Dennis Atkins’ reference to “meandering” on national energy policy in a recent Courier Mail article is an acute understatement. Irony abounds as the Turnbull Government tries every conceivable manoeuvre to side-step the key Finkel recommendation of a Clean Energy Target (CET).

It turns out that renewable prices are falling much faster than expected.

This is an inconvenient truth so with typical sleight-of-hand Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg now argues there is no need to subsidise renewables after all, saying, in effect, there’s no need for a CET.

This contradicts the chief scientist Alan Finkel saying it’s the most cost-effective way forward to transition to a lower emissions energy target. Virtually every industry leader engaged in the recent National Energy Summit debate sees the government’s backdown as another blow to policy certainty. Turnbull’s latest catch-phrase is that his government’s policy is not ideological, but in their frantic pursuit for policy differentiation with Labor that’s exactly what it is.

When Labor governments have set more progressive targets for increasing levels of renewables they have been berated for the impact this will have on electricity prices. Now Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg, is acknowledging a “brave new world” in which renewable prices are falling faster than expected.

Frank Carroll