Former party president Michael Kroger slams Labor government's green hydrogen plan as ‘waste' of billions of taxpayer dollars
A Hydrogen Production Tax Incentive is included in Labor's net-zero plans as part of its Future Made in Australia Act, and more than $6.5 billion will go towards the scheme.
It is set to provide $2 per kilogram of renewable hydrogen produced between 2027-28 and 2039-40.
Mr Kroger and former Labor Senator Stephen Conroy joined Sky News host Andrew Bolt on Monday night, where the pair were asked about whether the Opposition should be doing more to push back against the government's 'green hydrogen dream'.
'The nuclear power was a good cover that kept everybody, Nationals and Liberals, in the same cart, and until the opposition can fundamentally resolve the direction they want to go, they're going to not be able to prosecute this case,' the former Labor Senator said.
Mr Kroger meanwhile slammed the country's investment into green hydrogen, which he said required an 'enormous amount' of water, land and regulation to get up and running.
'It's very expensive and no one's buying it in Australia,' Mr Kroger said.
He said the pursuit of green hydrogen over other energy sources should be a matter for the private sector rather than the government.
'We used to have a thing in Australia that governments shouldn't pick winners,' Mr Kroger said.
Since coming to power in 2022, he said the government's mentality had been that they can 'fix everything'.
'Let's wait and see green hydrogen develop to commercial levels around the world and save our money, and then we can just copy them rather than waste billions of dollars of the Australian government's money, where potentially this may not work at commercial scale,' he said.
The government's renewables agenda has already faced criticism across the sector, with leading energy and environmental experts slamming Energy Minister Chris Bowen's plans.
In an article published by The Australian last week, Mr Bowen had stated there had not been much evidence to support the 'noise' against renewables.
However, Centre for Independent Studies energy program director Aidan Morrison claimed 'there's just not a chance' the Energy Minister's renewable energy agenda could be implemented according to Labor's 2050 timeline.
'It's like we're kicking around ice on the deck of the Titanic thinking: 'Oh, that was fun to brush up against that'. We haven't taken seriously how badly things are shaping up' Mr Morrison told Sky News last week.
Meanwhile, one of Australia's largest green hydrogen backer, metal mining giant Fortescue, slashed about 90 jobs working on the energy source last week.
The move sparked further criticism from Mr Morrison, who told SkyNews.com.au that green hydrogen was 'hopelessly impractical" as an alternative fuel.
'It's extremely difficult to store and move. There's limited demand for hydrogen as a chemical feedstock, which is economically met by methane reformation from coal or gas,' Mr Morrison said.
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