from politicoz ….

Adam Bandt called Martin Ferguson the "minister for the twentieth century" the other night, but the Greens are probably using stronger terms behind closed doors today.

Ferguson, Resources Minister, has announced that the government is shelving plans to pay for the shutdown of some of the country's highest-emitting coal-fired power plants - such as Hazelwood in the Latrobe Valley.

As Adam Morton explains in the Age, this decision represents a terrible hash-up by Ferguson and the government.

When the carbon price was introduced, the government had committed to paying brown coal generators $5.5bn in compensation. This inflated their value just as Ferguson was commencing negotiations on how much it would cost to close them down. Unsurprisingly, the price was high — generators realised they're actually going to do quite well out of current arrangements. And now the government can't afford to meet their demands.

The plants will live on for the foreseeable future because their operators are between $400m and $1bn better off than if there was no carbon price.

Australia’s dirtiest power stations will receive up to $5.5 billion in financial support for the next five years, despite shelving plans to invest in clean energy projects, after the ­federal government dumped a central plank of its carbon scheme. The government said yesterday that it had called off negotiations with five companies to close down high-emitting power stations.

For nearly half a century, Hazelwood – often described as Australia's dirtiest large coal power plant – has loomed large over Victorian life. It provides about a quarter of the state's electricity, employs hundreds and is responsible for 13 per cent of its emissions. This is now unlikely to change any time soon.

The federal government has shot itself in the foot.