Malcolm Turnbull has signalled the government’s eventual response to the Finkel review will not create any barriers to building new coal-fired power stations, as he secured additional undertakings from energy retailers to be more transparent with customers.



After a meeting with energy retailers in Sydney on Wednesday, the prime minister was asked whether a clean energy target would be set at a threshold allowing for a new coal plant.

The prime minister said “I don’t foresee there being any barrier to a new coal-fired power station being built”.

Turnbull said the government had a technology agnostic approach to energy policy and his view was “all of the above”.

It was the second meeting in a month with energy retailers, and extracted undertakings that retailers would write to customers to inform them of more cost-effective plans.

The retailers agreed to write to 2 million customers on standing offers by Christmas and give them information that should help them obtain better rates.

The energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, said the companies had also agreed to move to a system where customers could access their consumption data and their payment data on a bar code on their bill, “and by using a smartphone or a similar device, they can click on that barcode and then automatically get access to better deals that are available in the market”.

The government also wants energy retailers to issue monthly accounts to customers in an effort to prevent bill shock but the companies say there are practical difficulties with this if customers are not hooked up to smart meters.

Last time they met the government, the energy companies delivered a message that they were not interested in prolonging the life of their ageing coal plants and they were looking for certainty about whether the government would legislate a clean energy target as recommended by the Finkel review.

Internal Coalition divisions have prevented a quick resolution on how to proceed with the clean energy target and the government is also waiting for a report from the Australian Energy Market Operator about the dispatchable power requirements of the electricity grid after the closure of two ageing coal-fired power stations.

That report is due imminently.

The Finkel review modelled a scheme where the threshold for the clean energy target was set at 0.6 tonnes of CO2 per megawatt hour – which would rule out coal operators being eligible for certificates.

The chief scientist, Alan Finkel, told Guardian Australia in mid-June the government could set the threshold anywhere it liked but it would be “surprising” if governments endorsed a scheme that “incentivised” coal-fired power.

Since the Finkel report was published, the Minerals Council of Australia has launched a fierce lobbying effort in Canberra to ensure the clean energy target threshold is set high enough to include “clean” coal.

The Nationals have also made it plain they want coal to remain in Australia’s energy mix as part of the government’s reset on energy policy, either through new capacity or refurbishing existing plants.

In mid-July, the deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, told Guardian Australia he was prepared to support a clean energy target if the Liberals agreed to set a threshold allowing high-efficiency coal in the mix.

Various members of the government have said different things at different times about coal and the desirability of government intervention to build new plants.

The prime minister earlier this week told the ABC the government had no plans to build a coal-fired power station.

Asked whether he would rule out funding any coal-fired power stations, Turnbull replied: “Well, we have no plans to do so.”

Asked on Wednesday whether he had now ruled out building a power station, Turnbull said: “No, what I said was – I was asked if we had any plans to build a coal-fired power station, and I said we didn’t”.

Turnbull repeated arguments he has made previously that there is a case for Australia to have a next-generation coal-fired power station. “I would certainly welcome that.”

“We are the largest exporter of coal in the world,” he said. “Coal has a big future to play, not just in our electricity generation, for many, many years to come, but in the world’s.

“We have a vested interest in demonstrating that coal has a high-efficiency, low-emissions future, so I would welcome a high-efficiency, low-emissions coal-fired power station being built in Australia.

“It would be a good thing.”

The Labor leader, Bill Shorten, said on Wednesday the country needed “real solutions, not just window dressing” on energy prices.

Shorten said nothing would improve on energy prices until Australia had a new climate and energy policy to give investors certainty.

He said the No 1 cause of rising prices was policy uncertainty. “We need a clean energy target”.