Malcolm Turnbull outlines further NEG changes amid party pressure

The Prime Minister has recently outlined more changes to his NEG scheme, prompted by growing internal disruption from within the Coalition ranks.

This comes after the PMā€™s office said it would not rule out taking tough action to get the National Energy Guarantee passed through Parliament.

The Government has so far already backed down on a proposal to integrate Paris emissions targets into Commonwealth legislation.

In the Facebook video, Mr Turnbull described a plan to force default power prices on providers as well as impose heavy penalties for those that did not bring their costs down.

Both of these measurers came recommended by the ACCC.

He said that ā€œthrough more competitionā€ and ā€œother changesā€ that the average energy cost for Australians would go down.

He threatened that if companies failed to pass on the savings, ā€œthe ACCC will put them on noticeā€. He also said they would ā€œimplement the toughest penaltiesā€ to ensure Australians were getting ā€œvalue for moneyā€.

He went on to reiterate the ultimatum made by his office, saying that ā€œwe will not hesitate to use a big stickā€ in order to make sure power companies complied.

Federal Labor has also drafted its own energy policy that is quite similar to the Governmentā€™s, promising to cut power prices for homes and small businesses. It also said it would support a default energy cost.

Christian Woods
Christian Woods
Christian is a morning reporter and technology columnist for Best in Australia. Christian has worked in the media since 2000, in a range of locations. He joined Best in Australia in 2018, and began working in Melbourne in 2019.
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