States may go it alone on clean energy target, says Victoria's energy minister

Willing state governments could band together to implement a new clean energy target consistent with the central recommendation of the Finkel review if the Turnbull government can’t deliver the required national leadership on a post-2020 scheme.

Victoria’s energy minister, Lily D’™Ambrosio: ‘Investors, industry
need policy certainty and clarity. We can’t continue to be
on this terrible rollercoaster ride of policy uncertainty.’

Victoria’s climate and energy minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, told Guardian Australia that state governments going it alone was a real possibility if the Turnbull government couldn’t determine a position on the clean energy target in time for a meeting of energy ministers on Friday.

She said if states emerged from Friday’s meeting with no clear resolution on the clean energy target, “willing” states could ask the Australian Energy Market Commission to provide advice about how the scheme envisaged by the chief scientist could be implemented by state government action.

“The willing states are looking at the real prospect of potentially having to go it alone,” she said.

Read Katherine Murphy’s story on The Guardian - “States may go it alone on clean energy target, says Victoria's energy minister.”