Australian’s necessary energy policy

I think it’s time for government to govern. They are not commentators they need to be doers. 

The question, though, is do they have the right expertise (or experts on staff) to do so prudently and thoughtfully? 

"...we must accept that we need to have battery backup being gas-fired peaking and backup."

Paul, I think you will find little to no emissions reductions by replacing coal plants with  "gas-fired peaking and backup". Battery backup significantly increases emissions:

"We find that net system CO2 emissions resulting from storage operation are nontrivial when compared to the emissions from electricity generation, ranging from 104 to 407 kg/MWh of delivered energy depending on location, storage operation mode, and assumptions regarding carbon intensity."

CO2 emissions from gas-fired peaker plants running in spinning reserve, together with fugitive methane emissions, are likely worse for climate than coal.

"As Australia moves towards 50% of power being generated by renewables..."

If Australia's goal is 50% renewable power, it's unacceptable. IPCC, and many private analysts, insist we must end consumption of fossil fuels by 2100. And because both solar and wind are entirely reliant on backup with methane-fired power plants, every country that has reached 50% renewable electricity with solar and/or wind has encountered a brick wall blocking future progress.

The first half is the easy part.

Instead of hysterically kowtowing to the IPCC and green energy religion, concentrate on reasonably affordable and reasonably clean energy. That means a mix of energy resources driven primarily by economics. Such a policy yields reasonable impacts on the environment while recognizing that there is no rational reason to panic over long range “guesses” about the distant climate.