Many in the energy sector might be hoping former prime minister Paul Keating's words ring partly true that "when you change the government, you change the country" after this week's events in Canberra. Sure, the government hasn't actually changed, but Malcolm Turnbull's ascension to the Lodge might begin to see some policy stability in the energy sector.
Going on Turnbull's first words on environmental policy and climate change, there may not be much change at all. He reiterated his support for the Direct Action plan co-authored by Environment Minister Greg Hunt and Liberal Party deputy leader Julie Bishop.
Yet for many in the sector, there remains great hope there might be a gradual change towards stability, and for those in the renewable energy sector, a friendlier ear at the top. 
Policy certainty and stability was the key theme of the Australia's Energy Future symposium held in Sydney. At the filmed event moderated by Jenny Brockie and co-hosted by The Australian Financial Review and GE, a number of the nation's energy leaders discussed whether Australia is heading in the right direction.
CEO of the Energy Networks Association representing gas, electricity and transmission businesses, John Bradley echoed the group's view that policy certainty is the missing link in our energy transformation. "What we've seen is an economy that clearly needs to make the transition to a low-carbon economy," he says.
"We know we're going to see shifts to increased use of renewables and low-emission options in generation but we've got a state-by-state approach to renewable policy which at the moment is not congealing through the COAG Energy Council into a coherent framework, and we urgently need some bipartisan certainty about the carbon policy environment."
Energy program director at the Grattan Institute, Tony Wood, says we have made things worse in Australia over the past decade after we opened a small window of opportunity in 2008.
He says it is important to align energy and climate policy, but the febrile atmosphere in Canberra has meant policy has become a fragmented mess, with competing interest groups loudly arguing for their own interests. A big part of that is the brawl over how we transition to a low-emissions energy sector and the energy mix. Woods says we should ban the word renewable from the lexicon.
"It's not about renewable energy, it's about reducing emissions," he says.
Outdated energy sector
CEO of Energy Consumers Australia Rosemary Sinclair says most Australians are tired of the noise emanating from Canberra.
"The world of consumers is very different and they are running ahead of policy frameworks. They're looking ahead and thinking the energy sector is a bit old and strange. They think that if they can buy complicated services like mobile and broadband, it should be the same with energy," she says.
Sinclair believes consumers just want to know their energy is there and they don't really care about how they get it. They're interested in technology and ensuring all their appliances work.
For many at the symposium, a key theme was how Australia can remain an energy superpower while we and the rest of the world transition to a low-emissions energy future.
CEO of Infigen Energy Miles George says Australia is an energy superpower in terms of exports for coal and gas but in the generation sector, we are definitely not.
"We are using technologies from the 1950s to generate our power. That's extremely emissions intensive and that's something that needs to change over time," he says.
Clean Energy Finance Corporation COO Meg McDonald agrees we are well positioned in conventional fuels but not in renewables.
"In terms of where the world is going for new and different sources of energy, we've perhaps been focussed very much on catching up and seeing it very much from the domestic policy context, rather than looking at the large-scale investments that some other countries are making in this [renewable energy)] field.
She admitted it's a reflection of our resource base and the enormous growth the nation has enjoyed over the past 10 years with the resources boom that has brought us to this point.
Unfortunately for Australia, the world is in a position of transition and is looking to the longer term, she says.
Santos vice-president of LNG Markets, Peter Cleary, says Australia's gas industry will continue to reap the benefits of a world hungry for energy.
"The domestic market is important but small. Our resource is abundant so we have an opportunity to play into this growing need for energy across particularly the Asian region and across the world," he says.
Deputy Chief Minister of the ACT and Minister for the Environment Simon Corbell agrees Australia is a dominant gas and coal exporter but "there needs to be recognition major Asian economies, like China and also economies like India are both factoring in significant scale-downs of imported coal and gas".
"This puts our industry in some vulnerability compared to the enormous growth in renewables," he says.
Importance of clean air
For Cleary, reports of China's scaling down of gas are overplayed.
"I don't think the Chinese economy in particular is looking to scale down its imports of gas and I can't speak for the coal industry. We see strong growth coming from Asia and one of the key drivers is clean air.
"The carbon debate is the one we talk about but when we go to China, clean air is an important factor. Gas provides a better opportunity in that than other forms of fuel."
The Climate Institute CEO John Connor says the carbon debate is the main game and talk of Australia being an energy superpower or not is a "super-fantasy".
He says we need to take a long-term view, as we are hearing mainstream voices all over the world saying we need net zero emissions or below.
"If we have a long-term plan, it's got to be a plan around de-carbonisation and that's got to apply across all of our energy sector," he says.
Energy Supply Association of Australia CEO Matthew Warren was a little more optimistic about Australia's future. He says while we're in a policy mess at the moment, we will be a world leader in gas exports by the end of this decade.
Australia is already the world leader in the deployment of rooftop solar.
"We rank third in the world on a per capita basis on solar. We have regions like South Australia and King Island which are pioneering very deep penetration of renewable energy.
"These are partly accidental experiments but there is a lot to like already about the way Australia is coping with the transformation that's taking place," Warren says.
Energy commentator and former APPEA boss Keith Orchison believes Australia's energy future just needs to move away from the poisonous politics.
"We've risen above the partisanship before back in the 1990s when we created the National Electricity Market. The leader in it was a Labor prime minister in Paul Keating, and his strongest ally was a Liberal NSW premier, Nick Greiner. They drove it together and they drove it through," Orchison says.
Simon Corbell agrees Australia can move beyond the partisanship.
"The great opportunity to achieve that political consensus is around the economic imperative, not the environmental imperative. Ultimately, it's about jobs and economic opportunity," he says.
As the new Prime Minister suggested in his first speech on Monday night, the nation must embrace innovation and disruption if we want to thrive as a new-age economy.