Malcolm Turnbull wants us to bet on the National Energy Guarantee trifecta without seeing the detail

Forget chief scientist Alan Finkel's exhaustive inquiry. Forget the months of evidence and sophisticated modelling. Forget the detailed report on electricity prices by the ACCC. Forget the RET and the CET. Now we've got the NEG.

Malcolm Turnbull has asked the public to "trust the experts".

If you believe the Government, the NEG — or National Energy Guarantee — will deliver the trifecta: no blackouts, less carbon dioxide emissions and lower prices.

Energy policy nirvana without a "re-neg" on Australia's climate change commitments.

There is serious room for doubt, but who really knows? It's impossible to make a definitive judgement because the policy, made on the run with obvious haste, is so sketchy.

This is a scheme based on an eight-page letter, outlining the germ of an idea, from a little-known body established just two months ago — the Energy Security Board — which is largely comprised of representatives from energy regulators who are partly responsible for the mess we're in.

The devil, always in the detail, is yet to come.

Read Stephen Long’s analysis on the ABC News - “Malcolm Turnbull wants us to bet on the National Energy Guarantee trifecta without seeing the detail.”

Path cleared for release of Turnbull's reliable energy package

Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg -
he has failed Australians.

Malcolm Turnbull's long-awaited energy package will be released as soon as next week after the energy committee of cabinet approved the package on Wednesday, clearing a major hurdle to the policy's release.

The energy package will dump Chief Scientist Alan Finkel's proposal for a clean energy target and, instead, focus on a clutch of measures aimed at fixing reliability issues in the National Electricity Market, and improving electricity affordability.

The full cabinet is now likely to examine the package of measures next Monday ahead of the package being presented to the Coalition party room as early as Tuesday morning.

Along with resolving the same-sex marriage issue this year, finalising its post-2020 energy policy is a key political objective Malcolm Turnbull has set his government, and is seen within the Coalition as a necessary hurdle to be cleared if the government is to revive its fortunes in 2018.

Read the story by James Massola and Mark Kenny in today’s Melbourne Age - “Path cleared for release of Turnbull's reliable energy package.”

(It's time the Turnbull Government got serious about resolving Australia's energy crisis and within that made a genuine attempt to reduce Australia's carbon dioxide emissions. There is, sadly, no silver bullet solution rather, achievement of such a target needs a many facetted attack from societal behaviour to a serious and sweeping change about our approach to energy creation and its use.

One thing a bold and innovative government should be doing is building a renewable energy infrastrucfure in that it should be working toward making every premises, domestic and business, its own power station, through the use of solar and batteries, and wind, and a smart grid the draws both hydro and wave power, not to mention geothermal.

Beyond, thatit shoudl be helping Australians better understand how they can continue to lead fulfilling and complete lives while using less energy.

It won't be easy, it will be confrontational and controversial, but ultimately, comforting - Robert McLean)