Concessions to one technology will not fix the Budget's major stuff-up over small and delayed funding for renewable energy, Australian Greens climate change spokesperson, Senator Christine Milne, said today.

Only a radical shift in priorities, alongside a comprehensive feed-in law like that being introduced in the Senate by the Greens today, will plug the huge Budget hole.

Senator Milne said, "Despite evidence and experience from around the world, the Rudd Government clearly has not acknowledged how many renewable energy technologies are ready for commercialisation immediately. With the right support mechanisms in place, we could start rolling out solar thermal power stations tomorrow, for example.

"The comprehensive national feed-in law that I am introducing in the Senate today, alongside truly prioritised funding for renewable energy research, development and commercialisation, would see Australia on track to be 100% renewably powered.

"The Government's Budget decision to immediately fund more of the failing 'clean coal' research and development, while postponing any investment at all into commercialisation of renewables until 2009-10 has already come under fire and looks set for a bandaid fix.

"Within 24 hours of the Budget, the Government has flagged a patch up job, shifting $40 million from the Energy Innovation Fund, funding previously committed to vital solar energy storage and hydrogen technology research, and directing it to assist geothermal energy companies with ongoing drilling costs. The geothermal industry needs and will welcome that funding, but why should such funding be refused to other deserving renewable energy technologies?

"The government seems to be trying to divide and rule the renewable sector by taking from solar to give to geothermal when it should have taken the funds from the coal industry's pipedream. Did the government even consult the renewable energy sector when allocating funds, or was it too busy meeting with the coal companies?

"The urgency of climate change is such that we need to pull out all stops. Renewable energy has the potential to power our whole country with zero emissions within the near future, something coal cannot dream of. If we gave this the priority we give Defence, which receives $100 billion over four years, 40 times the total climate budget, that is within our grasp.

"One of the mechanisms that can bring forward a completely renewably powered Australia is a comprehensive national feed-in law, such as the one I am introducing in the Senate today. This law would give certainty to investors in all renewable energy sources, guaranteeing them a market at a price determined by the Minister for 20 years.

"This feed-in law, based on Germany's successful experience, will support anyone from a householder who wants rooftop solar panels to a developer building a gigawatt-sized solar thermal power plant. It will be an important complement to the 20% mandatory renewable energy target, and will set the sky as the limit for renewable energy in Australia."