Cathy McGowan is worried the new Prime Minister is not doing enough to tackle climate change.
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The Indi MP wants the government to commit to a national energy policy to replace the National Energy Guarantee which was abandoned at the end of Malcolm Turnbull’s time as prime minister.
“There’s a lot of people saying that they’ve got to do some better work. Saying no to the NEG was an easy decision, the hard now is now ‘what are you going to put in its place?,” she said.
“You’ve got to pay attention to the community because they’re racing ahead on this.”
Ms McGowan this week gushed to Parliament about plans for Indi to become 100 per cent reliant on solar energy, led by a community energy retailer facilitating the sharing of solar power.
“I believe we've got a template that can be applied right across Australia,” she said.
“We're talking about a really effective transition to renewables, prototypes of sharing electricity around a community and setting up a trading platform in this way, locally generated electricity, social and economic development and empowering local communities.
“I know this is something every member of this parliament wants to see.”
The AusNet chief executive was also in Canberra, talking about the benefits of community energy.
Ms McGowan comments were aimed at Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who she wants to commit money towards renewable energy project in the next round of the regional growth fund to be announced next month.
She used question time this week to ask him, “What is the future of the renewable energy target? What action is government going to take on climate change?”.
Mr Morrison responded by saying Australia would meet the emissions targets set for 2020 and 2030, but did not mention community energy sharing.
“We have a proud record of meeting the commitments that we agreed to and we set for ourselves in these international forums,” he said.
Ms McGowan was far more positive about Mr Turnbull, who she thanked for the “fantastic job you did for this country” on the NEG.
“We’ve got to keep the prices now,” she said.
“We’ve seriously got to have a policy around not just electricity, but also gas.”
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