Dutton, Taylor pass buck on energy crisis

THE former government minister responsible for energy and industry has stopped short of taking responsibility for the energy crisis threatening eastern Australia.

Opposition treasury spokesman Angus Taylor (inset) and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton spent Sunday morning shirking responsibility for the energy crisis, despite fingers being pointed from the Labor government.

The east coast dodged blackouts over the weekend after a week in which the energy industry reached a tipping point, prompting the regulator to make the unprecedented call to temporarily scrap the market to keep power in the system.

The crisis is the culmination of a global gas shortage, high coal prices and ageing coal-fired power stations, as well as a slow transition to renewable energy. And energy generators were accused of “gaming the system”.

The federal government has spent much of the past week pointing the finger at the former government, while NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet claimed an “ideological war” had prevented privatesector investment in clean energy that could have prevented the current crisis.

Mr Dutton said there was “fault all round”, and has tried to frame the problem as one belonging to the new Labor government.

“There is fault all around here ... Over a long period of time, people have been taking different positions, including state governments,” he told the ABC.

As former energy minister, Mr Taylor would not be drawn on accepting responsibility for the crisis, saying there were situations beyond the former government’s control.

“There is no doubt there has been upward pressure on energy prices around the world, there’s no question about that – and that’s a big challenge,” he told Sky News on Sunday.

“The point I’m making is that there’s sensible actions that can be taken to alleviate those pressures.”

Host Andrew Clennell interrupted, saying: “Wait, do you take any responsibility?”

Mr Taylor responded: “We had managed this in the leadup to the election successfully . . . we showed how you do that when you focus on supply and don’t demonise traditional sources of fuel ... and we delivered the outcomes.”

Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke said Mr Taylor had given an “extraordinary interview”.

“There was no responsibility taken for anything,” Mr Burke told Sky News.

“And the big thing on how do they get supply going? His example was Kurri Kurri, which they announced, but hasn’t been built.”