that that demand would result in more investment in those technologies and that the technologies would improve and costs would come down.”

Turnbull said that the cost of renewable energy “has considerably declined”, saying that had been “the result” of renewable energy policies including the RET although “a lot of people would have been sceptical about that at the time”.

At the weekend Abbott called for the RET to be scrapped. The deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, has not ruled out dumping the RET, but the energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, has said the government has “no plans” to do so.

Turnbull dismissed Abbott’s call, backing the 2020 target and saying Abbott’s restructuring of the RET just 18 months ago had been beneficial for the industry.

It’s unclear whether Turnbull’s comments at the National Press Club intentionally or inadvertently softened his position on conservatives’s call to ditch the RET.

Later on Wednesday, Frydenberg told Sky News it was “obvious” the renewable energy target goes to 2020, whereas Labor planned to increase renewables until 2030.

Asked about the Western Australian election, Turnbull said he would be in the state urging people to re-elect Colin Barnett but preference deals were a matter for the state division.

Asked why the WA Liberal party appeared to be prepared to abandon the principle of putting One Nation last and where One Nation would appear on federal how-to-vote cards, Turnbull said the Liberals worked with all parties in the parliament, including One Nation.

Turnbull said he respected every member and senator. “I am not a commentator on the political evolution of One Nation,” he replied when asked about Hanson’s views.

Turnbull accused Labor of engaging in a “mindless rush to renewables”, despite questions over whether the high renewable energy sources contributed to instability of the South Australian grid.

“Bill Shorten’s energy plan whether it is a 50% RET by 2030 or double our Paris emissions reduction target by 2030 is a sure recipe to deliver much more expensive and much less reliable power.”

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Asked on Sky News after the speech about his own position on the RET, the treasurer, Scott Morrison, said “the legislation creates the certainty around the current arrangements”.

When asked, Morrison did not rule out the government subsidising a “clean coal” plant. “We need to have an energy future that is inclusive of what has been one of our greatest energy advantages for 100 years,” he said.

Greenpeace clean energy campaigner, Nikola Casule, criticised Turnbull for claiming to have “agnostic” energy policy but favouring fossil fuels.

“Saying coal can be clean is like saying cigarettes can be healthy. Burning coal pollutes our air and water and drives dangerous climate change.”

The Climate Institute’s chief executive, John Connor, said the government “is continuing to ignore the reality that the greatest threat to energy security, prices and emissions reductions is the lack of a long term national strategy to modernise and decarbonise our energy system”.

In a joint statement, Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox and Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott said the RET was a “hard-won compromise” that should be left alone.

“Additional changes to the existing RET would further undermine the credibility of national energy policy, damage investment and encourage State renewable energy schemes.”

Labor’s climate change spokesman, Mark Butler,seized on the prime minister’s admission the RET was not perpetual and said: “Post-2020, there is no national policy incentive to invest in new renewable generation.

“That is why states are filling this policy gap with state-based renewable energy targets that go well beyond 2020.”



Lack of support for renewables after 2020 was leading to “massive and growing investment uncertainty being faced by the electricity sector”, Butler said.

He called on Turnbull to back an emission intensity scheme, which he said would cut electricity costs by an estimated $15bn in the next decade.