South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill has called on Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to place an Emissions Intensity Scheme on the agenda for the next COAG Leader’s Meeting.
It comes as the groundswell of businesses, industry groups and energy market experts backing the idea continues to grow.
The National Farmers’ Federation is the latest industry group to publicly call for a market mechanism that drives investment in new electricity generation, as policy paralysis at a Federal level continues to increase the risk of supply shortfalls and rising prices across the National Electricity Market.
The National Farmers’ Federation joins the following groups supporting an EIS:
- CSIRO
- Chief Scientist Alan Finkel
- BHP
- The Australian Industry Group
- AGL
- The Australian Energy Market Commission
- The Australian Energy Regulator
- Clean Energy Council
- Malcolm Turnbull (when he was Leader of the Opposition)
- Frontier Economics
State Opposition Leader, Steven Marshall, has opposed an EIS, which experts say will reduce power prices for South Australian households and businesses.
Mr Weatherill said the Prime Minister can no longer ignore this growing list of industry, business and energy experts who all agree that urgent action at a national level is necessary to fix the National Electricity Market.
“This isn’t a fringe group, this is a traditionally conservative peak body saying they believe a market mechanism would lower power prices for farmers across the country.
“It’s time we had a serious debate about the merits of an EIS that is free of ideology. If the Prime Minister believes he is right and those businesses, scientists and economists that support an EIS are wrong he should be happy to make his case at the next COAG Leader’s Meeting,” said Mr Weatherill.
