Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Water) Share this | Hansard source

The rationale for the renewable energy target is clearly to bring forward investment in renewable energy. It is the case—and I think the Greens would know this—that most forms of renewable energy are currently more expensive than conventional forms of electricity. The reality is that coal fired power generation is still cheaper than renewable energy. So we do require government policy to bring forward investment in renewables to start to reduce the cost gap between conventional and renewable power. (Time expired)