After the release of the Warburton review at the end of last month, momentum appears to be building for a compromise between the Federal Opposition and the Coalition to salvage Australia’s renewable energy target (RET), with initial discussions underway between Environment Minister Greg Hunt, Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane and the ALP’s Chris Bowen, Mark Butler and Gary Gray.
The initiation of discussions on the RET comes after a challenging party room process for the Coalition, with reports that the majority of Liberal National Party (LNP) MPs have shifted their support away from closing the scheme to new projects, as supported by the Prime Minister, Treasurer Joe Hockey and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, in favour of a “real 20 per cent” option.
While the party room division creates an internal headache for the government, reports that Hunt and Macfarlane have been given a negotiating mandate to ‘get it done’ on the RET suggests that Coalition may be entering a new phase of pragmatism, favouring compromise instead of taking a hard line stance on policy, without the necessary support to execute its plan.
