If, as has been widely suggested, the Federal ALP reluctantly agrees to the Coalition's long awaited energy policy after going through the motions of publicly opposing it, Labor states and territories will be under significant pressure to do the same.
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This includes the ACT's Labor-Greens coalition government headed by Andrew Barr.
Given some of things climate change minister, Greens MLA Shane Rattenbury, has already had to say on the subject our pragmatic chief minister may soon find himself pinned between an irresistible force and an immovable object.
The irresistible force would be Federal Labor's desire to get off the energy merry-go-round that has stymied investment in electricity generation for the better part of a decade.
Labor frontbenchers have said it would be unconscionable to have more trench warfare that could extend to the next election and beyond.
They argue the inclusion of a de facto carbon price, built around the National Energy Guarantee, provides wiggle room to ramp up the scheme to bring it closer to their heart's desire in the event Labor wins Federally in 2018 or early 2019.
Some experts reportedly do concur with Labor energy spokesman, Mark Butler's, assertion there would be a price on emissions under the NEG plan.
"...companies will start contracting and trading with each other and a price will emerge on that which reflects the carbon emissions," Mr Butler said.
This has not been sufficient to influence immovable objects including Mr Rattenbury and South Australian Labor Premier, Jay Weatherall. The latter has hatchets of his own to bury.
Mr Rattenbury told Fairfax he does not believe states and territories would come on board the proposed scheme until far more detail on how it would work was provided.
"What we are seeing is a proposal that is business as usual, it locks in a role for coal and gas," he said.
This, on the face of it, suggests the minister is implacably, and possibly ideologically, opposed to any program that mandated the ongoing use of fossil fuels in any shape or form.
Given politics is the art of the possible in which it is a well established fact you usually have to give a little to get a little, the question Mr Rattenbury may soon have to consider is whether or not Greens' ideology trumps the national interest.
Objectors to the plan have rightly pointed to the lack of detail and modelling to support some of the federal government's assumptions. There remains a question over whether the measurers proposed are enough to meet the objectives set out by the Prime Minister.
What is on offer is far from perfect. That said, many believe it will create a framework that can be improved and tweaked in the years ahead. It is also the only alternative to a dysfunctional mess that is likely to be on offer in the forseeable future.
