Assessment of efficacy

This section assesses the efficacy of existing policy, regulatory and institutional settings for renewable energy in Australia. This assessment is made based on the insights gained from a review of key policy, regulatory and institutional settings (as presented in sections 3.1 to 3.3), complemented by some thoughts on the all-to-familiar shenanigans of the policy and legislative processes. Some key points are discussed as follows:
The above discussion identifies major lacunae in the existing policy, regulatory and institutional settings. This discussion is further extended below, with the view to draw out some points that will need to be considered in order to improve the efficacy of the policy, regulatory and institutional settings. This extended discussion is developed based on the insights gained from a review of broader policy settings in section 2. Some of the main points are as follows.
As presented in section 2, the electricity policy setting in Australia has historically favoured cheap and abundant indigenous fuels (especially, coal) for power generation, to subserve wider priorities and agendas of socio-economic development of the country. In such environments, issues of climate change have become subordinate to wider socio-economic priorities, hence a lack of political constituency for redressing climate change challenge. Piecemeal policy efforts for promoting renewable generation, significant regulatory uncertainty, and limited institutional capacity are therefore natural outcomes, as a rapid increase of renewable generation would undermine the wider socio-economic priorities that have favoured coal-based generation.
To rectify the situation will require the formation of a national consensus to shift wider developmental priorities towards the development of a low-carbon economy, because this consensus will facilitate the development of more effective policy, regulation and institutions for promoting a major transformation of the existing coal-dominated generation mix, aimed at reducing emissions from power generation. The formation of such a consensus will be the outcome of a complex and challenging political bargaining process, through which various affected interests will be accommodated.