A green energy lobby group hopes hundreds of people will turn up to a community meeting as it attempts to undermine marginal electorate MP Peter Hendy in Eden-Monaro.
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The meeting in Queanbeyan next week will continue the Australian Solar Council's marginal seat strategy to pressure the Coalition to keep the Renewable Energy Target (RET) intact.
The target aims for 20 per cent of Australia's electricity supply to be from renewable sources by 2020 but the Australian Financial Review has reported the Coalition wants to massively scale down the scheme by closing it to new entrants and grandfathering large projects.
Australian Solar Council chief executive John Grimes, who said the existing RET scheme was supported by a broad spectrum of politicians from Clive Palmer to Christine Milne, said Dr Hendy would not be turning up to the meeting to "face his electorate".
"I'd expect we'd get hundreds of people there and that would be fantastic for Queanbeyan on a cold winter night," Mr Grimes said.
"I understand an edict has gone out to backbenchers not to attend."
Dr Hendy, who won the bellwether seat by about 1000 two-party preferred votes from Labor's Mike Kelly at the federal election, said the meeting would effectively be a joint meeting between the Canberra branches of the Greens and the Australian Labor Party.
"It's very nice of them to invite me but I don't usually go to Greens party meetings," Dr Hendy said.
"I regard it as a completely partisan attack – if they were serious they wouldn't hold it on a (parliamentary) sitting day."
Mr Grimes has already traded barbs with Environment Minister Greg Hunt who said the government wanted long-term stability for the sector, which included solar and wind energy companies.
The September 3 meeting starts at 6pm at the Queanbeyan Roos Club.
