Attack on RET another cruel Abbott government cut

Greens Leader Christine Milne says Labor must stay strong and force the Abbott government to back down on cuts to the Renewable Energy Target, the way it is being forced to back down on cuts to universities and Medicare.

"The RET is not broken; the old model of energy generation is broken, but the Liberals are intent on propping it up as long as possible," said Senator Milne.

"Australia's energy future is in renewables, and so are the jobs. If Labor helps the Liberals with this, they'll be destroying jobs and one of the last climate policies standing.

"Labor must not cave in to the government. We need to stick with 41,000 gigawatt hours and the government will back down," said Senator Milne.

"They backed down on Medicare co-payments, they're going to be defeated on university deregulation, and we should defeat them in their attack on renewable energy.

"The Abbott government's attack on the RET is about securing a sustainable future for their mates in the fossil fuel sector, no one else.

"Rolling the small and large scale targets in together is just masking what is actually a massive cut down to 31,000 GWh.

"It pits large projects against household solar owners, because the more there is of one, the smaller market there is for the other.

"There is too much power in the system right now, but the answer isn't to stifle renewables, it's to close down the oldest, dirtiest coal-fired power stations.

"The RET was working exactly as intended, until the Liberals destroyed investor confidence with their review. It is not the RET that is out of step, it's the government."