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Posted: 2017-07-16 05:07:10

South Australia, Victoria, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory have effectively declared no confidence in the federal government as it grapples with the question of whether to set up a clean energy target, deciding to go it alone and ask the Australian Energy Market Commission to draw up plans for one.

Frosty energy ministers meeting

It'll be a tense and unfruitful meeting between State and Territory energy ministers if these comments are anything to go by.

The clean energy target was the only recommendation of 50 made by chief scientist Alan Finkel not to be adopted unanimously when the state and Commonwealth energy ministers met in Brisbane on Friday.

The communique noted that the Commonwealth was still "carefully considering" the target and said the four states would separately ask the Commission to design a target as they were entitled to under its rules.

"There is now broad support for a target from industry, business, climate groups and state governments," said South Australia's Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis after the meeting.

"It's incredibly frustrating that despite overwhelming support for a market mechanism, opposition from the coal lobby and the right wing of his party is preventing the Prime Minister from acting in the interests of all Australians."

Victoria's Energy Minister Lily D'Ambrosio said the recommended energy target was by far the most important of the Finkel recommendations. It was due to begin in just two-and-a-half years' time, in 2020.

The states had gone alone before, introducing individual renewable energy targets that were later taken over by the federal government.

NSW Energy Minister Don Harwin declined to take part in the separate approach to the Energy Market Council, saying national reform was needed to address the factors driving higher prices.

Federal Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg said he only received the Finkel report five weeks ago.

"I don't think we need to rush it, I think we need to get it right, and as you would appreciate, we have cabinet deliberations, ministry deliberations, party room deliberations, all of which are important," he told a media conference after the Brisbane meeting.

The party room postponed a decision on the target last month after a reported two thirds of those who spoke came out against it.

"We are talking about creating a market signal for investors for decades to come, so it's only appropriate that the Commonwealth properly consider that particular recommendation," Mr Frydenberg said. "The other 49 recommendations were less controversial and we were able to move in record time to secure support of the states and territories."

Among the recommendations approved by the states at Friday's meeting were the introduction of a new generator reliability obligation that will require intermittent sources of generation such as wind and solar to provide backup to guard against blackouts, a new requirement for large generators to give a minimum three years' notice before closing and the establishment of an Energy Security Board to oversee the reliability of the national energy market.

The meeting encouraged states to develop more gas, "noting each jurisdiction's relevant circumstances".

Ms D'Ambrosio said as long as two thirds of the east coast gas production was shipped out the country, developing new gas fields would make little difference.

"One you find the gas, if you find the gas, to actually have it produced, and that takes five to seven years," she said. "It's a furphy to throw it up."

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