The nation’s leading right-wing and left-wing unions have teamed up to urge Labor MPs to support gas and coal amid an internal ALP conflict over energy policy, warning that Australia will fail to succeed as a renewable energy superpower “if we de-industrialise today”.
The AWU national secretary Daniel Walton and CFMEU mining and energy national president Tony Maher held a briefing in Canberra with regional Labor MPs on Tuesday and pushed the party to support the expansion of the gas sector despite the opposition of environmental groups.
The two union leaders also said battery storage was “not close to replacing coal” as a baseload energy source and that reducing coal exports would make it more difficult for other nations to make a sensible transition to cleaner energy sources.
The two warn that Australia will not become a renewable energy “superpower tomorrow if we de-industrialise today”.
“We need to maintain our heavy industrial base today to expand it,” the document says.
“Battery storage is not close to replacing coal. Currently batteries dispatch 0.08 per cent of total electricity generation.
“Hydrogen will not be able to replace firmed generation for several decades.
“Snowy Hydro 2.0 will not be operational by Liddell closure and will not be enough to fill the other coal-power generators coming offline.
”The document, titled “A Sensible Pathway to Net-Zero Emissions”, says gas versus renewables is a “false choice”.
CTP Price at posting:
11.5¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
