The Politics Of Energy In Australia
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What you have to understand about the current energy debate happening are the politics of energy in Australia. Renewables offer a largely free energy source from the sun and wind with battery storage to cover when the sun goes down overnight. We are in the midst of this transition with renewables powering around 40% of Australia’s electricity supply. This is growing as we speak.
“Key statistics from the Clean Energy Australia 2024 report:
Renewables account for 39.4 per cent of Australia’s total electricity supply. 5.9 GW of new renewable generation capacity added in 2023.2.8 GW of new large-scale renewable generation capacity completed construction and was added to the grid.”
However, the LNP Coalition have chosen not to offer bipartisan support for this shift, rather they have come up with a left field nuclear energy proposal. Building 7 nuclear reactors at the cost of hundreds of billions of dollars and this will take at least 2 decades or more. Why do they do this?
Energy Policy Politics Downunder
The LNP is aligned with the fossil fuel industry having promised their business leaders to be their best friend in government, according to leaked papers.
“Peter Dutton will jettison Australia’s medium-term carbon budget by “turbocharging” a pipeline of more than 420 mining and energy projects as part of a broader pledge to make himself the best friend the resources sector has “ever had”. “
- (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-10/peter-dutton-mining-best-friend-renewables-weapons/104334636)
Dutton, the Opposition leader, is prepared to take Australia backwards once again if elected to government despite the increasingly disastrous manifestations of climate change occurring. More floods and more bush fires ravishing the country more often. Short termism is the conservative politicking name of the game – making a fast buck while Rome burns. Why else would intelligent people look a gift horse in the mouth? I mean, free energy versus paying multinational mining corporations billions of dollars to extract it. The Coalition have tied their party to the private interests of these corporations rather than the better interests of Australia. A nuclear energy policy will mean longer futures for gas and coal because it will take so long to build fully functioning nuclear reactors.
LNP Is The Party Of The Oligarchs
The LNP Coalition is the party of oligarchs and billionaires. Always has been and always will be. They look after the rich with tax breaks and deals to ever increase their super wealth. Under the last 10 years of Coalition governments, you remember Tony Abbott the man who went after your job and welfare by slashing government expenditure? Malcolm Turnbull the PM most people liked excepting his own party? Scott Morrison the biggest liar to ever hold the top job and the man who secretly awarded himself multiple ministerial positions with the connivance of the then Governor General. You remember their Robodebt scheme and the 500, 000 Australians falsely accused of owing large amounts of money to Centrelink. People killed themselves over this betrayal by an ideologically driven conservative government intent on demonising and punishing dole bludgers. The only problem is this shibboleth did not actually exist, as even PwC, their private sector accountant mates could not find the billions they thought were there. The Coalition tormented half a million Aussies for no result and we the tax payers ended up paying $1.8 billion in a settled class action. The LNP are dangerous fools and we the people end up footing the bill. Imagine a disastrous failed nuclear reactor mess, it isn’t hard to do.
Dutton The Bad Cop
Peter Dutton is an ex-cop and spent 9 years in the Queensland police force. The thing about cops is that they turn everything into a confrontation. If you send someone into a situation carrying deadly force the chances of the other person ending up shot or dead increase dramatically. Yes, the police deal bravely with some challenging circumstances at times. However, the number of instances where an individual suffering a mental health episode ends up dead are way too high, in my estimation. We have had a cop tasering a 95 YO woman in an aged care facility in NSW. Cops escalate encounters too often because their ultimate go to position is employing deadly force and they are trained to shoot into the torso until the assailant is stopped. This usually means the other person ends up dead. If your son or daughter has a psychotic episode I would bear this in mind before ringing the police. These things are never easy but rather frighteningly complex situations, which require more than a cop with a gun. Peter Dutton still acts like a cop on the beat in politics. His confrontational style is divisive and turns every issue into partisan politicking. Interestingly, Dutton is mow singing the praises of cutting public servants. You know, the police are public servants. Maybe that was the reason he only lasted 9 years in the job.
Coalition China Blame Game
I am reminded of the Coronavirus pandemic and the Coalition predilection for blaming China. Their call for an inquiry into the source of the Covid outbreak was done aggressively and aimed at China. This resulted in trade sanctions against us for years costing Australia billions. There have been numerous inquiries into the source of the pandemic outbreak and no credible conclusive outcome has apportioned blame one way or another. Innate racism in Australia and the old fear of the yellow peril has never really gone away. Certain sections of the Australian population may revel in blaming others like the Chinese for all the problems in their lives but it does not serve the best interests of the nation as a whole. The world is changing and the Anglo supremacy is ending. The American hegemony is coming to an end. Donald Trump, as President, may be the desperate death throes of this. The confusion and chaos he is creating in the US will only hasten their demise from the top economically. The LNP Coalition in Australia will copy Trump in a mini-me like way hoping to cash in on his right wing popularity.
Nuclear power stations are grim places and nobody wants to live near them.
A Choice For All Australians
Australia has a choice, will we fall into the bitter polarised state of the US or will we be the wiser people? America is not the world but a loud voice among many. The politics of energy is vitally important because energy is about power. What powers the world. Who will hold this key? The fossil fuel sector has long held this key and they are aligned with a particular world view. Oil, coal and gas these resources have inspired wars. Renewables do not carry this baggage from history and offer a new vision for the future. The existing corporations in the energy sector are not going to deliver this transformation. We need new players and people in this space. The neoliberal model is not going to get the job done because they do not see the ROI high enough despite the free energy from the sun and wind. It is all about profitability for these firms and this is way too limited in scope to deal with global warming. Private interests will not save the planet. We require more government not less. We need better and stronger government agencies to steer the transition. Privatisation has had its day and the housing crisis is just one of its very big failures. Market forces cannot cut it in complex situations. Planned economics are required and that is what the Australian economy is – a mixed planned economy.
“Energy transmission is the process of moving energy from one place to another. When it comes to renewables, it involves capturing the energy produced in one location (like a solar panel or wind turbine) and delivering it to homes or businesses.
Operators are set to introduce up to three times as much wind and solar power by 2030. These power supplies vary with changing conditions like weather. It is clear Australia’s regional transmission system is set to become much more dynamic. This calls for better tools, like advanced modelling programs and monitoring devices. With further assistance from artificial intelligence, operators will be able to assess the security of our power system in real time. “
The Coalition Denial Of Science
Peter Dutton and the LNP Coalition have been fighting with the CSIRO and the scientists. These are Australia’s best scientists but Dutton is happy to politick against them. Denying and disputing the science is probably the most dangerous aspect of Trumpian style politics. Building a nuclear power industry from scratch is a huge task. Australia has no experience and expertise, so we will pay through the nose for it. You know yourself if you try and buy stuff that you know nothing about you get ripped off. This is what will happen to us – we the tax payers will pay for this forever. A small group will make a lot of money, the insider mates of the LNP, but the rest of us will pay and pay for years. This is how the neoliberal economic plan works. The Coalition want the energy sector to be in their pocket, thus fossil fuels and eventually nuclear power. Hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars and decades later. Australia will end up with the most expensive energy sector completely unnecessarily all for their power game interest. Australia should have been a solar super power 25 yeas ago but we have been ripped off by those running the show. The corruption in our nation is not micro corruption but macro corruption. This means that the scams are big ticket schemes worth billions. Perhaps, we will get a $368 billion submarine about the same time that we see a $500 billion nuclear reactor.
Both scams are Coalition in origin and Scott Morrison is over in America lining his pockets as we speak. You would think having been PM for years, reaching the pinnacle of his profession, that he would gracefully retire. No, his voracious greed knows no bounds. I wonder how the mothers of the Robodebt victims feel about Scott Morrison?
None of these guys are ever held responsible for what they do in this country. Robodebt cost lives and billions of dollars but nobody has ever gone to prison. If you or I break the law it is a different story. Politicians and the wealthy walk on water, it seems. The politics of energy in Australia brought down ex PM Malcolm Turnbull. It is about power and who holds it. If you believe that Peter Dutton and the Coalition are capable of building a nuclear power sector that will not cost decades and hundreds of billions of our money you have rocks in your head. Why would we spend such vast amounts of money unnecessarily? Why would we turn our backs on renewables? The two technologies are not compatible or complementary. You cannot turn on nuclear only when you want it, it must run all the time. It is a dumb idea put forward to enrich a few at the expense of the many. It is another divisive political gambit.
“CSIRO has found the cost of electricity generated from nuclear reactors by 2040 would be about $145-$238 per MWh, compared to $22-$53 for solar, and $45-$78 for wind. So that’s at least twice as much for nuclear, or up to 10 times as much when comparing with the lowest-cost solar. “
The science and the economics do not stack up; but in right wing circles it is now fashionable to deny the science and denigrate reputable experts.
Will the politics of energy take Australia on that road to destruction or will we prove to be smarter than our American allies. If the culture wars mask the real power play games from the eyes of voters, then, we are in for an expensive and divisive time. If, we in Australia, cannot finally utilise the sun and take advantage of our natural blessings we are mighty fools. If we continue to let the greedy among us take us for ride at our own expense then we probably deserve what we end up with.
I cannot believe that an LNP Coalition is going to an election promising more privatisation. Neoliberal economic policies are why we have a housing crisis and a growing divide between rich and poor in this country. Selling off government assets to private interests does not serve the people it only serves the interests of a select few. Do we have cheaper electricity because of privatisation, as promised by those who campaigned for privatisation? No, we don’t. Only through the Albanese government’s intervention have electricity bills been kept down. The market wants them higher; market forces are driving prices up. Get the message folks, cutting government spending does not deliver what the LNP promise. It only means more billions wasted on consultants like PwC and KPMG. Money for their mates in the private sector without the transparency of the public service. Wake up Australia!
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump.
©MidasWord
