Former Australian Deputy Prime Minister (PM) Barnaby Joyce has called for the government's emissions reduction corporation to invest in fossil fuel projects.
Joyce, former leader of The Nationals who served as Deputy PM between 2016 and 2018, on Tuesday introduced an amendment to Parliament that would allow the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) to invest in "high intensity, low emissions coal-fired power."
Established in 2012, the CEFC acts as a "green bank" with 10 billion Australian dollars (7.7 billion U.S. dollars) to invest in projects that help reduce Australia's carbon emissions.
Joyce has repeatedly warned PM Scott Morrison against committing to a 2050 net zero emissions goal.
Introducing the amendment, which caught fellow members of the government by surprise, Joyce said that it would enable Australia to "export coal and use it efficiently at home" into the future.
"If the market decides they don't want to build (a coal-fired plant), they don't want to build one. That's their choice," he said. "But they've got to have that opportunity."
He used his speech to renew criticism of his successor as Deputy PM, Nationals leader Michael McCormack, for failing to increase the Nationals' power within the governing Coalition, which the party forms with Morrison's Liberals.
Editor: Galia
