Jennie George is hardly a raving, right-wing nut job. In fact, she’s a former Labor government minister and trade union leader, married to a former Communist Party activist. But, back then, Labor actually stood for working-class people. Working-class people who built things. Things that made the nation run.
Today’s Labor party has no connection to working-class people. Not one sitting Labor MP in Canberra has ever had a blue-collar job; almost none have ever had a job that wasn’t publicly-funded. Labor PM Anthony Albanese briefly worked in a publicly-funded job before getting into politics, where he’s stayed ever since. Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen has an even thinner resume: his entire working life has been in politics.
Such stark differences in background have consequences. Where “Boofhead” Bowen is driving Australia pell-mell into an energy crisis, George can at least see the dire trouble ahead as Labor rushes to shut down Australia’s coal and gas industry.
The recent shelving of a liquefied natural gas import terminal at Newcastle heightens concerns about possible energy shortages developing in NSW. It’s not just gas supplies at risk. When Liddell Power Station in the Hunter closes on April 28, NSW will lose about 10 per cent of its electricity supply. The announcement was made years ago but the lack of orderly planning is now telling, with serious consequences.
Winter will be a testing time.
Australia is going to find out, in six months or so, exactly the same bitter lesson Britain, Europe and “progressive” US states like California have. Wind and solar may make a Climate Cultist’s heart flutter, but they can’t keep the lights and heaters on. Nor is hydrogen, Labor’s apparent magic fix, any less hopeless.
Eraring, the largest coal-fired power station, is next on the list – scheduled to close in less than three years […]
Will the lights stay on after Eraring closes in August 2025? It’s an issue previously raised by the Australian Energy Market Operator […]
Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen remains confident about the conversion, despite expert advice to the contrary. Even before the federal election it was known that the specifications for the gas plant’s infrastructure meant it could not store hydrogen-blended fuel. As late as August last year Bowen declared “the budget and the timeframes committed to in opposition would be met”.
Last November, Snowy Hydro acting chief executive Roger Whitby told Senate estimates: “I don’t believe there is any plant in the country, or indeed even in the world, that is currently operating on hydrogen, at least commercially operating on hydrogen.” This suggests that Labor didn’t carry out due diligence on the approvals, costs and practicality of its pre-election hydrogen promises.
Of course, the government will try and blame it all on big, bad Vlad, but not even Jennie George is buying that one.
There’s no excuse for planning failures when authorities are advised at least three years in advance about closures. These are domestic issues, nothing to do with the invasion of Ukraine.
The headlong rush to shut down coal-fired plants is driven entirely by blind ideology. There are no remotely feasible alternatives on the board, and even what’s planned won’t be of the least use for at least a decade. Even then, as overseas experience has shown, it’s unlikely to keep the grid running.
Regions such as the Hunter have underpinned NSW’s economic development with assured and affordable energy supplies. These planning failures compound broken promises on cuts to power bills and a jobs bonanza that can’t be delivered. The addition of a costly carbon price under a turbocharged safeguard mechanism will lead to job losses among local “carbon workers”. Where are their safeguards and employment alternatives as part of the “just transition”? When will we hear NSW Labor’s plans to address these issues? Virtue signalling has been far removed from the experiences of many people. It’s never too late to learn.
The Australian
Silly Jenny: she thinks the over-educated idiots of modern Labor are capable of learning from their mistakes.