Government’s ‘reef’ announcement: All political fix, no plan
Today’s announcement from the Federal Government saying it plans to reallocate money from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) to a fund aimed at bandaging the severe wounds of the Great Barrier Reef is a case of ‘shuffling some deck chairs about’, according to Solar Citizens.
“No matter what they try and tell the Australian public, this government has no coherent plan for the shift to clean renewable power beyond 2020 – these sort of politically driven, piecemeal policies will end up with us responding to emergencies rather than building a decent plan for our future energy needs,” said Claire O’Rourke, National Director of Solar Citizens.
“The Turnbull Government has only one plan it seems, a plan to get themselves re-elected, to hoodwink the public into believing that today’s announcement is a meaningful and considered response to the crisis playing out up North.
“It is not,” she said.
“Australia stands to gain an $800b slice of the global renewable energy investment boom, and we will miss out on jobs, growth and investment if we don't get on with it now - this is what the CEFC is for.
“The global transition to renewables is already underway. Australia needs a national plan to harness the multi-billion dollar renewables boom and manage the orderly transition to 100% clean renewable power.
“Powering our lives and our homes with 100% renewable electricity by 2030 is 100% possible and 100% necessary; Australians overwhelmingly support renewables - all we need is a decent plan and the political will to get us there.
“The Government has made it crystal clear that they still intend to lock in at least $1bn in savage cuts to the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) as outlined in the May budget – a reckless, foolish and short sighted move,” said Claire O’Rourke, National Director of Solar Citizens.
“This was on top of their sustained and ideological attacks on the Renewable Energy Target,” she said.
Media Contact:
Andrew Bradley P: 0403 777 137 E: [email protected]
- Solar scorecard: http://solarscorecard.org.au/
- Vote 1 Solar campaign: http://www.solarcitizens.org.au/vote1solar
- Homegrown Power Plan: http://www.solarcitizens.org.au/hpp
