[Greens-Media] Greens do heavy lifting for Govt on Renewable Energy Target

[Hollo, Tim (Sen C. Milne)]

Greens do heavy lifting for Govt on Renewable Energy Target

Canberra, Wednesday 26 November 2008

The Australian Greens will introduce a Bill into the Senate to fulfil
one of the Rudd Government's key unmet election promises on climate
change: lifting the Mandatory Renewable Energy Target (MRET).

Australian Greens Deputy Leader and Climate Change Spokesperson, Senator
Christine Milne, has given notice that tomorrow morning she will
introduce a Bill to amend the legislation that establishes the MRET,
removing the old target and replacing it with the Government's promised
targets.

"How long do Prime Minister Rudd and Senator Wong think they can dine
out on a promise of lifting the renewable energy target without actually
doing so?" Senator Milne asked.

"If the Government will not do what it has promised, the Greens will do
it for them.

"If the Government opposes my Bill to lift the renewable energy target,
they will have to explain themselves to all those Australians who
thought they were voting for climate action 12 months ago.

 "The Australian renewable energy industry, which thought it faced such
a bright future when the Rudd Government was elected, is increasingly
alarmed by 12 months of inaction.

"The momentum built up by an industry expecting significant support is
now rapidly being lost. If the Government does not lift the target soon,
serious damage will be done to the sector, even more jobs will be lost
and investment will go offshore.

"Whilst we are assiting the Government by moving on its promised 20%
target, the evidence is that Australia can build far more renewable
energy far faster than this target would demand.

"That is why the Greens want a higher renewables target of 25% by 2020,
supplemented by a gross feed-in tariff that will guarantee premium
prices for all renewable energy generated. In that way, if the industry
grows faster than the MRET assumes, the target can never act as a cap on
industry growth, as it has done in recent years.

"But, since we know that the Government will not go further than its
election promise, if it even goes that far, we are moving for that step
now. It is vitally important for the renewable energy industry that the
Parliament immediately passes at least the commitment that Mr Rudd made
before the last election - a 20% renewable energy target by 2020."


Contact:  Tim Hollo on 0437 587 562

Tim Hollo 
Media and Communications Adviser 
Senator Christine Milne 
Australian Greens Deputy Leader
ph: (02) 6277 3588 
mob: 0437 587 562
Come join the conversation at GreensBlog <http://greensmps.org.au/blog>