LNP conference to hear calls for new coal power station and end to renewable subsidies

A Queensland-led coal push is intensifying as the Turnbull government attempts to land the national energy guarantee, with the looming weekend state LNP conference set to deal with several motions calling for a new coal-fired power station and an end to renewable subsidies.

Several of the state’s branches have endorsed the LNP push for the federal government to build “high energy, low emissions coal-fired power stations and the orderly closing down of older technology coal-fired power stations in order to drive down electricity prices, reduce emissions and promote economic growth”.

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While the coal push favours government intervention, separate proposals on renewable energy call for the state and federal governments “to apply policies which affirm the LNP’s commitment to the free market provision of least-cost, secure and reliable energy supplies from all technologies where their use is economically viable and technically feasible”.

Nuclear power will also be back on the agenda at the LNP conference, with the Fairfax branch pushing for the consideration of “the feasibility of nuclear power generation in Australia”.

The weekend motions come as Tony Abbott has attempted this week to exploit internal divisions within the Turnbull government over the Neg in an effort to torpedo the policy.

Abbott used a speech to a forum of climate sceptics to declare Australia should withdraw from the Paris agreement – a treaty he joined Australia to while prime minister – as a precursor for dumping the Neg.

The government’s energy policy is supported by a majority of Liberals and some Nationals, and there is internal frustration about Abbott’s antics.

Some Nationals want Malcolm Turnbull and Josh Frydenberg to agree to provide transitional assistance for the coal sector, either through subsidies for coal stations or bankrolling retrofitting to extend the life of existing plants while lowering emissions.

That internal push is being driven out of Queensland. Labor has earmarked at least 10 of the government’s Queensland seats as vulnerable, making the state the potential election swinger, and support for a coal-inclusive energy future is gaining traction with MPs in marginal seats.

With pro-coal forces in the government on the march, during the last parliamentary sitting fortnight before the winter recess the Coalition voted with One Nation in the Senate, backing a motion calling on the government “to facilitate the building of new coal-fired power stations and the retrofitting of existing baseload power stations”.

While it is clear that agreeing to some assistance for coal would help smooth over the government’s internal divisions on the policy, a coal side deal would create problems with Labor states and territories who have to sign off on the policy in early August.

Some Labor states and the ACT will be highly attentive to any deal the Turnbull government strikes internally to prolong the life of coal-fired power plants, given some of them are already of the view the emissions reduction in the Neg is nowhere near ambitious enough for Australia to meet its Paris commitments.

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Any one of the states or the ACT could scuttle the policy because implementing it requires agreement across participants in the national electricity market.

A coal side deal could also derail bipartisan consensus on the Neg with Labor in Canberra. The Turnbull government will need Labor’s support to get the policy through the parliament.

The shadow climate change minister, Mark Butler, has already warned the government that new subsidies for coal as part of any internal settlement on the Neg will scuttle the chances of securing peace after 10 years of warring over climate and energy policy.

Butler said in late June: “We’re not going to agree to a model that seeks to fly in the face of all of the expert advice, from industry and stakeholders, that building new coal-fired power stations would mean there is no way of achieving our commitments under the Paris agreement and also would deliver higher priced electricity to households and businesses.”