The Gillard government will fireproof its $10 billion green technology fund against an attack from any future Coalition government by forcing Tony Abbott to repeal legislation in order to shut down the flow of money.
Ensuring its clean energy policies are carved in stone even if it loses next year’s election, Labor indicated yesterday that the funding for the Clean Energy Finance Corporation would be ”specifically appropriated” in legislation to be introduced to Parliament next month.
The earmarking of $2 billion each year for five years, starting in 2013-14, was recommended by an expert panel, chaired by Reserve Bank board member Jillian Broadbent, whose report was released yesterday. Treasurer Wayne Swan said the government would be ”accepting all of the recommendations that have been made in this report”.
Any future Abbott government would be forced to repeal the legislation along with the carbon tax, possibly forcing it into a double-dissolution election if the Greens hold the balance of power in the Senate and Labor holds its ground.
The announcement came as government figures showed Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions rose 0.6 per cent to 546 million tonnes during the year to December 2011, though the nation is still on track to meet its Kyoto Protocol target.
The green fund will provide loans and co-investment to clean energy companies in a bid to boost the sector, which Mr Swan said was the victim of ”financial barriers” to investment. The fund was a key demand from the Greens in their climate change negotiations with the government, and is meant to work in concert with the carbon tax and the renewable energy target to transform Australia to a clean energy economy.
Ms Broadbent said the review panel, which included investors Ian Moore and David Paradice, recommended the money be set in legislation because the fund was highly valuable and needed to be protected.
”You want to give it the best chance to have some longevity,” she said. ”I guess if we hadn’t found so much merit in the concept and the workability of the organisation itself, we might not have done it that way.”
Asked if the Coalition’s fierce hostility to the fund influenced the recommendation, she said: ”I think that influenced it. It’s really saying that there’s got to be a conviction that you undo this, rather than treating it lightly.”
Half of the green fund will go towards renewable energy projects such as wind, solar and geothermal, and the other half to low-emissions and energy efficiency measures. Carbon capture and storage is excluded.
Ms Broadbent said the fund would follow stringent commercial criteria but would be akin to an ethical investor, aiming to move Australia towards a low-carbon future.
The government intends the fund to make a profit.
Greens leader Christine Milne said the fund was necessary to deliver the scale of renewables needed to battle climate change.
Opposition climate spokesman Greg Hunt called on the government to keep the lid on any funding until after the next election, given allocations of money would not begin until July 2013 - just weeks before a likely poll.
