Electricity prices have soared by about 45 per cent for consumers over the decade after adjusting for inflation, according to a market analysis by the Grattan Institute published last month. Prices for manufacturers have risen almost 60 per cent. Dr Parkinson said the higher prices were a measure of the cost of the decision by the Senate to reject the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme in 2009. “The policy uncertainty over the last decade has meant that investors in the sector have been reluctant to make sensible long-term investments that are part of a staged transition of the sector because there’s no transition plan,” he said. “Secondly, relative to what we expected in 2008 and 2009, technology prices have come down much, much faster than anticipated. “Which means that if we had have gone down that route with the CPRS, we would either have reduced emissions far more cheaply than anticipated at the time of the CPRS or we would have been able to do a lot more abatement for the same dollar price.

“And either of those would have been better than where we are now.” Labor reached a compromise with the Coalition on the scheme during several rounds of negotiation in 2009 but the Liberal Party replaced Malcolm Turnbull as leader with Tony Abbott on December 1 that year. The scheme was defeated in the Senate by 41 votes to 32 on December 2, when it was rejected by most Coalition Senators, independent Nick Xenophon, Family First Senator Steve Fielding and all five Greens – Bob Brown, Christine Milne, Sarah Hanson-Young, Scott Ludlam and Rachel Siewert. Liberal senators Judith Troeth and Sue Boyce crossed the floor to vote with Labor. Credit:Glen McCurtayne Two Liberals, Sue Boyce and Judith Troeth, crossed the floor to support Labor, giving the scheme sufficient numbers to pass if the Greens had voted in favour.

Senator Wong was scathing of the Greens’ decision. “Creating change is about bringing people with you, it’s not about shouting at them or making yourself the star of the show. And the Greens still haven’t learnt that lesson,” she told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. Greens leader Bob Brown arguing against the emissions scheme on December 2, 2009. Credit:Glen McCurtayne “We see that in the way they’ve approached this recent discussion on bushfires. We see that in the way they behave when it comes to climate action – they don’t believe they have a responsibility to bring people with them to create change.” Ms Milne did not respond to questions sent by email but she has previously said she “could not be happier” with the decision to reject the scheme and push instead for the carbon price legislated in 2011.

“If we had had the CPRS in place now, the carbon price would be less than $1, there would be no mechanism for increasing the target and we would be stuck with a completely ineffectual scheme,” she said six years ago. But the carbon price was repealed after the Abbott government won power in 2013. Mr Rudd rejected claims made over the past decade that he made it too hard for Mr Turnbull and the Liberals to back the scheme. “We moved a very long way in order to accommodate Turnbull and we were equally predisposed to moving a long way to accommodate the Greens, but we just could not get there. And we ended up getting there with Turnbull,” he said. “And that was when Liberal Party politics consumed him, and therefore us, and therefore the country.”

Senator Wong said the Greens at one point sought a “unilateral” 25 per cent reduction in Australian emissions without any action by the rest of the world. “The Greens dealt themselves out with their absolutist position,” she said. “The Greens subsequently agreed to a carbon scheme which was browner than the CPRS. Their hypocrisy was demonstrated when they signed up for a deal with more industry assistance.” Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Minister for Climate Change Penny Wong hold a press conference after the Emissions Trading Scheme bill gets defeated in the Senate chamber at Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday, of December 2, 2009. Credit:Glen McCurtayne Mr Abbott and Mr Turnbull declined to comment. Dr Parkinson called on political parties to separate the design of climate schemes from the price to be imposed on carbon emissions.

“You’ve got to have a mechanism that is going to be able to work across the economy as a whole,” he said. “What we’ve seen is a constant rejection of different architectures because certain groups like the Greens believe that the targets are inadequate. Until we separate those two things we won’t get a solution. Loading “So if you settle on the mechanism, down the track you can have a political debate that is focused solely on the targets rather than confusing the two things.” Dr Parkinson was the head of the Department of Climate Change at the time the scheme was defeated and later served as Treasury Secretary before becoming secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. He stepped down in September.