Get right with the RET

Watch the video explaining why the Renewable Energy Target's so important for Australia.



It's crunch time for the RET, with a deal expected in the next two weeks. We need Labor to stay strong and keep the RET, and we need the Coalition to realise that attempts to destroy renewable energy in Australia won't be well-recieved. We've put some handy points for use in your email below. But the most effective emails will be personal—telling your story or the stories of people you know and care about. Below are some tips on writing a personally powerful email to your MP:

1. Introduce yourself — the best stories paint a compelling picture of the person affected. Who are you? Where do you live? What do you do?
2. Explain that you (or someone you know) are benefiting from the current renewable energy target — for example through a new job, business, or lower power bills from switching to a renewable energy provider.
3. What difference does the RET make to you? Explain how a reduction in the renewable energy target will impact your job, your household, your community or your business — What would your family have to sacrifice? How would your lives be different?

Remember to be polite! Some MPs may not realise their voters want the RET to stay as is, and we need to persuade them.

The facts:

• Any reduction in the target is going to kill off billions of dollars of investment and cost tens of thousands of jobs. The Government wants to cut the RET down to 27,000GWh. This will completely decimate Australia's renewables sector. It will also reduce competition in the electricity market, driving power prices up and increasing carbon pollution.


• So far the RET has created 24,000 new jobs and $20 billion worth of investment. The government's number one priority is meant to be creating new jobs and strengthening our economy, but by downgrading the RET we are going to do the opposite.


• Keeping the RET as it is won't create an oversupply of electricity into the grid. The National Electricity Market's job is to ensure electricity in the grid never goes over capacity. In fact, having more electricity than we need, like we do now, is a great thing for power prices - it just drives them down.


• Reducing the RET will add $4.5 billion worth of profits to the pockets of the big energy retailers AGL, Origin and EnergyAustralia, so it's no surprise they've been calling for the RET to be scrapped.