Sparks fly
The Coalition is on the attack over energy, despite the many lingering questions over its gas 'reservation' policy.
Thursday’s debate at the National Press Club between Energy Minister Chris Bowen and his opposite Ted O’Brien was the most fiery and policy-rich contest we’ve seen so far during the election campaign.
This probably suggests that when there are legitimate differences in policy, rather than manufactured ones, you get a better standard of debate. Because unlike health funding, management of the economy or tax, energy is the one area where Labor and the Coalition are presenting fundamentally different policies.
The biggest news out of the debate was O’Brien opening the door to pulling Australia out of the Paris climate agreement if the Coalition deems it to be in the “national interest”.
“When it comes to establishing future targets, we need to account for three things. One, the direction of emissions. Two, the state of the Australian economy. And, three, the suite of our policies, not Labor’s policies,” he said.
