AWU calls for 100% RET alumininum exemption

The Australian Workers Union has called for the Renewable Energy Target to be pushed out from 2020 to 2022, adding that the aluminium sector's 90 per cent RET exemption should be raised to a full 100 per cent, The Australian reports.

According to the newspaper, the AWU’s aluminium delegates conference will today pass a resolution calling for the two changes.

The AWU calls echoes that of 25 federal lower house Coalition MPs who have called for aluminium smelters to receive a complete exemption. The sector claims its RET burden is costing it $80 million a year.

However, the federal government's RET Review found, via consultants ACIL Allen, that aluminium smelting was likely to be net better off as a result of the RET, with downward pressure on wholesale electricity prices exceeding the subsidy cost.

*EDIS: Does aluminium smelting need more exemptions, June 30

Originally published as AWU calls for 100% RET alumininum exemption