Target $18.72, page-6352

Excerpt AUST editorial today:
ALP repeating past coal mistakes
Platform a show of hubris from a government struggling to deliver

With electricity prices rising and the chances of meeting ambitious emissions reduction targets in retreat, the ALP risks repeating mistakes on coal that have cost it government in the past. As we report on Friday, the ALP national conference in Brisbane next month will again turn its back on coal, making the electoral task more difficult, particularly in Queensland and the Hunter Valley.

The ALP’s draft national 2023 platform has dropped two paragraphs from the 2021 document that backed the role of coal in the economy and in regional communities. The draft platform was compiled by a group of Labor MPs known as the national policy forum, in consultation with party members and unions. The ALP national conference is not a blueprint for government but it provides an insight into how the future political contest will be fought.

Some within Labor no doubt will argue that the electorate has moved on and is now firmly on board with Labor’s ambitious emissions-reduction targets that have been legislated. This confidence is reflected in Anthony Albanese’s decision while in Europe for the NATO summit to sign the nation up to be a member of the Germanysponsored high-ambition climate club. But the reality is that coal continues to be a mainstay of Australia’s electricity generation and the backbone of economic activity in many regional centres, as well as a major contributor to government coffers, both state and federal.…..