Mr Calabria made the comments at a Committee for Economic Development of Australia lunch held in Sydney on Tuesday.
“The best approach for the electricity sector is an emissions intensity scheme that would price carbon at the margin,”? said Mr Calabria.
“Unfortunately this mechanism has been ruled out by the government, despite widespread support from the energy industry and others.
Mr Calabria also made the case for more gas-fired capacity to be made available to states in times of need.
“Sufficient synchronous generation must be physically available in each state at all times and interconnector flows must be managed so the system is resilient to sudden changes in generation and demand,”? said Mr Calabria.