SYDNEY – September 6, 2017 — 350.org says Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s panicked demand during yesterday’s parliamentary question time that Australia’s oldest coal power station, Liddell, continue to operate, shows the Government’s inaction on climate change and failure to transition from polluting energy.

“The government is so far behind on climate change and the need to transition from coal that even Australia’s’ worst fossil fuel polluter, AGL, is ahead of them knowing it has to go,” said 350.org Australia CEO Blair Palese.

“Rumours that Liddell will be sold off and its polluting life extended despite AGL’s refusal to do so, has put Malcolm Turnbull’s convenient climate change denial and utter incompetence on managing Australia’s energy system into sharp focus.

“The big question is ‘Where’s the plan?’, Palese said. “The federal government is providing no strategy and no way of meeting its commitments to the Paris climate agreement. The AEMO report yesterday seems to have woken the dinosaur yet again, exposing the government’s failure to plan and to lead on the issue of our time.

“As AGL CEO Andy Vesey said yesterday, ‘Keeping old coal plants open won’t deliver the reliable, affordable energy our customers need.’ ”

“The only way we can provide this country with the energy it needs is to develop a sensible energy transition plan that allows us to move to renewable energy, battery storage and efficiency and to do that, we need strong, clear policy,” Palese said.