Arthur Sinodinos with some reflections and advice
The Conversation, CC BY32.9 MB(download)
As Arthur Sinodinos prepares to leave the Senate for his new role as Australian ambassador to the US, he sits with Michelle Grattan to reflect on his time in politics.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison sings during an Easter Sunday service at his Horizon Church at Sutherland in Sydney on Sunday.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
This and Turnbull’s observations on energy policy provided abundant material for a question time attack by Labor bloated from dining on the unending manna that’s been flowing from political heaven.
Bill Shorten will hope his new energy policy package is a crowd-pleaser.
AAP Image/Ben Rushton
Frank Jotzo, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
The Labor Party’s newly announced energy policy could finally set Australia’s electricity sector on the path to a renewables-driven future. But policies are still needed to cut emissions elsewhere.
Morrison took the unusual course of not saying anything about Victoria.
on Saturday night or Sunday.
Daniel Pockett/AAP
Labor’s promise to subsidise batteries for households quickly became, in government parlance, “pink batts to pink batteries” – seeking to trigger memories of Rudd’s policy that cost several lives.
There could be much clearer skies ahead for energy policy if states take the reins.
AAP Image/Lukas Coch
The federal government is primarily to blame for the mess that is Australia’s energy policy. It’s time for the states to step up, to reduce both prices and emissions.
More broadly though, Morrison avoids dwelling on the significance of climate change.
David Crossing/AAP
Alex Turnbull said in his video the IPCC report “frankly was terrifying … and it’s seemingly insane to me that we could not be doing something about this and soon”.
Morrison’s preacher-style stump speech invoking Menzies sent some wider messages.
Simon Dallinger/AAP
It’s hard to fault Morrison’s first fortnight, if you can get past his description of events that tore down a PM as “that Muppet Show”, and swallow any cynicism about his careful choreography.
The government is now firmly focused on lowering household power bills.
AAP Image/Julian Smith
Australians are angry about electricity prices and both the federal government and opposition are proposing to cap them. Will this approach work, and what are the risks?
President Trump is challenging the US states’ right to set their own emissions targets.
Photo by John-Mark Smith on Unsplash
We need to move past biased, opaque models for energy policies.
Scott Morrison said he asked Peter Dutton about his intentions in Question Time on Monday and was told he was fully supportive of the prime minister.
Lukas Coch/AAP
If the next few days go quietly, Turnbull will live now from poll to poll, with enemies circling like crows over a weakened animal.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and federal energy minister Josh Frydenberg have been forced to back down on plans to legislate emissions reductions for the electricity sector.
AAP Image/Mick Tsikas
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has abandoned the emissions-reduction component of his signature energy policy, in the latest chapter of a brutal decade-long saga for Australian climate policy.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has blinked in the face of a backbench revolt over the National Energy Guarantee (NEG).
Mick Tsikas/AAP
If there were enough floor-crossers to sink the package’s emissions reduction legislation, that would effectively (though not literally) amount to a vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister.
What’s that on the horizon? Ah yes, renewable energy.
AAP Image/Mick Tsikas
Renewable energy investment is gathering steam throughout the world. Australia’s National Energy Guarantee policy should be made agile enough to jump on board, because this runaway train won’t stop.
While Labor has strengthened its message and become more united in recent years, the Liberals seem more divided than ever.
AAP/The Conversation
The Liberals once tried to build a big tent to include a range of political positions. Recent conflicts over energy, same-sex marriage and euthanasia show this is no longer sustainable.
