Fossil fuel major Shell Australia has blasted the conservative Liberal-National federal government over climate and energy policies saying business needs to take the lead on climate action.
In a speech, Australia chairperson Zoe Yujnovich strongly criticsed the government’s performance on climate change and threats to cut off gas exports, saying industry needs to take the lead on climate and energy as governments are unable to “sell” their constantly changing policies.
“In Shell of course we are already banking in a forward price on carbon, we are already starting to look at what we can do to lead within in our own existing assets to help improve the resiliency of our portfolio,” she said.
She also said blaming high gas prices on exports “cannot go unchallenged”.
Ms Yujnovich, speaking at the Melbourne Mining Club, said the last five Australian prime ministers had been ousted, in part, due to climate and energy policies and these continual failures meant business must step in to ensure continued energy investment.
“Energy and climate policies look set to be prime battlegrounds for the hearts and minds of voters.
“The last thing this industry needs are policy back flips and turmoil,” Ms Yujnovich said.
“We’ve all seen how difficult it is for all parties, irrespective of their ideology, to explain and sell these policies to political opponents and disenchanted voters.
“The challenge for industry is to advocate that Australia needs policy that continues to attract investment opportunities.
“As an industry we should encourage the next government, no matter what political persuasion, to introduce policies that encourage business to invest in solutions required.”
She said it was up to industry to work together to lead the way.
“We are the ones who will need to advocate in a united way for parties to take a politically durable, bipartisan approach: our united advocacy can send strong signals for policy direction to provide investors with comfort and security.”
The Liberal-National government of Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been under fire from industry groups following the dumping last year of its own energy policy, the National Energy Guarantee (NEG), which has since been picked up by opposition leader Bill Shorten’s Labor Party as its energy policy ahead of a federal election due by May.
Fairfax Media reports shadow minister for climate change and energy Mark Butler said the Labor Party would continue to push the NEG as an energy policy.
“Labor’s preference is to achieve a bipartisan agreement on energy policy but (Prime Minister) Scott Morrison and the Liberals are too divided and too out of touch to agree on an energy policy that can lower prices, boost renewable energy and address climate change,” Mr Butler said.
Fairfax Media reports federal Energy Minister Angus Taylor said Labor’s aggressive climate policies would damage industry.
“Australians have a clear choice at the upcoming election, Labor’s reckless economy wrecking 45 per cent emissions reduction target that will drive up power prices, and will slash jobs, wages and industries, or the Coalition’s “appropriate and achievable” 26 per cent target which, according to Australian National University independent research, we will meet in 2025, five years early.”
Other leading researchers and commentators have heavily disputed the ANU research.
Last year, industry leaders lashed the government’s policies as “ad hoc and extreme”, as the government sought to bring in a raft of new interventionist policies in order to drive electricity and gas prices down.
Both the Liberal-National government and the Labor opposition have put forward potential gas export restrictions as a way to increase domestic supplies and reduce historically high gas prices, blaming gas producers for the high costs of gas.
“I have heard and read the demands for government intervention. I have heard and read the demands to halt gas exports,” Ms Yujnovich said.
“But blaming the increase in the price of gas on exports is wrong and cannot go unchallenged.”
She said while gas prices were high, they would be significantly higher if new gas projects were not developed on the back of potential exports.
“Without exports, $200 billion worth of investment by gas companies would never have happened,” she said.
“Without exports, Australia would be relying on imports, despite having huge gas resources in the ground.”
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