That would be “check” Tony Abbott and quite possibly “check mate” when it come to the Renewable Energy Target.
Clive Palmer’s gut’s has just reached a new and potentially legendary status following his stunning announcement yesterday that he intends to support the Renewable Energy Target, the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and the Climate Change Authority.
The price to pay will be on the axing of the Carbon Price although watching his interview on Lateline last night, he described his proposal for a replacement Emissions Trading Scheme as “being based on much of the good policy already drafted in the Carbon Price” so perhaps it is not quite dead yet. Exactly how this will all play out remains to be seen but clearly the RET landscape has changed markedly now.
Prime Minister Abbott can’t seem to get a break lately on climate policy and thankfully his hopeless Coalition party stance is not only facing the heat in the global press and from more progressive politicians, but also from an increasingly obvious ground swell of Senators, public opinion and even the modelers hired by Government to asses the scheme; they could not hide the fact that the RET reduces the wholesale cost of energy, benefiting all Australians.
Clive is a fascinating enigma and I undoubtedly there is a lot more learn about him. Of course, everyone wants to know what on earth drove this apparent sudden shift in opinion; Tony Jones was stark in his assessment naming it as “a road of Damascus conversion on climate change” on Lateline. Of course, Clive described the influence and importance of his discussions with Al Gore; but he also noted “the influence of the public in contacting his office on the issues of climate change”. How genuine Clive is on this change of heart remains to be seen but to me at least, Clive is playing a politically smarter hand than our own Prime Minister and talking in a straight forward and simple language that could well resonate with a chunk of the population; his comment on the solution to complexities on the Carbon Price for example was simply “well…we’ll just chuck it out” .
Of course, Clive may be a climate change believer (I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt for now) but what is apparent is that at least part of his enormous wealth may be more linked to the success of renewables than seems obvious at first glance. One fact for example, is that Palmer allegedly has a large stake in nickel mining in addition to coal. Nickel prices have increased dramatically this year and guess whats driving that? Battery demand; largely from renewables and electric vehicles. He became a true Billionaire recently and part of whats adding to his wealth and indeed what could add to his future wealth is undoubtedly driving some of his thinking.
In my mind there are two key lessons in this riveting and yet-to-be-concluded theater of political intrigue.
The first is that the desire, hunger and motivation of those who support solar and reduced carbon emissions in intense. Our team is also increasingly politically savvy, very well connected and as is now utterly apparent – able to shift the very heart and soul of this countries politics. I’m impressed at the quality of the chess game currently at play. The price of underestimating or targeting the power of this countries solar citizens is a very, very high one and a massive shout out to the Australian Conservation Foundation for helping to make this happen.
The second is that the truth on the RET will prevail. This has been my optimistic belief for the last 6 months or so because like so many others, its blindingly obvious if you are focused on the issue. I just couldn’t see how it would be possible to disguise the success and elegance of the program and the entire industry, every single one of you, should feel immensely proud that you have invested and persisted in this important argument. Sure it makes good business sense for those with interests, but what seems to be invisible to some of our leaders is that it is even more important to the hip pockets of millions of average Australians and is of course, sensational news for the climate.
Your move, Prime Minister.
Post expires at 4:15pm on Friday June 26th, 2015