Rann says Australia has missed renewable energy chance

AAP Newswire
25/09/2007 National

ADELAIDE - The federal government has missed an historic opportunity to make Australia an international leader in renewable energy, South Australian Premier Mike Rann says. Mr Rann said the states had led the way on renewable energy initiatives and Australia now needed a real national renewable energy target. The premier was commenting on federal government plans to replace state and territory clean energy targets with a single national target, which it said would reduce costs and red tape and drive investment in low-emission technology.

Under the government's national Clean Energy Target, 30,000 gigawatt hours a year would come from low-emission sources by 2020 - about 15 per cent of Australia's energy consumption. Prime Minister John Howard said a national scheme would reduce red tape and ensure low-emission technologies were developed in the lowest cost locations, without being restricted by state and territory boundaries.

But Mr Rann said the plan would water down individual states' renewable energy schemes. "We need a real national renewable energy target, not the weak, watered-down shandy the Howard government is proposing which also includes low-emission technology," the premier said. "Instead of a new plan to tackle climate change, the commonwealth has given us a substantially weakened re-packaging of state schemes and tried to sell it in the name of streamlining." Mr Rann said he had no problem with streamlining if there was a real and tangible outcome. "But what John Howard is proposing shows no leadership and does nothing to make Australia a leader in renewable energy," he said.