In a response to the recent Federal Budget announcements, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott had little to say yesterday about renewable energy.
Mr. Abbott said the Coalition would not proceed with the budget increase to the Renewable Energy Future Fund and will cut government advertising by 25 per cent. These savings he said will pay for the Coalition’s direct action on climate change policy.
Under the Coalition’s “Solar Sunrise” element of its Direct Action policy, part of its Emissions Reduction Fund, it would provide a $1,000 rebate for either solar panels or solar hot water systems on top of current solar rebates, capped at 100,000 rebates per year.
The goal of the incentive would be to create one million additional home solar power systems by 2020 and provide an additional CO2 emissions reduction of 2.4 – 3 million tonnes a year by 2020.
Under the ERF, the Coalition would also allocate $100 million to a Solar Towns and Solar Schools Initiative which will provide grants for towns, non-capital cities and schools to access direct solar energy and export clean electricity to the mains power grid. Additionally, $50 million would be provided to a Geothermal and Tidal Towns Initiative.
While scant on information specifically relating to renewable energy in his speech yesterday, Mr. Abbott said next Wednesday at the National Press Club, Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey will announce further measures to reduce spending and to increase productivity; including a detailed response to the new spending and new savings proposals in the recent budget.
