Clean energy target 'best deal that coal will get', says NSW energy minister

Don Harwin tells Committee for Economic Development of Australia the 'self-indulgent climate culture war' should end

The Liberal New South Wales energy minister has delivered a speech marking a sharp departure from his federal colleagues saying the coal-fired power industry should accept the clean energy target that will see the industry close in the coming decades as "the best deal that coal will get".

He also ridiculed claims that expanding gas exploration in NSW was the key to fixing Australia's gas crisis, saying such an idea was "curious", and pointedly called for an end to the "self-indulgent climate culture war".