The Turnbull government is one step closer to being able to implement its proposed national energy guarantee, courtesy of Jay Weatherill’s departure as the South Australian premier after Saturday’s state election.
Weatherill led the resistance at the state level to the Turnbull proposal, which will impose new reliability and emissions reduction guarantees on energy retailers and large energy users from 2020.
The former Labor premier, who pursued an ambitious renewable energy program in South Australia during his tenure in the top job, was an implacable one-man roadblock to the national energy guarantee on the basis that the scheme was not sufficiently friendly to renewables.
The election of the new Liberal government in South Australia will allow the Turnbull government to press reset on the proposal which is now being worked through the energy ministers council – a group of federal, state and territory energy ministers – and Labor’s departure in SA improves the chances of reaching consensus.
Canberra set up the program of work on the national energy guarantee through the energy ministers council specifically with the South Australian election timing in mind.
Last November ministers agreed that the Energy Security Board would undertake work on the national energy guarantee only as directed by the energy ministers’ council within the Council of Australian Governments, with the detail of the scheme to be considered next April – on the other side of the South Australian poll.
The Turnbull government can’t implement its proposal without the backing of state governments because of the legislative underpinnings of the national energy market. States will be required to legislate the scheme …
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Guardian
