[Greens-Media] Media Release: Investors flee from deeply flawed Direct Action plan

[Faerber, Jennifer (Sen C. Milne)]

Media Release
7 March 2014

Investors flee from deeply flawed Direct Action plan

The Greens-initiated Direct Action inquiry has today heard witness after witness state that the plan is doomed to fail.

"What we've been told today is that the Abbott government's plan is not 'investment grade,'" said Greens Leader Senator Christine Milne, who questioned witnesses at today's hearing.

"There are billions of dollars sitting on the sidelines, waiting to be invested in clean energy, but these investors and financial analysts have told us they will not engage with Direct Action, because there is no policy certainty and no longevity.

"The banks have all said it privately, and today the Investor Group on Climate Change has put that on the record."

Professor Ross Garnaut and representatives from the CSIRO also criticised Direct Action at the hearing today.

"Direct Action is a token policy. It's lip service. The Abbott government doesn't care if it works or not," said Senator Milne.

"Direct Action is not a viable alternative to our existing price on pollution. The mere spectre of this disastrous policy has already seen investment and the clean technology industry grind to a halt."

The real risk, according to Tim Buckley from the Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, is stranded assets in coal terminals, mines and coal generating infrastructure.

"It is a double-whammy," said Senator Milne. "Direct Action will see less investment in renewables, and wasted investment in the stranded assets of a rust-bucket economy.

"Coal has a suffocating grip on the Abbott government's imagination and this deeply flawed Direct Action plan will do nothing but keep Australia reliant on coal.

"We must end the uncertainty, maintain the polluter pays policy, and continue Australia's productive transition to a clean, sustainable economy."