Fed: Labor faces competing demands for renewable energy changes

AAP General News (Australia)
08-17-2009
Fed: Labor faces competing demands for renewable energy changes

CANBERRA, Aug 17 AAP - The federal government is facing competing demands from the
coalition and the Australian Greens as it tries to negotiate its renewable energy targets
through parliament.

The opposition wants more support for industries such as food processing and aluminium
manufacturing, but the Greens say that both the coalition and Labor are offering industry
too much compensation.

The coalition and the Greens are keen to have the government's plan for renewable energy
to generate 20 per cent of the nation's electricity by 2020 gain parliamentary approval
as early as this week.

The three parties are discussing changes to the legislation the government announced
on Sunday and amendments proposed separately by the coalition and the Greens.

"If they won't fix it, we will," opposition environment spokesman Greg Hunt told ABC
Radio of any reluctance by the government to make further changes to the legislation.

The coalition's energy and resources spokesman Ian Macfarlane said the changes didn't
go far enough and demanded more compensation to industry.

"There are jobs at risk here because (Climate Change Minister) Penny Wong is continuing
to play politics, continuing to try and take shortcuts," he said.

The government could copy the compensation measures from the emissions trading legislation
rejected by the Senate last week, he said.

But that's a position already rejected by Senator Wong who said the coalition's lack
of support for Labor's carbon pollution reduction scheme stymied similar assistance for
industry.

"We are not going to let politics get in the way of getting certainty to the renewable
sector, so we are putting forward this interim assistance regime," she told ABC Radio.

Greens senator Christine Milne said any agreement the government reaches with the coalition
would be "a dinosaur's pact".

The Greens will insist on a 30 per cent target and removing from any target "things
that are not renewable energy" such as solar heating, she said.

The coalition is baulking at supporting the higher target.

"Let's eat an elephant one chunk at a time," Mr Hunt said.

AAP rl/ash/apm

KEYWORD: CLIMATE UPDATE

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