The Australian Greens have had a busy week “Dutton-proofing” the legislation underpinning federal Labor’s flagship renewable energy policies to prevent them being used to support coal, gas or nuclear power in the event of a Coalition election victory this year.
The Greens say they have successfully amended the Albanese government’s Electricity Infrastructure Legislation Amendment Bill 2025 to protect the Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS) from being tweaked to allow fossil fuel plants to participate. The bills were due to go through parliament on Thursday.
Federal Labor’s CIS is designed to accelerate investment in new dispatchable renewable energy capacity, with the goal of delivering at least 23 gigawatts of wind and solar and 9 gigawatts and 36 gigawatt hours of clean storage.
Currently, gas generators are excluded from the CIS, but the federal government has faced pressure to change that, including from utilities such as Origin Energy. This was amplified after the South Australian government moved late last year to include existing and future fossil fuel generators in its proposed state capacity payment scheme.
But getting gas or coal into federal scheme will now be difficult, Bandt says, with the Greens’ amendment also ensuring Parliament approval is required for any significant change to the CIS.
“The Greens have Dutton-proofed government support for wind, solar and storage which is driving coal and gas out of the electricity system,” Greens leader Adam Bandt said in a statement on Wednesday.
“The Greens want to keep Peter Dutton out and get Labor to act in a minority government, but if somehow Peter Dutton ever makes his way to the Lodge, these amendments will keep his hands off the Capacity Investment Scheme and keep renewables and storage on track.”
Two days earlier, the Greens struck a separate deal with Labor to ensure Dutton’s other favourite energy source, nuclear power, will not get a sideways boost from Labor’s Future Made in Australia (Production Tax Credits and Other Measures) Bill, which passed through parliament on Monday.
Amendments secured by the Greens exclude uranium from being eligible for production tax credits under the Future Made in Australia policy, which was designed by Labor to support green hydrogen production and critical minerals processing.
Greens Resources spokesperson Dorinda Cox said the passage of the amended bill means parliament has confirmed in legislation that uranium can not be listed as a critical mineral or receive a tax credit – and demonstrates what a minor party can achieve.
“The Greens have sent a clear message today – nuclear is not the answer, and we won’t let it be used as a smokescreen to prop up coal and gas,” Cox said on Monday.
“There is no place for uranium in our future. We have felt the history of devastation and destruction of country. First Nations communities have suffered greatly and have been left to clean up the destruction. Australians do not and will not benefit from uranium mining, no matter how the Coalition spins it.
“The Greens have Dutton-proofed this bill and secured jobs and investment in critical minerals processing and green hydrogen production, both of which are critical to our climate and our economic future,” added Bandt.
“Peter Dutton’s dangerous nuclear fantasy is a ploy to keep coal and gas in the system for longer, threatening investment in renewables. Locking support for renewables and storage into law will give the industry certainty that the transition is unstoppable.
“If the Parliament works together like this we can get real action on the climate crisis.”
Federal Labor, meanwhile, is keeping up its attack on Dutton’s energy policy, this week pushing out data that claims nuclear uses 1.4 times as much water as coal to generate power.
Under the Coalition’s plan, Labor says, nuclear power in Australia would need three times more water than coal to keep the lights on.
“Peter Dutton wants to spend $600 billion in taxpayer money on one of the most water intensive energies, nuclear,” federal energy minister Chris Bowen said on Thursday.
“Peter Dutton needs to find a Sydney Harbour sized reservoir of water every year to keep his nuclear reactors stable and running.
“In a drought-prone nation you have to ask – which regional community will he steal water from to keep the lights on?”
