Party tension continues as Turnbull focuses on Snowy

SBS World News Radio: Party tension continues as Turnbull focuses on Snowy

Party tension continues as Turnbull focuses on SnowyParty tension continues as Turnbull focuses on Snowy

Party tension continues as Turnbull focuses on Snowy

In just two weeks, tunnel-boring machines will get to work on a major expansion to the country's Snowy Hydro Scheme.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says it is infrastructure projects like the so-called Snowy 2.0 which should be dominating headlines.

But, instead, the week has been coloured by internal division in the Liberal Party and former prime minister Tony Abbott's public criticism of the Turnbull Government.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull travelled to the Snowy Hydro in Cooma, New South Wales, where work is about to begin on his Government's $2 billion upgrade.

Mr Turnbull says the new generator chamber, to be used as a kind of battery to store extra renewable energy for when it is needed, will be 200 metres long.

"That's a very, very big hole, very deep under the ground. But that is the scale of this investment. This is building on the vision and the passion, the patriotism, of the men and women that built the Snowy Mountains Scheme."

But as much as he tries, Malcolm Turnbull cannot make the Snowy Mountains Scheme the story of the Government's week.

Instead, the week has been dominated by political infighting between the wings of the Coalition, with former prime minister Tony Abbott laying out his alternative plan for the country.

Mr Turnbull says journalists, and his colleagues, need to focus on policy over personalities.

"Australians are bored, fed up, with journalists and politicians talking among ... about themselves. They're not interested in the personalities among politicians. They want to know what they're doing. So their interest, Australians' interest, is in the Snowy Hydro 2.0."

But Tony Abbott says he has no plans to leave public life, and he has made several media appearances in recent days.

He has sharply criticised senior Cabinet minister Christopher Pyne, calling him disloyal, after a recording of Mr Pyne talking about fast-tracking legalised same-sex marriage was leaked.

The former prime minister has told Radio 2GB he will continue to express his views.

"I'm getting a lot of feedback from the public which says, 'It's good that you are saying your piece, because that's what a healthy democracy involves. It involves a vigorous debate, and out of that vigorous debate comes the best possible direction for our country.'"

Media reports suggest some unnamed MPs in the more conservative end of the party now want Mr Pyne dropped from the leadership team.

And the Australian Financial Review reports there are also calls for an early Cabinet reshuffle, which could involve the demotions of George Brandis and Marise Payne.

In response, fellow Cabinet members have rallied around the leadership.

Social Services Minister Christian Porter says the issue has been blown out of proportion.

"My view on this entire issue is it's been escalated up well beyond what it actually is. Christopher Pyne does an excellent job as a minister. In my observation, he does a marvellous job as Leader of the House. My view is there really isn't much to talk about here after day two."

In a speech on June 27 Mr Abbott called for a moratorium on wind farms and a freeze on the Renewable Energy Target.

But Mr Turnbull says that criticism does not make sense because the energy target was last set when Mr Abbott was prime minister.

"The Renewable Energy Target was recently renegotiated and legislated in 2015, while Mr Abbott was prime minister. So, the law has been passed, the law has been confirmed, there is certainty in the industry, investments are being made, and what is needed to make renewables reliable is obviously storage. So you see, I'm not into political slogans. I'm into engineering and economics."

 

 

 






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