MEDIA RELEASE: Wednesday 10 October, 2018
Australia needs to get behind a just transition in energy or it will get left behind
The Morrison Government has made it clear it has no vision or desire to prepare Australia for the global energy future.
A new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – to which Australia is party – has shown once again the time for embracing a just transition in our energy sector is now urgent.
Electrical Trades Union of Australia Assistant National Secretary David Mier said around the world countries and citizens are making the transition into renewable energy, but Prime Minister Scott Morrison has declared Australia will continue down a path fewer nations are taking.
“The Morrison Government’s insistence on staying the course in energy is absurd and shows a total dereliction of duty to the people of Australia,” he said.
“The Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison Government has abandoned a few bungled attempts at an energy policy but Morrison says we should carry on as usual.
“The reality is the world will move ahead with renewable energy and lowering emissions and it’s time for Australia to pursue a just transition in our energy sector or we’ll be left in the dark.
“But from Morrison, there is no plan for the energy sector and no plan to extend the renewable energy target, which has been the only piece of functional policy in the sector since this government scrapped the carbon price.
“Add to that Australia’s emissions are going up, neglecting our role in the world and turn our backs on our neighbours in the Pacific who will see their homes submerged because of our selfishness.”
Mr Mier said if the Coalition was serious about a just transition in Australia’s energy future, it would not be dismissing the IPCC scientists’ work on climate change.
“Energy Minister Angus Taylor doesn’t understand the data on Australia’s emissions and quietly said things are fine before going back to his drawing board,” he said.
“If he was serious about energy policy, he would be looking at a just transition not fudging figures on rising emissions.
“And Environment Minister Melissa Price, former coal company lawyer, made it clear in a car-crash interview the government has no plan for Australia but plenty of dreams about technology that might someday be made a reality.
“Like its energy policies, the Morrison Government needs to be thrown in the bin so Australia can move ahead with the just transition we need in our energy sector.”
Media enquiries: ETU National Communications Coordinator – Nicholas McCallum
0419 499 886, [email protected]