Labor is extending an olive branch to the Morrison government in the hopes of achieving a national energy policy, while simultaneously labelling the responsible minister "pig-headed".
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The opposition's energy spokesman Mark Butler says it's high time power bills stop rising.
"The only way that can happen is for Scott Morrison to stop the ideology, to stare down the hard right within his own party room and return to the table around a sensible, coherent, national energy policy," he told reporters in Adelaide on Tuesday.
Mr Butler's comments come as the Grattan Institute urges the government to stop "knee-jerk" policy reactions, which the think tank says is pushing up power prices and scaring off investors.
Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has also weighed in, telling The Australian the Liberal Party is to blame for current high power bills because it's "incapable" of addressing climate change.
Mr Turnbull's reign in the top job came to a brutal end last August in a leadership spill brought on by the coalition's internal divisions on its then-energy policy.
Mr Butler puts it down to the "pig-headed ideology" of Energy Minister Angus Taylor and the hard right of the coalition.
The Grattan Institute's report says the government's touted "big stick" legislation - which would allow it to break up energy giants - is hurting investment.
But it says the national energy market will need about $400 billion in new power-generating infrastructure over the next three decades.
The institute's Tony Wood describes the government's level of intervention as unusual.
He points to the government's treatment of AGL, which despite giving seven years notice it would close Liddell coal-fired power station, was pressured to keep it operating for another year.
It will close in 2023 and Mr Taylor has set up a task force to monitor the process.
"If you want the market to work efficiently, you let AGL get on and do their job," Mr Wood told ABC radio.
"And if they don't do it, somebody else will. But if it's the government, then don't expect private investors to turn up."
Projects like South Australia's "rushed" investment in diesel generators or the federal government's Snowy 2.0 project crowded out other investment, the Grattan report says.
It also urges state and territory governments to create their own nationally consistent policies in the absence of a federal plan.
But Mr Wood hopes the coalition can figure it out.
"I'd like to think we don't see the carcasses of any more prime ministers on the battlefield," he said.
Australian Associated Press
