Politics live updates: Clare O’Neil backs renewables, Labor faces energy backlash as power bills set to double

Australian Defence Force representatives were “tracking” members of the public, veterans and military personnel on Facebook after thousands issued their support of Australia’s most highly decorated soldier, Ben Roberts-Smith, following war crime charges being laid against him in the lead up to Anzac Day.

The Nightly can reveal internal correspondence between military officials, obtained under freedom of information laws, shows Australian Defence Department members were monitoring and documenting evidence of a “protest movement” across social media in the lead up to April 25.

Now, Shadow Minister for Defence Personnel, Phillip Thompson has questioned whether ADF officials will be tracking social media accounts again before Remembrance Day, in a move he described as “disgraceful”, rather than being focused on being war-ready.

Protesters were calling for members of the public, veterans and ADF personnel to wear a green ribbon on ANZAC Day in objection to war crime murder charges laid against the Victoria Cross recipient.

Documents released through the Freedom of Information requests said protesters described the movement as a “quiet, respectful show of solidarity for fellow service personnel who many feel they have been poorly treated by the Government and the broader political process”.

The protest called for backers to add a green ribbon to represent the “Military Thin Green Line” on medals or uniforms.

In the document release, military personnel appeared to share a series of social media posts of members of the public with top brass.

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Eleven Australian soldiers killed during the first World War have been formally identified by the federal government, including the great uncle of Deputy Prime Miniter Richard Marles.

Mr Marles described the identification of his great uncle, Lieutenant Andrew Anderson, as a “genuinely remarkable revelation” for his family.

“I was notified a few weeks ago that I was one of the living relatives, the next of kin, to lieutenant Andrew Anderson, who died on 20 September, 1917, in the battle in Belgium, during the First World War,” Mr Marles told the ABC on Wednesday morning.

“He is one of 60,000 Australians who lost their lives during the First World War, as I have come to learn, almost a third of that number were unidentified.

“For more than a century, he has been in the crater -- in the cemetery in Belgium, under an un Unknown Soldier tombstone. Next year there will be a formal service to change the headstone over his grave.”

Labor’s renewable energy rollout has come under fire amid warnings electricity price could nearly double by 2029 as coal-fired power stations close faster than renewable projects are built and connected to the grid.

Housing Minister Clare O’Neil defended the government’s energy strategy, saying the shift to renewables was essential to bringing down electricity costs for Australian households.

“We’re really focused on trying to bring energy costs down for households because electricity is too expensive in Australia,” Ms O’Neill told Sunrise.

“And we’re doing that in two ways in that short term energy bill, price relief that we’ve provided to households of now up to about $450.

“But we are also trying to tackle the underlying driver of what has made energy in Australia so expensive.”

Ms O’Neil argued Australia had delayed the transition for too long and needed to accelerate renewable energy construction.

“The truth is that our country doesn’t have a real choice here. We have to move towards renewables,” she added.

“The reason that coal fired power plants are shutting is not because of government policy. It’s because they are old, they are ageing, and they are very expensive to run. We have to make this shift.”

But Deputy leader of the Nationals Bridget McKenzie criticised Labor’s approach, arguing the government was failing to ensure reliable replacement power was available as coal-fire stations shut down.

“Chris Bowen is living in an alternative reality. He’s off lecturing the globe on energy policy and emission reduction. Whilst here at home we’ve got wholesale prices expected to double,” Ms McKenzie said.

“We’ve got data centres coming online and our population is increasing. We have no replacement for that. Five megawatts that is closing under the Labor Party.”

Richard Marles says Qantas’ decision to cut about 850 jobs in favour of outsourcing roles to India as “disappointing”, calling on the airline to prioritise Australian workers and redeploy affected employees where possible.

“It’s a disappointing decision. What is really important obviously now is that Qantas is working with them, with their representatives, the unions, to make sure that as many are redeployed as possible,” Mr Marles said.

The Deputy Prime Minister stressed Australian jobs must remain a priority.

“We very much understand advances the technology, and - we’ll - we’ll play out,” he said.

“But, it’s really important that Australian jobs are a focus here. And it’s really incumbent now on Qantas to make sure they’re working with those people and redeploying them where they can.”