Is renewable policy Turnbull’s road map back to the centre?

Is Malcolm Turnbull More Worried About Climate Change Battering Australia Or Right Wingers Battering Him?

Eight days after the election, it looks like the LNP will be returned with a slender majority.  What does this bode for renewable policy in Australia?

Anyone who saw our PM’s late night meltdown on national TV following the election last week saw a man whose game plan has been destroyed. This by the electorate not playing ball and electing him with an increased majority and control of the Senate.

Former NSW (Labor) premier Kristina Keneally discussed how Bill Shorten (hardly Mr Charisma) managed to out campaign Mr Turnbull in the long, drawn-out weeks. Here’s her article for The Guardian.

The make-up of the Senate is also still to be determined. Though PM Turnbull’s gamble to call an early election to capitalise on his popularity appears to have completely failed. Indeed with the rise of the far right in the form of Pauline Hanson, a whole new dimension of pressure is now on the Coalition.

Turnbull’s position is far from safe. With the acolytes of former PM Tony Abbott circling, any chance that positive solar power policy in Australia will be implemented as part of an enlightened renewable energy package seems remote.

Or is it?

What’s on the shelf?

This Giles Parkinson piece makes for fascinating reading. In it, Parkinson talks of a series of reports commissioned by the Climate Change Authority (CCA). These game-changing studies were allegedly shelved by the government in the lead-up to the election. Presumably to avoid embarrassment in the pro-renewables electorate.

He talks of Turnbull using these reports — which call for a more bipartisan approach to climate change and renewables policy and called for mechanisms such as a carbon price — to propel Australia to world leadership on the issues. More importantly, Parkinson argues these reports can be the vehicle to move Malcolm Turnbull back to his more natural turf in the centre of the party.

Last week we discussed the frustration that Malcolm (Formerly in the Middle) Turnbull must be feeling after caving into the right wing of his party on almost every notable issue. This including solar policy in Australia. How out of touch he was with the Australian electorate could not have been demonstrated any clearer than in last week’s poll.

Will Turnbull and his moderates decide to follow the people instead of his right wing on vital issues such as renewable energy policy? Will the CCA’s hidden reports provide an impetus for Turnbull and Co. to move back to the centre? Will he be challenged as leader if he takes this course of action? Please have your say in the comments.