Editorial: Drop the ideology and drill

PREMIER Daniel Andrews would do well to spend a few cold nights under the blanket on a suburban couch.

Power bill shock has many Victorians struggling to pay runaway gas and electricity bills and are opting to switch off appliances. Picture: AAP

PREMIER Daniel Andrews would do well to spend a few cold nights under the blanket on a suburban couch.

Maybe a struggling pensioner could put him up for a while so he could experience first-hand the results of some of Spring St’s energy policies. Power bill shock has many Victorians struggling to pay runaway gas and electricity bills and they are opting to switch off appliances. Some distressed energy customers have unpaid bills as high as $11,000 and the debt crisis has prompted calls for monthly rather than quarterly bills so people can budget better.

While the Andrews Government has set a 40 per cent renewable energy target by 2025, the Australian Energy Market Operator predicts the threat of power outages or disruption in Victoria is up to 43 per cent over the coming summer unless emergency energy savings or additional supplies are effective.

The national gas crisis is threatening a double whammy of further price hikes for both gas and electricity and a potential supply shortfall equivalent to the needs of 55 towns the size of Warrnambool.

Australia — a nation rich in gas and energy resources — faces a looming gas shortage from next year. Victoria has banned new gas exploration until 2020 and an indefinite ban on gas fracking or unconventional tapping. While environmental concerns and overheated campaigns by both the Greens and the Nationals have kept fracking out of consideration for regional Victoria, lessons could well be learned from the US, where fracturing and other shale methods have unlocked vast reserves, cut gas prices 47 per cent and helped kickstart economic and industry resurgence.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has written to Mr Andrews urging immediate review of the halt to new gas developments in Victoria.

As revealed in Wednesday’s Herald Sun, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has written to Mr Andrews urging an immediate review of the halt to new gas developments in Victoria.

Soon after state taxes on coal were ramped up by 300 per cent, the operators of Hazelwood power station announced Victoria’s largest baseload generator would close, as it did in March. Since then, Victoria has seen increased energy price pressure and decreased supply security. Although winter’s cold has now moved to spring, the risk of power blackouts or brownouts over the coming summer is a major threat. The AEMO has stated the chance of power interruption is a “material risk”.

“Gas demand for electricity has increased since the closure of your Hazelwood power station without adequate preparation to meet dispatchable power needs,” Mr Turnbull said in his letter to the Premier. “The blanket moratorium that permanently ban(s) onshore unconventional gas developments and the temporary ban on onshore conventional gas until 2020 in your state are putting our energy security, industries and Australian jobs at risk.”

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy has danced around the moratorium, initially introduced under the Napthine government. While Mr Guy has conceded the temporary ban could be brought forward if circumstances demanded, new developments must start now.

The Andrews Government states on its own website: “At projected consumption rates, Victorian natural gas reserves that are currently known are expected to meet demand for at least the next 15 to 30 years.”

That’s hardly long-term security in the face of major, ongoing price and supply pressure. It’s time to drop ideology and start drilling.

Lord Mayor Robert Doyle plans to use street patrols, active policing and an all-agency approach which he argues has reduced the number of people sleeping on the streets.

DOYLE’S HOMELESS GAMBLE

LORD Mayor Robert Doyle’s reputation is on the line.

After talking tough on new bylaws to manage homelessness and camps in Melbourne, the rhetoric has not been matched by action.

A leadership vacuum at local and state government levels allowed the iconic precincts of Flinders St station to be turned into a squalid camp for homeless people and professional beggars last January.

Ugly protests and the incursion of socialists and anarchists followed as Cr Doyle and other authorities vowed to get tough. Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton called it for what it was — largely professional shakedown merchants looking to hit up Australian Open fans and tourists.

But the City of Melbourne on Tuesday announced it was parking its proposed bylaws aimed at strengthening council and police ability to tackle homeless camps.

As summer approaches, and with Melbourne’s reputation for comprehensive social services, vagrants from outer-suburban and regional areas and interstate will again look to take up positions on Melbourne’s streets — as they do in greater seasonal numbers each year.

Cr Doyle plans to use street patrols, active policing and an all-agency approach, which he argues has reduced the number of people sleeping on the streets. But if patrols fail to make significant improvements the mayor will be open to severe criticism. Cr Doyle campaigned for his current term on the basis of solving the homeless problem in the CBD as a number one priority. If we end up with another Australian Open debacle Melburnians will demand decisive action.