27 August 2024
In response to the federal Coalition’s proposal for $100 billion in cuts to housing, transport, education, and climate solutions, the 30 undersigned organisations released the following statement:
Peter Dutton and the Coalition made their priorities clear today with a proposal to gut social services and roll back Australian renewables – all to fund their expensive nuclear fantasy.
The radical proposal would slash everything from housing and public transport to renewable energy and manufacturing jobs in an attempt to find the $100 billion they’d need to bankroll their unpopular nuclear scheme – a scheme that would drive up energy bills in the short, medium, and long-term.
By attacking both bedrock social programs and the renewable energy already providing 40% of Australia’s electricity, the Coalition would undercut Australia’s economic prosperity, undermine investor certainty, and make life harder for Australians already doing it tough.
By scrapping Future Made in Australia, Powering the Regions Fund and Rewiring the Nation, Peter Dutton would also abandon the key initiatives designed to reduce carbon pollution and reform the economy to ensure we remain prosperous and internationally competitive in a decarbonising world.
Peter Dutton’s attacks on a Future Made in Australia are especially telling, a rehash of the tired arguments Donald Trump and the Republicans used in their attempt to kill the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act.
Contrary to their ‘sky-is-falling’ rhetoric, however, U.S. inflation has decreased substantially since the U.S. passed its signature clean industry policy. Meanwhile, the policy has crowded in private investment equivalent to six times the support it provides, driven the creation of 210 new clean projects, created 400,000 new jobs and added $155B to the U.S. GDP annually.
The Coalition wants Australians to forego that same opportunity and sacrifice their own social services so they can prop up a nuclear industry expected to raise household energy bills an average of $1000 annually. If elected, Peter Dutton risks taking Australia back to the decade of chaos that characterised the Abbott, Turnbull, Morrison years on climate and energy policy.
This proposal is a transparent stunt, not a serious plan. Where the Coalition should be proposing real solutions on cost of living, the economy, and climate, they continue to offer only denial, delay, and disinformation. The Australian people deserve far more.
MEDIA: The following people are available for comment:
Tim Buckley, Director Climate Energy Finance tim@climateenergyfinance.org 0408102127
Josh Meadows, Australian Conservation Foundation, josh.meadows@acf.org.au 0439342992
Blair Palese, Founder, Climate Capital Forum, b.palese@ethinvest.com.au 0414659511
Sophia Walter, Solutions for Climate Change, sophia@cana.net.au 0476260028
Smart Energy Council, John Grimes, via Tim Lamacraft, tim@smartenergy.org.au, 0448972192
Heidi Lee Douglas, Solar Citizens, heidi@solarcitizens.org.au 0401092570
Amy Blain, Peoples Climate Assembly, amy.l.blain@gmail.com 0432946642
Jack Redpath, Carbon Zero, jack@carbonzero.org.au 0457 040 483
Stephanie Bashir, Nexa Advisory, Stephaniebashir@nexaadvisory.com.au 0402060120
Dr Kate Wylie, Doctors for the Environment, kate.wylie@dea.org.au 0432871389
Dr Jarra Hicks, Community Power Agency, jarra@cpagency.org.au 0401952805
Glen Klatovsky, Climate Action Network Australia, glen@cana.net.au 0410482243
Tom Reddington, Cooperative Power, tom@cooperativepower.org.au 0467070242