The conservative Liberal-National government appears to be moving towards granting backdated exemptions to Australia’s aluminium industry as part of a plan to resolve the future of the Renewable Energy Target (RET).
Prime Minister Tony Abbott is under pressure from his backbench to legislate an exemption for the aluminium smelting from the RET.
ABC News reports the aluminium industry appears to have successfully lobbied the federal government to grant its smelters an exemption from the RET.
While the Labor opposition has strongly opposed significant changes to the overall RET it has previously agreed to support an exemption for the aluminium industry but the federal government is yet to introduce legislation making the change.
ABC News reports Queensland Nationals backbencher Ken O’Dowd said he had questioned Mr Abbott about the issue and was told he would get an answer soon.
Mr O’Dowd also said he was assured the legislation will be backdated once it is introduced.
“I’ve also inquired whether it will be backdated and I was assured that it would be backdated to the first of January,” he said.
“We want to save jobs in Queensland, jobs in Gladstone, and I think it’s essential,” Mr O’Dowd told ABC News.
He said he also believed Mr Abbott and Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane will support extending the exemption to cement.
“These are two industries and they are big operations in my seat of Flynn. They need certainty, they need assurances,” he said.
In a statement, a spokesman for Mr Macfarlane said “the Government is aware of the cost pressures faced by Energy Intensive Trade Exposed Industries (EITEs) as a result of the RET and is committed to providing a 100 per cent exemption to all existing EITEs as part of any agreement.”
ABC News reports the cement industry was last week lobbying Labor MPs to support such an exemption.
The RET is a bipartisan federal government policy that underpins investment in renewable energy such as solar power, wind farms, hydro power and bio-energy projects right around the country.
Under a review ordered by the Liberal-National government and conducted by businessman and self-confessed climate sceptic Dick Warburton the review recommended that the RET either be done away with or heavily cut back.
Under current legislation the RET requires that 20 per cent of Australia’s power be generated from renewable sources and has set that amount at 41,000 gigawatt hours (GW/h).
The Liberal-National government has suggested cutting the actual figure back to about 27,000GW/h, which is says represent a “real” 20 per cent of current demand.
Labor and the Australian Greens Party have rejected such a move.
