Energy Planning and Regulation in Australia

Policies, Publications & Submissions - October 17, 2024

Submission by the Australian Council of Trade Unions in response to the Select Committee on Energy Planning and Regulation in Australia

The ongoing energy transition represents the most significant structural transformation of Australia’s national energy system and economy in decades. To ensure that this transformation delivers genuine benefits to workers and communities, the future electricity system should be planned and built to deliver good-quality jobs and just transition outcomes, alongside generating affordable zero-emissions electricity. In addition to transitioning to reliable, renewable, and low-emission energy sources, this transition would also need to respond to future energy demands while enabling a seamless two-way flow of electricity across networks.

Multiple government inquiries and reports have found that the Australian Energy market is not fit for purpose. Decades of radical, market-driven policy experiments applied to Australia’s electricity industry have led to escalating energy prices for consumers while creating uncertainty about the security and sustainability of electricity supply. Increased corporatisation and privatisation of energy markets have created an unproductive and fragmented structure of private competition where the market is highly concentrated between a few generators and retailers, yet no one is fully in control of the system.

Solving the problems created by this system does not require more marketisation and privatisation. Instead, it requires a fundamental review of the design and operation of the energy system followed by coordinated and targeted public investment that delivers good union jobs and value for money to communities.

Recognising the manifold complexity of “energy market reform” as a subject for policy analysis, the very wide-ranging scope under the Terms of Reference of this inquiry, the four-week turnaround for consultation, and the suggested page limit on submissions, the ACTU does not approach this process as a means to identify comprehensive and implementable regulatory reforms across the many policy settings and vehicles that comprise the Australian energy market. Rather, we will use this submission to touch upon a few key aspects to be considered in any attempt at energy market reform, to make sure that energy markets prioritise the needs of the Australian people, not only those of energy company shareholders.

We also urge this review to work in coordination with ongoing initiatives & processes that have underscored the necessity for energy system reform, such as the Energy and Electricity Sectoral Decarbonisation Plan and the National Consumer Energy Resources Roadmap.

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The ACTU Network

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