Former PM says he is concerned by reports that Finkel review is aiming towards 70% renewables by 2030

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Tony Abbott has fired a public warning shot ahead of Friday’s release of the Finkel review, declaring it would be a “big mistake” for the government to adopt a low emissions target which knocked out new high-efficiency coal-fired power stations.



The former prime minister used a radio interview on 2GB on Wednesday afternoon to add his dissenting voice to commentary already expressed by government conservatives in the wake of Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement.

Abbott said he was concerned about media reports that Australia’s chief scientist, Alan Finkel, would recommend a low emissions target to the prime minister and the premiers this Friday.

He said he was anxious, based on “well briefed” reports, that the Finkel review “gives us not 50%, but 70% renewables by 2030 – and coal, which is by far the cheapest form of baseload power … goes from currently about 65% to 20% of total energy generation.”

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“Anything that makes it impossible for us to bank new, efficient coal-fired power stations I think is a big mistake,” he said.

Abbott said primarily, the electricity system needed to deliver consumers “affordable, reliable, energy”. Emissions reduction was a secondary consideration, he said.

He declared the Liberal party needed to be the “party of cheap power”. He counselled the prime minister to let the Labor party put power prices up. “The last thing we want to do is let ‘electricity Bill’ off the hook.”

Asked whether Australia should follow the US and withdraw from the Paris climate accord, Abbott said Paris was “aspirational only, it is not binding, it is not mandatory”.

He said he had made the point as prime minister that Australia would deploy its best endeavours to get emissions down, without clobbering the economy.

State energy ministers are to be briefed by the chief scientist on Thursday, before receiving the final report on Friday morning at the Council of Australian Governments meeting.

While the energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, has spent the week trying to keep restive conservative colleagues calm, the former prime minister’s comments underscore the difficulties Malcolm Turnbull will face trying to get agreement within the Coalition party room about a suite of climate and energy policies post-Finkel.

Despite being part of a government that ran an aggressive, negative campaign against Labor’s carbon price, the treasurer, Scott Morrison, said on Wednesday it was now time to move on from the bitter partisanship of the past decade.

On Wednesday Morrison told reporters it was time to deliver certainty on climate and energy policy.

“It is important that the parliament come together to ensure that we have a landing that delivers on the trifecta of certainty, of energy affordability and sustainability of energy,” he said. “What the country needs is certainty.”

Federal Labor also called on the government to work collaboratively in implementing the recommendations of the Finkel review.

A range of stakeholders are pressuring the major parties to use the Finkel process to end the wrangling over climate policy.

The Labor leader, Bill Shorten, wrote to the prime minister on Wednesday calling for an end in the decade-long climate policy war between the major parties. “Labor calls on the government to work with us in a bipartisan approach to put in place the right energy policy for our nation’s clean energy future.”

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Shorten says Labor will approach the report with an open mind, but he says the opposition needs “access to officials and Dr Finkel following the release of the report to enable Labor to scrutinise the recommendations and come to a considered assessment of the proposals against our key principles”.

“In addition, I ask that Labor be consulted on any subsequent work commissioned by your government on specific design options for a low emissions target or similar mechanism going forward,” Shorten said.

“It’s regrettable that for too long this nation’s energy and climate policy has been hostage to a small handful of climate sceptics in the Liberal party – while power prices have gone up, pollution has gone up and investment has stalled.”

“Continuing this approach is unsustainable – it risks jobs and Australia’s economic future.”