Sanity on climate policy would reduce power prices and avoid billions being wasted.

There’s an easy, and obvious way to lower energy prices and it doesn’t require fiscal sleight of hand.

In the craziness of the 1980s ‘Decade of Greed’ cheque round-robins were all the go. We are going to see the 21st century Chalmers climate cult craziness version in his second budget.

In the 1980s it was Spiv No 1 writing out a cheque to Spiv No 2, who would write out a cheque to Spiv No 3 who would write out a cheque back to Spiv No 1 – all for exactly the same amount, and all to be exchanged at exactly the same time. The deal-making magic round-robin.

Usually, somewhere in there would be either Alan Bond or Laurie Connell – the Connell you were cautioned against standing between and a bucket of money; both of course now late and outside, perhaps, certain yachting circles, not widely lamented.

So, what’s the Chalmers version?

Well, our treasurer is going to write out multi-billion cheques to consumers to partly offset the higher costs of the government’s mad, bad and dangerous rush to ‘free’, but surprisingly more expensive, wind and solar pretend-energy.

This ‘cheque’ is the $3bn centrepiece of the budget’s overall $14.6bn sleight-of-hand ‘cost-of-living’ centrepiece.

That $3bn will go towards helping both households and smaller businesses to write out their – these days, online – ‘cheques’ to the power companies.

The power companies will in turn write out their ‘cheques’ to the commodity producers.

Completing the round robin, Chalmers is going to force the gas companies to pay an extra $2bn-plus in higher resource rent tax – on top of what they already pay in royalties and normal company tax – into his budget.

Of course, the really big dollars underwriting everything come from all those foreign buyers of our coal, of our gas, and of our iron ore.

Think about the lunacy.

‘We’, as in the government specifically, are happy to sell ever more CO2-spewing coal and gas to everyone else, including to the ‘number one enemy’, China. And as a government, to pocket ever-rising billions from it all.

But we are determined to eliminate your access to that coal and gas; and to pay ever-rising power bills as a consequence.

But then, along comes Dr Jim to munificently distribute some of the foreign loot back to you to pay for the sky-rocking costs of all that ‘free’ wind and solar pretend-energy.

Someone who hasn’t completely lost touch with reality might pose the question: who not just cut out the fiscal round robin?

Just as those round robins made no sense in the 1980s, other than to allow the players to do pretend deals, so this 21st century version doesn’t either.

It’s only part of pretending to ‘tackle climate change’?

If we just allowed gas to be found and developed in Australia. If we just allowed coal to be used in more (and more) local coal-fired power stations.

There would be zero, zip nada difference to the climate.

Electricity and gas would go back to being cheap, plentiful and reliable – the way it used to be in, well, the 1980s. And the 1990s and the 2000s.

The government wouldn’t have to be spending billions to offset rocketing power bills.

Ah but that would be sanity; indeed, just basic common sense.

Originally published as Sanity on climate policy would reduce power prices and avoid billions being wasted.