Big Sticks, Batteries And Bills
As 2018 draws to a close, Australia’s climate and energy policy remains almost entirely unresolved. While the government under Scott Morrison has a Minister for bringing down energy prices, it really has no clear plans to reduce emissions and has flagged plans to underwrite new coal-fired power. Meanwhile Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has announced Labor’s 15 billion dollar energy package, with a whole suite of measures aimed at boosting renewable energy, cutting greenhouse gas pollution and reducing electricity prices.
In this episode of Follow The Money, the Australia Institute’s Richard Denniss and Senior Economist Matt Grudnoff join me to discuss some of the details of Labor’s plan, some of the big issues facing the National Electricity Grid and where we need to go from here.
Host: Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director at The Australia Institute // @ebony_bennett
Contributors: Richard Denniss, chief economist at the Australia Institute // @RDNS_TAI
Matt Grudnoff, senior economist at the Australia Institute // @MattGrudnoff
Producer: Jennifer Macey // @jennifermacey // Additional editing by Lizzie Jack and Andrea Cantle.
Title Track: Jonathan McFeat pulseandthrum.com Find us on Twitter @theausinstitute // Facebook.
You can subscribe to The Australia Institute’s podcast series Follow The Money on iTunes. Each episode busts some economic myths, interprets econobabble and helps you sound really smart at your next dinner party.
Australia Institute research:
> Renewable electricity policy for Australia
> Will-o’-the-ISP – Estimating renewable energy employment under the Integrated System Plan
> National Energy Emissions Audit: November
> Australians Want a Price on Pollution, Regret Abbott’s Repeal
Between the Lines Newsletter
The biggest stories and the best analysis from the team at the Australia Institute, delivered to your inbox every fortnight.
You might also like
Why maintaining ambition for 1.5°C is critical | Bill Hare
One of the key things about this whole problem is that the only way to solve it is that we need to rapidly reduce and phase out fossil fuels. That can’t wait a decade. We need to be making substantial reductions this decade.
Why are gas companies trying to sell us hydrogen?
The hydrogen dream has become widespread in the Australian climate conversation: apparently, with it, we’re going to decarbonise Japan, Korea, and the world! Is this ambitious vision a genuine step towards a greener future or merely a diversion from ongoing fossil fuel expansion?
The Climate Crisis is an Integrity Crisis | Polly Hemming
I am starting my address to this year’s summit in the exact same way that I started last year’s address. Because it is just over a year since I delivered these same words, which aren’t actually my words. They are the words of our Climate Change Minister, and they provide a baseline of sorts for what progress has been made in that time.