Sun shines on Labor's solar scheme as Liberal energy war flares up

Victoria’s solar and wind rush has begun.

The Andrews government has committed to six new renewable energy plants.

On Friday, the Andrews government fired the starting gun on what it promises will be an energy revolution for Victoria.

Under a Labor promise announced last month, the state will pick up the tab as an estimated 650,000 homes install solar panels on their roofs over the next 10 years.

The government hasn't even waited for an election mandate to start acting on its pledge to “put power back in the hands of Victorian households”.

The scheme opened on Friday and has been backdated to August 19, meaning anyone who bought solar panels on the basis of the Premier's grand promise will be able to recover half the cost.

Read the story from The Age by Adam Carey and Noel Towell - “Sun shines on Labor's solar scheme as Liberal energy war flares up.”

Tony Abbott launches warning shot on climate policy

Tony Abbott has fired a telling shot across Malcolm Turnbull's bow, warning that any energy package agreed to in cabinet must also pass a party room wary of anything approaching a clean energy target or other subsidy scheme for renewables.

Warning shot on energy: former prime minister Tony Abbott,
 pictured with then-assistant treasurer Josh Frydenberg
at Parliament House in March 2015.

It came as the Turnbull government received more bad news in the fortnightly Newspoll series, prompting Mr Abbott to declare a future return to the leadership was possible but would occur only if he was drafted by colleagues, which he described as "almost impossible to imagine”.

Signalling that Coalition MPs will be no rubber stamp on energy, the dumped former prime minister said the backbench deserved "plenty of chance to digest" the formula.

Mr Abbott's blunt message sets the stage for another showdown over a policy area that has divided moderates and conservatives within the Coalition for a decade, and become a constant cipher for simmering leadership rivalries.

Read Mark Kenny’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Tony Abbott launches warning shot on climate policy.”