A National Case of Self Harm

Does it not strike you as odd that to drive a car you must practice, practice, practice, and then pass a strictly supervised test.

But to be Energy Minister of Australia …

No test needed. No experience required. Not even a basic understanding of physics. Just a boundless faith in windmills and the ability to say “renewables” with a straight face.

Have a look at how much power prices have risen over the past decade. According to figures supplied today by Nationals MP Matt Canavan …

In 2015, the average wholesale electricity price in NSW was $36.09. Today? $256.20.

Queensland? $31.51 to $169.34.

South Australia — always an overachiever in national dysfunction — $58.61 to $250.40.

Tasmania: $32.25 to $219.34.

And Victoria, that socialist utopia where you’re taxed for breathing and fined for coughing — has gone from $34.41 to a staggering $264.60.

For the past ten years we’ve been assured that renewable energy is the cheapest form of energy available. Cheaper than coal. Cheaper than gas. Cheaper than a candle from Kmart.

And technically, that’s true. Just as a Rolls Royce is the cheapest form of transport … provided someone else is paying for it. Which, in this case, is you.

When renewables are described as “cheap,” politicians forget to mention the subsidies, the backup power, the infrastructure, the compensation to keep coal plants from shutting down prematurely, and the government-funded PR campaigns telling us to be excited about all the money we’re losing.

Trillions have already been poured into the green energy dream. And what do we have to show for it?

Power bills that could heat the surface of the sun.

Industries packing their bags and moving to places where energy policy is decided by engineers, not activists.

And, of course, climate change - still here, and apparently unimpressed by our wind turbines and moral superiority.

It’s a classic case of national self-harm.

The cost of living crisis is an energy cost crisis. And who will be held responsible for it?

No-one.

And before we all go mad at the Albanese Government, the Coalition must share in the blame.

It was a Coalition Government that signed us up to the Paris Agreement, remember.

It was a Coalition Government that signed us up to Net Zero.

And it was a Coalition Government that embarked on the ridiculously expensive and completely hopeless Snowy Hydro project that makes the NBN look like an absolute steal.

Right now Chris Bowen and the Labor Government continue to insist that we are on the threshold of becoming a renewable energy superpower.

It’s a line that keeps being trotted out.

Senator Murray Watt was using it today.

Announcing a new solar farm near Gympie in Queensland he announced …

We’re getting on with the job of helping Australia become a renewable energy superpower.

And I’m getting on with the job of becoming a professional athlete — I just haven’t started training, don’t own shoes, and my diet consists mostly of Golden Gay Times.

What a joke. What does “renewable energy superpower” even mean? Other than that we are on the threshold of financial ruin.

Meanwhile, the Coalition can’t decide if they’re for or against nuclear power. Which is strange, because they managed to decide overnight that we should all wear masks, get jabbed five times, and keep our kids from school.

But nuclear? Ooh, too controversial.

So here we are.

Prices rising, reliability falling, and political leadership nowhere in sight.

Poor fellow my country.