Finkel Review is not about forecasts, it is about making informed choices

The Finkel Review delivered an energy system blueprint with a clear objective: secure and reliable electricity, at the lowest cost, while Australia moves to a lower emissions future. Regrettably, the current political debate seems more likely to deliver the opposite outcome: less secure and reliable electricity, at higher cost.

Finkel Review encourages a smarter choice.

There is justifiable concern about electricity prices, security of supply, and the future of the coal-fired power stations that have underpinned our energy system for decades.

The economic modelling of the Finkel Review provides forecasts of what might change under various assumptions. Unfortunately, the debate over the Review’s recommendations has focused on the forecasts rather than the substance of what drives investment, prices and emissions. Such debate does little more than support the view of JK Galbraith, who famously said that “The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable.”

Read the Grattan Institute story by Tony Wood - “Finkel Review is not about forecasts, it is about making informed choices.”