Rosalie Woodruff MP | Greens Energy and Climate Change spokesperson
In the wake of the latest alarming IPCC report, Tasmania’s Energy Minister Guy Barnett has revealed his climate-denying colours on the national stage.
Energy Minister Guy Barnett has voted with other conservative states and the federal government to continue the national policy support for coal-fired power generation, and to exclude climate change from the framing of our country’s energy policy.
Minister Barnett voted to stop COAG investigating how the electricity sector could reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It makes a mockery of his previous statements about the importance of Tasmania’s renewable energy exports.
The intrinsic value of renewable energy is to remove global warming fossil fuels, such as coal and gas, from the electricity generation process.
Rather than pursuing the benefits of an emissions reduction target in the National Electricity Market, Minister Barnett voted with other Liberal states to ensure business-as-usual operations remain for coal generators. So much for ‘Tasmania first’.
The evidence presented at Senate Estimates this week confirms the central role of Australia’s Renewable Energy Target and our previous investments in wind and solar, in bringing down power prices.
Minister Barnett needs to stand up for Tasmania against his pro-coal federal colleagues and demand Australia create a new, strong, greenhouse gas reduction mechanism so that we can genuinely address climate change.