Turnbull speech draft said Australian Labor’s 45% emissions target might not drive up bills
Malcolm Turnbull suggested it was possible Labor’s proposal to preserve the National Energy Guarantee (NEG), with a 45 percent emissions reduction target, would not drive up prices, in an early draft of his speech to an energy conference obtained by Guardian Australia.
Turnbull re-entered the energy policy fray at the New South Wales Smart Energy Summit with a full throated defense of his record, lauding the Snowy Hydro 2.0 expansion, and lamenting the demise of the NEG.
The former prime minister urged his Liberal colleagues to revive the NEG – abandoned as a casualty of the August leadership fight – arguing it was a ‘vital piece of economic policy and has strong support, none stronger I might say, than that of the current prime minister and the current treasurer’.
Labor is proposing to keep the NEG with a 45 percent emissions reduction target. The text of the speech the former prime minister ultimately delivered, now uploaded on his website, did not address the impact of Labor’s higher target.
But an earlier draft of the speech, did.
“Labor has announced it will adopt the NEG but with a higher emissions target,” the early draft, seen by Guardian Australia, said.
“Ours, as you know, was 26 percent which was only just above business as usual so it obviously had no adverse impact on prices.
“There is some modelling already from Frontier Economics which suggests that Labor’s 45 percent target will not result in higher prices,” the early draft said.
“That assertion deserves skeptical assessment, but it is also important regularly to review these models in the light of the latest technology and market information.
“A great deal depends too on whether a 45 percent reduction means simply that emissions in 2030 – in that year – should be 45 percent less than in 2005. If that were the case, implying a hockey stick, the additional cost may not be as high as it would appear.”
Turnbull issued the following statement to Guardian Australia about the unauthorized disclosure of his draft speech to the energy conference.
“The notes were obtained by Guardian Australia without my authority.
“They are incomplete draft material. The only remarks released with my authority was the speech that I gave at the conference, a transcript of which is on my website.”