A little over 20 years ago, Australia plugged in to the wind and solar transition with the Federal government’s Renewable Energy Target. As they say, ‘sow the wind, and reap the whirlwind’.
Australia’s once reliable and affordable power supplies are long gone, replaced by heavily subsidised, intermittent and costly wind and solar, backed up by what’s left of our coal-fired power plants, gas turbines and diesel generators.
The consequences for the Australian economy are disastrous, to say the least. Comparisons with Venezuela might be colourful, but the failure of every (ultimately) failed state, has to start somewhere.
In the pieces below, Eric Worrall and Cliff Reece describe the country that has all the hallmarks of a failed state in the making.
After “The Voice”: Aussie PM Vows to Refocus on Renewable Energy
Watts Up With That?
Eric Worrall
15 October 2023
Following the resounding defeat of a constitutional plebescite to introduce racial segregation into the Aussie constitution, Australia’s Prime Minister has vowed to focus on green energy.
Voice to climate
Can you hear me?
Judith Sloan
14 October 2023 9:00 AM
The Prime Minister has flagged that, post the Voice referendum, his government will turn its full attention to the decarbonisation of the economy and the prospect of Australia becoming a renewable energy superpower.
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By contrast, most of us are living in the real world, wondering how we can cover the mortgage and the bills, getting the kids to school on time and thinking about what’s for dinner. Prosaic stuff to be sure, but beautiful thoughts about identity politics and climate change are generally back of mind, if at all.
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But what the surveys also reveal is that, notwithstanding people’s concerns about climate change – economists call this elicitation bias or wanting to sound worthy – when it comes to bearing any additional financial burden to act on climate change, there is a marked reluctance to pay any significant price at all. The recent 20-per-cent rise in electricity prices, for instance, is well above the rate of increase that people are happy to pay for the sake of doing something about the climate.
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Read more: https://www.spectator.com.au/2023/10/voice-to-climate/
Australia’s green revolution appears to have stalled. Back in June WUWT reported there were no new financial commitments for the previous quarter, across all of Australia. Coal plant operators are racing for the exit door, fleeing a jurisdiction where they are no longer welcome, but nobody is building enough dispatchable energy to replace the lost coal capacity.
Worse, the energy market is in turmoil. Albanese Government’s response to a supply crunch driven energy spike in 2022 was to introduce politically expedient price controls – which hasn’t exactly settled market jitters about the profitability of investing in Australia’s energy market.
As Australia heads into an El Niño Summer which promises scorching temperatures, with an East Coast grid which the AEMO admits is heading towards serious shortfalls, it seems only a matter of time until Australia’s East Coast experiences severe and prolonged blackouts.
Watts Up With That?
Okay Tony, so what’s your next bright idea?
Richardson Post
Cliff Reece
15 October 2023
He’s managed to divide the country in a manner never seen before in Australia’s history but you can guarantee that our illustrious leader, PM Tony Albanese, has many more bright ideas in store for us.
The mess he is making of industrial relations and the economy in general will be ongoing, as you’d expect from a socialist government.
But then there’s climate change that he and his little mate Chris ‘Blackouts’ Bowen still have much to work on.
Their obsessive rush to turn Australia into an energy-starved third world nation will undoubtedly continue.
If you want to see how that might well turn out, study the results of socialism in the once rich nation of Venezuela.
A recent article in Time Magazine summed it up well when it stated the following:
“Venezuela was once Latin America’s exemplar: home to Simón Bolívar, who freed much of the continent from Spanish rule. Now, after years of political mismanagement and months in economic free fall, it is the region’s cautionary tale.
The bolivar, the currency named for the Liberator himself, is now carried in backpacks instead of wallets; one unit is worth less than a penny. While production plummets, crime soars. Fights frequently break out in food lines.
The number of murders last year ranged between 17,000 and 28,000. No one knows the exact tally, but regardless it would put the nation’s murder rate—driven by a lethal mix of street gangs, drug cartels, leftist guerrillas and right-wing paramilitaries jostling for power—among the world’s highest.
Even animals are dying: some 50 zoo animals have starved to death over the past six months because there’s not enough food.”
Keep in mind that Venezuela was once a rich country like Australia with massive oil reserves and a successful, thriving population.
Then, along came socialism with all the centralised decision-making and consequent incompetence that comes with it.
We’re obviously a long way from that situation – but we’re certainly on the same path as a result of this government’s unbelievably expensive and totally unnecessary climate change policies that are already causing a huge increase in energy costs.
Australia produces just over 1% of global CO2 emissions, so nothing we do as a nation will have any measurable effect on global warming. Climate experts from both ends of the political spectrum agree on this but nothing penetrates the thick skulls of morons like Albanese, Bowen and the Teals.
They just continue with their insane march towards energy shortages, blackouts and consequent social and economic disruption – just as Venezuela and other countries have experienced with left-wing governments.
Germany is another example. They have a Greens-driven government that went down the ‘climate emergency’ path – even though there is clearly no crisis or emergency associated with climate change.
They’ve now had to reverse their position on coal and gas because their country was heading towards economic disaster – and not just because of Russia but rather their own blatant stupidity in going down the renewables path and even closing down nuclear power facilities.
Then there are Bowen’s outright lies on the cost of nuclear energy. He has claimed that the cost of developing nuclear power is prohibitive but admits this is based on modelling that has since been totally refuted by leading experts from around the world.
Nuclear energy is relatively cheap over the medium to long term. It is also safe, reliable and emissions free. It is utilised in numerous countries including the USA, UK, Canada and many European and Asian countries. It provides 70% of France’s electricity.
However, once again, ‘Blackouts’ Bowen completely ignores the facts and just continues with his infantile attempts to fool the public with his distorted claims and outright lies that will cost taxpayers trillions of dollars.
That money should instead be spent on defence and national security in readiness for a war in the region which is highly likely.
Australians have spoken up against the urban so-called ‘elites’ in relation to the race-based Voice.
Perhaps now we can do the same with climate change.
We should also take the advice of experts in the field and former Snowy Hydro CEO Paul Broad and stock up with candles in readiness for this summer’s expected blackouts – courtesy of Energy Minister Chris Bowen and his comrades in our Labor-Greens government.
God save us from this insanity!
Richardson’s Post
STOP THESE THINGS 
Blackouts have been a long time coming. They appear to be inevitable.
The blame rests entirely with the uniparty consisting of Labor/Liberals/Greens.
Bowen will be the one that finally pulls the plug on any chance we had to avoid blackouts but the blame should be shared equally by the members of the uniparty.
Special mentions should also go to large sections of the media for their PR work for the utterly useless unreliables.
I agree Wal. The current Labor plans have the full backing of the greens, the teals and many coalition members. The state leader of the NSW Nationals is backing the destruction of his own electorate in central west NSW as the first big buildout of wind, solar, batteries, pumped hydro and transmission lines of five renewable energy zones in NSW courtesy of the former state Coalition government. It is called the Central West Orana Renewable Energy Zone. It is intended to import virtually all the workers and materials by using foreign owned companies- work camps are planned in various sites around the region. It is like a government backed invasion. As Tony Mundine said in an AFR article in June it is a repeat of the mistake of the colonials in the 1800’s that those in power treated the land as empty and available for the rulers to satisfy their zest for their pet projects. The land is not empty and this madness has to be stopped. The fact it will never work never enters the minds of our current powerful inner city based zealots, many are only too happy to cash in the deal – what fun.