14th Jun 2007, 9:57 AM – Senate Motions - Renewable Energy - Energy targets

The majority voted against a motion that asked the Government to reject a recommendation from the Prime Ministerial Task Group on Emissions Trading that said that: ‘All Australian schemes that set mandatory targets for deployment of particular technologies should be wound up over time, and new ones forestalled'. This means the motion was unsuccessful.

Motion text

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) renewable electricity generators face significant barriers to entry into the electricity market,

(ii) households selling electricity into the grid are typically paid low prices that do not fairly reflect the value of zero emission, distributed energy,

(iii) ‘feed-in’ tariffs have secured market incentives, driving an unprecedented expansion of the renewables industry in several European nations, and

(iv) policies such as feed-in tariffs and renewable energy targets are intended to foster emerging industries to ensure that deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions can be achieved in the medium- and long-term; and

(b) calls on the Government to reject the recommendation of the Prime Ministerial Task Group on Emissions Trading that, ‘All Australian schemes that set mandatory targets for deployment of particular technologies should be wound up over time, and new ones forestalled’.