Abbott told Sky News on Tuesday evening the government had to address market failure by providing base-load power and building coal-fired power stations. Tony Abbott says dumping clean energy target would help Coalition win election Read moreAbbott said there was “no chance” that the Coalition party room would support a significant increase in the amount of renewables in the system, warning that Liberal MPs had “extremely serious reservations” about a clean energy target. “That is something we couldn’t accept.”Kelly believes the renewable energy target should be frozen for a number of years and increased more steeply closer to 2030 to meet Paris agreement commitments. “I won’t comment on that other than to say we have a renewable energy target that was actually put in place by Tony Abbott in 2015, it is legislated,” Turnbull told 4BC Radio. Turnbull wants to keep AGL’s coal power station Liddell open beyond its planned 2022 closure but has shown less enthusiasm for building new coal power stations.

Source: The Guardian September 19, 2017 22:44 UTC