23/05/24
Today’s decision by the NSW State Labor Government to extend the life of Eraring confirms the Albanese Labor Government’s ideological approach to energy is failing.
Eraring forms part of 90% of Australia’s fleet of 24/7 reliable baseload energy generators which is set to be exit the grid over the next decade, without any guarantee of replacement.
Australia will literally run out of energy, the lights will go out and energy prices will soar even further if these 24/7 power plants are closed permanently as the Albanese Government is hoping for.
In the case of Eraring, it seems everyone could see the writing on the wall except for the Federal Climate Change and Energy Minister, Chris Bowen, whose blinkered approach to energy is driving Australia headfirst into an energy crisis.
The fact that Chris Bowen was saying just months ago that any extension of Eraring would be a matter of months, not years exposes a gaping 2.8GW gap between Chris Bowen’s prophecies and reality.
Chris Minns and his Labor Government have received what I fear is the first of many hospital passes from the Albanese Labor government which would rather offload responsibility for energy security to the states.
As Chris Bowen’s fails to deliver on his energy plan, he’s outsourcing the dirty work of extending coal to his state colleagues and pretending his hands are clean.
It’s telling of the chaos that the Albanese Labor Government is presiding over, that this decision comes in the same week that AEMO forecasted the risk of blackouts as soon as this summer and next year’s electricity prices were announced confirming Labor has broken its promise to reduce household energy bills by $275.
Australians are paying some of the most expensive energy bills in the world for increasingly unreliable energy.
Under the Albanese Government, Australia’s energy security is at threat and the Australian people are being pushed into energy poverty.
ENDS
Contact: Ted O’Brien MP – Mitch Bland – 0401 257 064