Antinuclear

Bernie Fraser worried about Liberal Party’s subservience to fossil fuel lobby

In a separate interview with the AFR, Fraser said the Coalition’s vow to repeal the carbon tax “flies in the face of
science”.

Fraser fears Abbott at mercy of fossil fuel lobby on renewables http://reneweconomy.com.au/2012/fraser-fears-abbott-at-mercy-of-fossil-fuel-lobby-on-renewables-30017#comment-30119 By Giles Parkinson  20 December 2012 The certainty that the renewable energy industry craves from government policy making may be short-lived – even if Climate Change Minister Greg Combet rubber stamps the Climate Change Authority’s recommendations for a steady course on the renewable energy target.

The CCA chairman, Bernie Fraser, told RenewEconomy in an interview last night that he feared a Coalition government would be swayed by the intense lobbying of the fossil fuel industry – despite the apparent bipartisan support for renewables

“I think that that lobbying that is being made to us, and the views being expressed by the fossil fuel generators and some other groups will be pretty powerfully directed towards the Coalition,” Fraser said. “I feel sure, well I expect, that the Opposition Coalition parties will be swayed by the lobbying to reduce the figure to an
updated 20 per cent figure.”
The RET is supposed to be bipartisan policy – but while the Opposition
has said it supports the “20 per cent” target, it has been careful not
to commit to the legislated fixed target of 41,000GWh, or to disown
the “real target” that takes into account reduced demand.

This was the most contentious point of the RET review completed
yesterday. Fossil fuel interests want the renewables target reduced to
an effective 26,000GWh, or removed altogether, and they have received
the strong support of conservative state governments, many of them who
own coal and gas fired generators who business models are being
undermined by the penetration of renewables. These state governments
could be expected to bring added pressure on an Abbott government. A
Federal election is due to be held before the end of 2013, and the
Coalition leads in the polls.
RenewEconomy has raised this prospect on several occasions, noting
that if Abbott was unable to repeal the carbon price, as he has
pledged to do, he could switch his focus to the RET and renewables,
which would be the path of least resistance. This, of course, would be
devastating to the large scale wind and solar sectors, who can finally
see some daylight after years of policy meddling. It would put tens of
billions of dollars of investment at stake, and thousands of jobs. But
the Opposition has form, ignoring the Tambling review’s
recommendations to extend the then MRET when it was in government
nearly a decade ago. As Fraser noted, it all comes down to numbers in
the parliament.

In a candid interview, Fraser also expressed frustration about the
nature of the political debate, and also the Coalition’s promise to
dissolve the CCA, which is charged with providing independent advice
on climate change, emissions reduction and renewable energy. It also
threatens to dismantle the climate change department, as newly elected
Coalition state governments have done in recent months.

Fraser said he was worried that much needed knowledge could be lost if
the authority were to be closed “on an overnight whim”. This, he said,
would be a tragedy. “Climate change issues are not going to go away,”
he said. “They will become more complex and I would have thought that
if a government were sensible it would realise that policy making is
becoming more complex than ever, and really needs access to best
policy advice.

“To risk disbanding and tossing that out the window would be a great
loss, I think, to sensible policy making. It would mean ministers
would have to rely on ministerial advisors who do not have the
knowledge and are not in the business of providing independent advice.

“That is what I cannot understand, how a forward looking and rational
Opposition can not see the folly of disbanding such a resource – not
just in climate change but in other areas as well.”

Clearly Fraser, a highly respected former governor of the Reserve Bank
of Australia, was keen on expressing his frustrations about Opposition
policy and appears destined for a bust-up should the Coalition win
power. In a separate interview with the AFR, Fraser said the Coalition’s vow to repeal the carbon tax “flies in the face of
science”. That earned a rebuke from  Opposition climate change
spokesman Greg Hunt, who said Fraser should reconsider his position.
He also earned a rebuke from Treasurer Wayne Swan over his remarks to
journalists that an obsession with producing a budget surplus was
“fiscal stupidity.”

December 20, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, politics