Turnbull’s attack on renewables reprehensible and reactionary: Greens
Malcolm Turnbull’s attempt to link the power outage in South Australia with the rise in renewable energy was a reprehensible act from a Prime Minister beholden to the reactionary rump in his party, said Greens Energy & Climate Change spokesperson, Adam Bandt.
“The storms in South Australia show we need more renewable energy to tackle climate change, not less,” said Mr Bandt.
“Using a severe storm to attack renewables is a reprehensible act from a Prime Minister who should know better.
“Climate change is threatening our way of life and driving storms like the ones that we’ve seen in South Australia.
“The storms and power outage in South Australia are a wake-up call, showing the country what will happen if we don’t get off fossil fuels and on to renewables.
“By seeking to slow the shift to renewables instead of speeding it up, Malcolm Turnbull is failing in his duty to protect the Australian people.”
Greens Senator for South Australia, Sarah Hanson-Young, said renewable energy was not to blame for yesterday’s state-wide SA blackout and those who are using the crisis to score political points should be ashamed of themselves.
“South Australians should be working together and looking after each other at this difficult time, not finger pointing and scoring cheap political points,” South Australian Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.
“My thoughts are with the communities that have been hardest hit and those who are still without power as the next wave of storms approaches our state.
“As South Australia was plunged into darkness last night our emergency services officers and SES volunteers were doing amazing work while some opportunistic politicians were letting the state down.
“I will be calling for a Senate inquiry into the impacts of climate change, particularly extreme weather events, on our nation’s energy infrastructure and supply. Instead of blaming renewables to make a cheap political point, we must continue to adapt our energy grid and invest in the technology that will allow us to meet the realities of dangerous global warming” Senator Hanson-Young said.
The Climate Council has called South Australia’s storm ‘a disturbing preview of what’s likely to come if Australia fails to act on climate change’, ‘occurring in a warmer and wetter atmosphere’.