Albanese calls for unity on energy policy



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Anthony Albanese, the new leader of the Labor Party, wants to work with the government on climate change, but a voice in the coalition is more concerned with the construction of coal-fired power plants.

Albanese on Monday called bipartisanship to give companies certainty in energy policy.

"The time of the ongoing conflict over these issues is certainly over," he told reporters in Sydney.

"(Climate) action will create jobs, benefit our economy and our environment, and the business community says it: they demand certainty".

Labor policies include an emission reduction target of 45% and 50% renewable energy by 2030, but they need to be reconsidered after the loss of shock elections last weekend.

The Morrison government, re – elected, has set a more modest emission reduction target of 26% from 2005 levels by 2030.

Barnaby Joyce, a former National executive, said the construction of a new coal power plant was a moral imperative for the government.

Mr Joyce, continuing to play his back-burner role, said it was intolerable that Australians could not pay their electricity bill after years of rising prices.

"This is for me the biggest moral issue of our time in Australia, the fact that we have now created a nation with the most expensive electricity prices in the world for which people really suffer," he said. at Sky News.

"We brought them back a century and a half ago to the time of the candles because of our policies.

"We have to recognize it, we have to be able to break that zeitgeist and, if we say we're going to build a coal plant, let's go and do it."

The government has a short list of a dozen electricity generation projects that it plans to subscribe, including gas and electricity projects and a modernization of the coal plant. .

He also announced a $ 10 million feasibility study to address the energy needs of heavy industry in northern and central Queensland, including a coal-fired power plant in Collinsville.

After the announcement of this study, Mr. Joyce tweeted, "We have a coal plant for Qld".

On Monday, he also urged the government to enact its "Big Stick" energy law to dismantle companies that abuse their market power.

Legislation giving these powers to the competition watchdog has failed to get parliament to vote before the elections.

"There is no policy that Canberra can propose that can change the climate, but God allows us to make people poorer, to make them more miserable and not to have the right to do so," he said. said Mr. Joyce.

Energy Minister Angus Taylor retains this portfolio and adds emission reduction to his responsibilities, joining both policy areas.

Australian Associated Press

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