Australian renewables Stimulus Summit adds Palaszczuk as keynote speaker

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has been named as a keynote speaker at Australia’s biggest online renewable energy event – the Stimulus Summit: A Renewables-Led Economic Recovery – set to take place on May 6.

The webcast event, which will also feature the energy ministers of South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia and the ACT, and is being put together by the Smart Energy Council in partnership with RenewEconomy, to discuss the central role of decarbonisation in Australia’s economy recovery in the wake of the global Covid-19 crisis.

The Summit was announced ealier this month after the Smart Energy Council took the unprecedented step of cancelling its flagship annual conference and exhibition for 2020, in recognition of the long road ahead to ‘business-as-usual.’

The free Summit, which will run from 11am to 4pm on Wednesday May 6, will drill down into public debate around government stimulus packages and climate change action, with high profile guests including economist Ross Garnaut, renewables policy guru Simon Corbell, former CEFC boss Oliver Yates, and many more.

The SEC said more than 1,000 people had already registered for the first-of-its kind event, in the less than two weeks since it was first announced.

“We have to tackle the COVID-19 economic crisis and the climate crisis at the same time or we will lurch from crisis to crisis” said SEC CEO John Grimes in a statement on Thursday.

“This is Australia’s moment to modernise and grow the economy, create hundreds of thousands of new jobs and position Australia as a global renewable energy superpower.”

Keynote speakers include:

– Queensland Premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk;
– Australia’s pre-eminent economist, Professor Ross Garnaut;
– CEO of the Australian Industry Group, Innes Willox;
– The South Australian, Victorian, Western Australian and ACT Energy Ministers;
– The CEOs of the Australian Conservation Foundation, Climate Council, Climate Works, Carbon Market Institute, Farmers for Climate Action and Beyond Zero Emissions; and
– The CEOs of Hydro Tasmania and JET Charge and other renewables industry leaders.

For more information or to sign up, go to https://www.smartenergy.org.au/events/stimulus-summit-renewablesled-economic-recovery