Australia’s opposition Labor Party has said it will vote against a proposal from the conservative Liberal-National government to open up the taxpayer-owned green bank to fossil fuel investments if its planned amendments fail.
As part of its much-vaunted gas-led recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, and its initiative to establish a fund to invest in grid reliability, the government wants to redefine gas-fired power as low-emissions technology.
Guardian Australia reports the aim is to enable the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) to make investments in grid infrastructure.
The Labor Party caucus today signed off on three amendments to that proposal, with the first rejecting the proposed definition of gas.
The second amendment would remove a non-disallowable ministerial power permitting the energy minister to advise the CEFC to look at investing in particular technologies.
The third amendment would remove a proposal from the government that investments made through the grid reliability fund do not have to generate a rate of return.
Currently CEFC investments do have to generate a rate of return.
If the government rejects the amendments, the Labor Party will oppose the bill, and the Senate crossbench will determine its fate.
The shadow climate change and energy minister, Mark Butler, told Guardian Australia Labor supported the expansion of the CEFC to help deliver a modern electricity grid, “but not for gas generation investments that are neither a new technology, nor meet the existing CEFC definition of low-emissions technology”.
“This is the clean energy financing body, not for new gas generation,” he said.
Mr Butler said it was important to safeguard the “financial integrity of the CEFC, to ensure it retains strict safeguards which ensure it only invests in economically viable projects”.
Guardian Australia reports he said Labor would also attempt to prevent the energy minister, Angus Taylor, from turning the CEFC into a “slush fund” for fossil fuel projects.
It came as the president of the Business Council of Australia, Tim Reed, called on the government to abandon its plan to underwrite new electricity developments through a program that would be administered by the new reliability fund.
The long-promised underwriting program for new electricity generation was announced before last year’s federal election, when the government released a shortlist of 12 projects being considered, six renewable energy, five gas and one coal.
Mr Reed urged the Liberal-National government to commit to a national target of net zero emissions by 2050.
He said bipartisan support for that goal, which already has Labor’s support, would unlock “very, very large investment decisions”.
“If people know where you’re headed then it’s amazing the innovation and the creativity and the momentum you can build towards getting there,” he said.
“It [the target] is daunting, but that’s how as a race, as a species, we’ve done amazing things.
“The government needs to commit to net zero 2050.”
Mr Reed said the CEFC and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) both had an important role to play, and should have their remit expanded and long-term funding in place.
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