Dutton worse on renewables and climate than Abbott or Morrison, Bowen warns
Federal energy minister Chris Bowen has warned that a Coalition government led by Peter Dutton would be worse for climate and renewables than it was under either Scott Morrison or Tony Abbott.
Both Morrison and Abbott used their time in office to take a wrecking ball to Australia's energy transition.
Energy, and more specifically the cost of energy, continues to dominate debate in the election campaign, as one of the key inputs to the rising cost of living.
Labor is promising to continue its push to get Australia’s electricity supply to 82% renewables by 2030, including through its Capacity Investment Scheme.
The Coalition is promising a shift to nuclear power, but has more recently turned its attention to gas.
To that end, it has released modelling claiming that a domestic gas reservation for the east coast would drive down household gas bills by 7% and industrial gas bills by 15%.
But Bowen said the gas plan notably excluded mention of nuclear - which was meant to be the Coalition's way of getting off gas in the first place.
Bowen argues that the Coalition’s plan is also strongly linked with the fortunes of coal, with remaining coal plants likely to be expected to work longer and harder in the wait for nuclear to come online.