As Labor’s cost of living crisis spirals out of control and Australians enter one of the toughest Christmas periods of their life, its energy minister is weaponising government agencies by misrepresenting the AEMO/CSIRO GenCost report.
Minister Bowen is Labor’s chief illusionist, diverting attention from what is happening to our energy system right now which is pushing citizens into energy poverty.
How bad does it have to get before Labor faces up to the immediate energy crisis affecting Australian households?
Bowen is waving around a draft GenCost report today to justify the same failed energy policy that has taken the Australian energy market to the verge of collapse.
As an author of the report, CSIRO, has confirmed, GenCost considers only costs to investors, not consumers.
If an energy plan is to reduce household energy prices it must put consumers at the centre, not investors.
But Labor ignores this distinction and instead weaponises GenCost by deliberately misrepresenting the report and assuring Australians its ‘renewables only’ policy is reducing power prices.
Labor points to GenCost to argue that renewables are the cheapest form of energy, but they fail to finish the sentence – renewables may be the cheapest form of energy for investors, but not for consumers.
Big investors that come into Australia to make money from utility scale wind and solar projects can look after themselves, but it’s Australian households that I care about, even if Chris Bowen doesn’t.
If Labor really wanted to tackle the cost-of-living crisis hurting Australian families, it would direct CSIRO and AEMO to put the consumer at the centre and apply a total-system-cost methodology.
Labor should adopt an “All-of-the-Above” approach to technology, which would protect against the premature closure of baseload energy, pour more gas into the market and better integrate renewables.
Tangible action could be taken today to help push prices down but Labor is instead consumed by weaponising government agencies and playing political games.
Download the full media release HERE.