CANBERRA, April 2 (Xinhua) -- The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) has ruled out supporting a major federal energy reform unless the policy ramps up support for renewable energy.
Shane Rattenbury, the ACT's energy minister and leader of the ACT Greens, said that Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's National Energy Guarantee (NEG) was counter to the national interest and contained a "weak" emission target.
Under the Australian law, all six states and two territories must ratify the NEG before it can be implemented.
That means that despite the ACT accounting for just 1.5 percent of the national electricity market, and it being Australia's smallest district in square kilometers, its government could kill Turnbull's signature energy policy.
Rattenbury said that the federal government needed to be more ambitious and seek to deliver a steeper emissions cut than the 26 percent it promised as part of the Paris agreement.
"We need to find an agreement to move the national energy market forward," Rattenbury told News Corp Australia on Monday.
"What we can't sign up to is a bad outcome, and we do have concerns with the current model.
"We don't think it is in the national interest to go down the path that is currently being proposed. But if we can find a way through, then yes, we are keen to find an outcome."
The ACT is on track to achieve its 100 percent renewable energy target by 2020.
Despite Rattenbury's assessment, Josh Frydenberg, the Federal Minister for the Environment and Energy, said he was optimistic that the Coalition of Australian Governments (COAG) could come to an agreement on the policy.
He said that he was confident that New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania would support the NEG while positive talks had been held with Victoria and Queensland.
"The ACT is a very small fraction of the national electricity market ... and I cannot see a situation where you got unanimous agreement from the other states in the national electricity market, and the ACT blocking a historic national reform," Frydenberg said.
