GOVERNMENT NOT “Telling the truth on renewables…..Voters are waking up to the high cost and uncertain future of the Anthony Albanese government’s approach to net zero. Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen MP is dismissive of proper analysis, including by this newspaper, that details what is actually happening on the ground.” More from today’s The Australian in comments. Ruled by a new low in liars - did you vote for this?
Telling the truth on renewablesVoters are waking up to the high cost and uncertain future of the Albanese government’s approach to net zero. This is likely to become a significant political problem because the cost outlook is continuing to rise as public support for how the net-zero transition is being handled begins to ebb away. Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen is dismissive of proper analysis, including by this newspaper, that details what is actually happening on the ground.
But even net zero’s biggest supporters are being forced to admit Mr Bowen’s decarbonisation agenda is well off track. The Grattan Institute says: “Governments have lost faith in the market being able to deliver enough electricity to the right places at the right time, consumers are fuming about high power prices, and investors have been spooked by frequent and unpredictable government interventions.” It says Australians will not forgive our political leaders if they mess up the post-coal era and fail to deliver the trifecta of clean, affordable and reliable energy.
Fresh evidence of voter concern has come from a nationwide SEC Newgate Mood of the Nation poll that cites “softening support for climate action and renewables”. Support for new gas and coal-fired power plants is rising and more Australians support the use of nuclear energy than oppose it. The problem for a government that has promised to reduce electricity bills is that as costs rise, the spin that renewables are the cheapest option is being exposed. Research by the Centre for Independent Studies has unpicked the foundations of the cheaper renewables case and blown the whistle on how a hidden carbon tax will add hundreds of dollars to average electricity bills. A new shadow carbon price known as the “value of emissions reduction” will rise from $66 a tonne last year to $420 by 2050. According to the CIS, transmission and distribution companies will be able to include the carbon price in cost-benefit analyses, allowing otherwise uneconomic projects to be approved. This could result in an estimated maximum of $508bn being passed on to consumers through electricity bills.
The CIS also has highlighted fundamental flaws in CSIRO and Australian Energy Market Operator analyses used to underpin claims that renewable energy is the cheapest option. It found that, in the long term, nuclear energy built efficiently at scale and allowed to recoup the upfront investment across many years may be the most economical of all generation sources. In the near term, the costs for both nuclear and renewable options will be higher than coal-powered generation, which is the option still being taken up at scale by many nearby countries including China and Indonesia. These findings are unlikely to please Mr Bowen or the renewable energy purists. But if energy costs continue to rise, voters will continue to turn away and ask why politicians and many in the media have not been telling the truth.
