Dear Tony Abbott – can you please stop lying about the RET

Solar Business

rsz_timthumbphpDear Prime Minister

I don’t like to publicly criticize leaders but I am compelled to take you to task.

Can you please stop lying about the Renewable Energy Target?

I was appalled to hear your completely incorrect and deceptive comments on ABC AM this morning about the RET.

In your interview on two separate occasions you incorrectly stated that:

  •  “the RET is “very significantly” driving up power prices” and
  • “the RET is a very significant impact on higher power prices

This is absolutely not true and modelling commissioned by your own government shows this to be the case.

Indeed, your own Minister Greg Hunt was forced to acknowledge this not long ago when he was interviewed on ABC television; also acknowledging that the RET is only a  few percent of the average power bill.

Copious modelling and analysis has been conducted which shows the make up of a typical electricity bill in Australia, demonstrating that what you said today is deceptive and it is not the first time you have made such claims.

The Government’s Australian Energy Market Commission Report from 2013 shows very clearly that your statements are not true. In fact, what this data shows is that the smallest component of electricity bills is energy efficiency schemes, followed closely by the SRES and then the LRET.  I have attached a graph below which is an excerpt form the data in the report.

Out of the nine components that make up an average electricity bill, the RET are respectively, the second and third SMALLEST components of a bill and in the case of the SRES, it is already declining to a smaller amount.

This being the case I find your comments deceptive, misleading and completely unjustifiable. With so much attention on the RET I feel confident that you and your staff would be well aware of these facts and as such this is a deliberate and abominable lie designed to mislead the public on this very important issue.

Further, modelling by ACIL Allen, commissioned by your department , demonstrates that the removal of the RET is most likely to INCREASE the price of electricity.  

The public deserves to be told the concise truth on this issue and most certainly should reasonably expect you to represent facts.

On behalf of the tens of thousands of solar workers and almost 5 Million Australians who support solar power and the RET, I insist on an unreserved public apology and correction.

AEMC electricty bill makeup 2013 2014

 

Source: Solar Business Services. Reproduced with permission.

Comments

15 responses to “Dear Tony Abbott – can you please stop lying about the RET”

  1. Tommyk82 . Avatar
    Tommyk82 .

    I posted this on his wall… about 50 times

  2. Beat Odermatt Avatar
    Beat Odermatt

    I fail to understand why Tony Abbott
    cannot see the advantages of renewable energy. Over 90 % of
    Australians believe that we should support renewable energy and
    among Liberal voters, it may be close to 95%. If the Liberal party
    wants to ensure a loss at the next elections, the party must be sure
    to attack the common sense of good Australians and ignore good
    environmental and economic policies. Supporting a dying fossil fuel
    industry is like backing Cobb & Co. during the 20th
    century. Times change and technology changes.

    1. orko138 Avatar
      orko138

      He cannot see the advantages of renewable energy because he governs in the interest of the miners who put him there. Why else would the RET review be housed in the Primer MInisters office (not the Dept of Environment, or Dept of Insdustry), and have hand-picked climate sceptics lead the review. his mind was decided before the research.

      1. Matthew Wright Avatar
        Matthew Wright

        I couldn’t agree more. He is working for the big energy companies / miners. They are unfortunately his constituency when of course we the Australian people should be.

    2. wideEyedPupil Avatar
      wideEyedPupil

      Abbotts lying with 3-7 word slogans got him into power so he assumes he can continue with them unabated. Especially with the Murdoch press backing him in and not printing anyone who speaks the truth.

      1. Pedro Avatar
        Pedro

        The real problem is that a significant amount of people believe Abbotts and the Murdoch press BS spin. He got voted in after all. Makes a very good case that uninformed people should not be allowed to vote.

        1. wideEyedPupil Avatar
          wideEyedPupil

          They also voted ALP (and maybe Greens) out. THat was probably formost in their minds not the RET or CT> In fact exit polling says of those people who voted LNC, the least number said CT was an important factor in their vote.

    3. Alen Avatar
      Alen

      Like too many other politicians he’s only got short-term interests in mind, leaving long-term problems for someone else to deal with. Only this time they’re getting visibly caught out, and the more unpopular he becomes the harder he will fight to protect his party’s donors (i.e. big FF). The LNP has a very big fight ahead of it come the next election, and he will require lots of campaign funding to convince the public his horrendous policies are good for the public and not purely ideology driven

    4. coomadoug Avatar
      coomadoug

      Beat

      Abbot can see it. He isnt totally stupid. What he is guilty of is criminal negligence rather than ignorance. It is pretty bad.

  3. Vandemonian Avatar
    Vandemonian

    “Can you please stop lying about the Renewable Energy Target”

    Good luck with that one Nigel. In their twisted world, pathological liars and/or sociopaths are unable to differentiate between reality and fantasy. Our Prime Minister obviously has issues, that should be medically seen to before he does irreversible damage to Australia.

  4. Chris Fraser Avatar
    Chris Fraser

    I wonder what are the chances of Abbott having an op-ed spot on this blog ? Nah, since Abbott cannot defend his malignant views either here or elsewhere, he does not bother.

    1. Max Boronovskis Avatar
      Max Boronovskis

      I think that’s actually a swell idea. I would love to see an interview of our Prime Minister by Renew Economy, regularly even.

  5. Marcus Hicks Avatar
    Marcus Hicks

    I say, if you are in any doubt, do the calculations yourself. The carbon price is currently fixed at $23 per tonne of CO2. 1MWh of coal-fired electricity generates 1 tonne of CO2. Therefore, 1kwh of coal-fired electricity generates 1 kilogram of CO2, which costs $0.023c. An Australian family of 4 uses an average of 18kwh of electricity per day, or around 6.6MWh of electricity per year. That means that the carbon price-alone-is costing an Australian family of 4 an additional $152 per year……not the $550 per year that Abbort is claiming, & not even the $280 being claimed by Treasury.

  6. Sam Ruddick Avatar
    Sam Ruddick

    major budget protest this sunday 6th of july, starting at 1pm in the queen victoria gardens (Melbourne). Come and show your support and join the movement. if you don’t live in melbourne, search to see if there is a protest in your city.

  7. Max Boronovskis Avatar
    Max Boronovskis

    Thank you Nigel Morris. I didn’t hear that interview but realise I have heard similar messaging by the PM. Your article is an important reminder on the starkness of the blatant lying going on around this topic and the brute force approach being applied to hoodwinking Australians via the media.

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