Labor’s positive policies on renewable energy will reverse the three years of destruction wrought by the Abbott-Turnbull Government on this growth industry which employs 20,000 Australians.

Supporting renewable energy in Australia has multiple benefits – it lowers power costs for households, reduces the nation’s carbon emissions, and creates jobs for the future in a new and growing industry.

That’s why a Shorten Labor Government will directly drive investment in renewable energy by working with energy providers to enter into Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) equal to bringing Commonwealth energy use up to 50 per cent renewable energy by 2030. These would be 10-15 year contracts, and would provide the certainty needed for long term investment in the renewable energy sector.

The jobs of the future will be powered by renewable energy. 

After three years of the Liberals undermining renewables and destabilising jobs and investment, a Labor Government will turn things around. 

Labor's plan will help Australian businesses and households seize the opportunities of renewable energy. 

We will provide the economic and environmental leadership this sector needs. Creating the right conditions for new jobs, new investment and new industries. 

Our plan is about setting an example, providing certainty and backing words with actions. 

  A Shorten Labor Government has a comprehensive plan for renewable energy in Australia. It includes:

• 50 per cent renewable energy by 2030.
• Up to 10 Community Power Hubs across the country to boost small-scale renewables.
• Adequate funding for the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) which the Abbott-Turnbull Government has tried twice to abolish.
• Expanding the investment mandate of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) which the Abbott-Turnbull Government has also tried to abolish twice.

The Liberals’ climate change policies have been an abject failure. Malcolm Turnbull knows this, and yet he is too scared of his own backbench to do anything about it.

The Government’s own numbers predict that under its so-called “Direct Action” policy, emissions will rise by 7.7 per cent by 2020. That’s right – a policy costing $2.5 billion of taxpayer money that is meant to be cutting emissions will actually result in an increase.

In the Abbott-Turnbull Government’s first year, large-scale renewable energy investment fell by a stunning 88 per cent.

Small-scale renewable installations, such as rooftop solar, have also taken a tumble. In the last year of the Labor Government, nearly 413,000 such installations occurred. This year we are on track for 113,000.

This Government has done all it can to destroy this industry. Almost 3,000 jobs directly involved in the renewables industry have been lost under this Government – a sector which should be growing jobs, not losing them.

Mr Turnbull likes to talk about innovation, jobs and growth, but the Liberals’ record on renewable investment and jobs exposes this as the empty slogan it is.

You can trust Labor to protect renewables, and nurture this growing industry so that it continues to create the jobs of the future.

THURSDAY, 2 JUNE 2016