2017-09-12
Greens climate change and energy spokesperson Adam Bandt MP today said that Malcolm Turnbull is acting like a toddler throwing a tantrum, indulged by AGL until he calms down and lets them get on with what they were going to do anyway.
“Faced with Malcolm Turnbull lying screaming on the floor like a toddler insisting they’re Batman, AGL says “yes, yes you’re Batman” just so they can get everyone out the door and get on with the day,” said Mr Bandt.
“AGL walked out of the meeting with the PM and promptly confirmed its preference is to build new dispatchable power involving renewables and storage.
“All Malcolm Turnbull achieved was getting AGL to bring forward its plan for new renewables, with a placating promise to spend five minutes discussing the PM’s pet coal project.
“But what Josh Frydenberg and Malcolm Turnbull aren’t telling us is what the government would need to kick in to keep Liddell, a power station on its last legs, open beyond 2022.
“The only way this old clunker is staying open is if the government pours in taxpayer dollars.
“The government must come clean that it will cost billions to prop up dirty old power stations.
“We wouldn’t let the government subsidise asbestos and we shouldn’t let them subsidise coal. Extending the life of coal-fired power stations will make global warming worse and threaten our way of life.
“That’s why when Parliament returns in October, The Greens will introduce legislation to prohibit the government from providing any assistance, financial or otherwise, towards keeping coal-fired power stations open.
“Labor needs to choose a side. They can either enable the Prime Minister in his quest for coal or work with us to take real action on climate change.”
Media contact: Gideon Reisner, 0429 109 054
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