Labor – aka the ‘Workers Party’ – remains determined to destroy whole industries and thousands of jobs with a 50% RET and a giant ‘carbon’ tax. Business and job destroying policies that helped it comfortably lose the ‘unloseable’ Federal election in May, and which its deluded front bench simply can’t bear to let go.
Australian industry has been a protected species since the Victorian gold rush in the 1850s, cosseted behind an insurmountable wall of tariffs and propped up with subsidies. As the tariffs and subsidies to industries – such as motor manufacturing, clothing and footwear – were slashed in the 1990s, hundreds of businesses and entire industries have disappeared.
Nowadays, mining, manufacturing and mineral processing is being treated by politicians as a class of mangy vermin – fit only for urgent eradication – with a raft of utterly insane energy policies which threaten thousands of small and large businesses, alike.
Thanks to Australia’s obsession with heavily subsidised and chaotically intermittent wind and solar, mining, mineral processing, manufacturing and agriculture already face the nightmare scenario of rocketing power prices and an unreliable, and unpredictable supply. Precisely the disastrous combination that destroyed South Australia’s manufacturing industry and which is all set to destroy what’s left of its mineral processing businesses, too. Nyrstar’s lead and zinc smelter at Port Pirie is on life support, unlikely to survive.
Then there’s the not so minor issue of having power on tap at all. On peak demand days, when wind and solar down tools – NSW is forced to chop power to big industrial users, such as the Tomago aluminium smelter, as well as dumping households from the grid. What’s euphemistically called ‘demand management’.
The power behind the ALP comes from labour unions and the power behind the unions come from employed members. Without members and their dues, the labour unions would be 90 pound political weaklings. Hence the stance taken by the Australian Workers Union to promote reliable and affordable nuclear power, in direct contrast to the Stone Age hostility exhibited by the lunatic left within the Labor party.
No doubt prompted by dwindling membership and the wholesale slaughter of the industries that once employed them by rocketing power prices and unreliable supply, AWU national secretary Daniel Walton went on the offensive, demanding the immediate removal of the legislative barriers that prevent Australia from even discussing the ‘N’ word in public.
AWU splits with Labor over nuclear power restrictions
The Australian
Richard Ferguson
19 September 2019
The Australian Workers’ Union will call on Australia to drop restrictions on nuclear power in a significant break from the Labor Party and other unions.
AWU national secretary Daniel Walton on Friday will tell a parliamentary roundtable — chaired by former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce — that Australia’s approach to nuclear energy is “stuck in a time warp”.
Mr Walton told The Australian on Thursday “partisan pigheadedness” on nuclear energy was holding back Australia’s ability to keep up with international competitors.
“Thirty-one advanced economies — the likes of the US, UK, Switzerland, France, Sweden, South Korea, and Finland — all rely on nuclear power in their energy mix. Yet here we’re stuck in a time warp,” Mr Walton said.
“Continuing to adopt a position of ideological extremism on nuclear technology is an economic own-goal we can’t afford to keep kicking … Australia’s energy sector is a shameful mess. In terms of global competitiveness Australia’s energy infrastructure has fallen off a cliff — from 29th in the world in 2009 to 55th today.
“Most of our energy crisis is due to partisan pigheadedness — on both sides. So those of us on the progressive side of politics can’t continue to reflexively reject zero-emission compromise options.
“We should drop the federal ban on nuclear power generation as well as the state-based bans on new uranium mines. If industry sees value in the Australian market it should be free to invest without being blocked by outdated fears. Our energy debate should be about pragmatics, not 20th-century ideology.”
His new pro-nuclear move revives calls from his predecessor as AWU secretary, Paul Howes, in 2009 for a review into Australia’s stance on nuclear. Mr Howes’s push at the time was rejected by then prime minister Kevin Rudd.
The Opposition has condemned Liberal MPs’ post-May election pushes for nuclear power, a position now at odds with the AWU — one of the nation’s largest unions once run by ex-Labor leader Bill Shorten.
The ACTU also signed onto a letter earlier this week with 40 other organisations objecting to nuclear power.
Mr Joyce, who has long advocated a shift towards nuclear power, initiated a review into nuclear power as chair of the House of Representatives’ innovation and industry committee.
“If you want zero emissions and a renewable energy future, nuclear has to be part of the mix,” Mr Joyce said, while commending the AWU for its nuclear stance.
The Australian
STOP THESE THINGS 
When people find out that their livelihoods are going down the drain, their patience for fluffy policies and feelgood stuff goes down with it. A developed economy cannot thrive on flicker power. When the economy suffers, jobs and pay go down and people suffer. As soon as this happens, unions must fear for their influence. They will be the first mainstreamers to go against this madness.
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