Welcome to the column where you provide the content. Scott Morrison powered up this week, saying the government would back a new Hunter Valley gas power plant to replace the Liddell coal-fired station if the private sector failed to lock in investment by April and inject 1000MW of much-needed new energy into the national electricity grid. Do more, said Mark:
“Don’t threaten, just build it. Restricting supply to just below what the market requires in order to jack up the price at peak times seems to have become the energy companies business model. A business model that leaves the rest of the country with a less competitive cost structure. It also hurts families and low income earners. It will be worth the pain that the environment movement threatens to get some sense and order back into the grid.”
John joined in:
“For god sake, build a coal powered power station. Let put it in prospective, China is build over 100 coal powered power station THIS YEAR! Our own chief scientist has stated at a senate inquiry that our emissions are insignificant compared to the rest of the world.”
Great said Gary R:
“Most positive news I’ve heard from a PM, anyone, on energy for many years. Now we need an LNP government in Queensland and Bradfield Scheme 2.0 to get going. We may have to play whack-a-mole with the nay-sayers as they pop their heads up, but maybe Australia can return to the dynamic, achievement oriented, can-do country we used to know.”
Matt added:
“The reason this is such a pragmatic decision is the fast start and ramping capabilities of gas. It’s also cleaner than coal. Our coal will continue to supply the world for decades and be the bedrock of our electricity system. This gas facility will bring reliability to weather dependent renewables. An advanced manufacturing nation cannot risk having the lights go off simply because the weather’s no good.”
PatrickJD was peeved:
“When private enterprise electricity suppliers indulge in monopolistic practices that withhold electricity supply — such as by blowing up coal fired power stations and placing a hex on establishing nuclear energy — to push up prices for their own enrichment at the expense of industry and households, we have market failure.
“Much needed benefits of productivity go to waste. In full knowledge of the benefits of private enterprise, a conservative government is justified in intervening in a failed market such as our ideologically benighted electricity market. We are indeed blessed to have a Prime Minister like Scott Morrison who knows how a market economy works; and how to intervene when it becomes necessary to remove Labor-Green spanners from the works.”
Onevote reminisced:
“For those of you who are too young to remember, once upon a time in the land of Oz, all utilities including coal fired power stations were set up and owned by state governments. Those were the days when power was secure and cheap as chips. Privatisation of those utilities started all the troubles we are now in.”
Anthony argued:
“Indeed, another case of be careful what you privatise. Sometimes it works, often it doesn’t. Telstra and the electricity suppliers are prime examples of failed privatisations. The money we got from the sales of those assets has been far exceeded by the costs of NBN and increased cost of goods sold due to higher energy bills.”
Brad (the quiet Australian) whispered:
“Coal is cheaper than gas. Gas has to be piped in. Coal is already on the site. Coal is also more reliable because the quantity of it is known and it burns at a lower temperature than gas, which means the expansion and contraction of steam pipes is not as much of an issue.”
Lynne D lamented:
“Why oh why will we not use Nuclear? Yes, very expensive to build, but in terms of the number of years of reliable cheap power with zero emissions and the fact that we have huge supply’s of uranium it is madness not to go nuclear.”
Dave Wane’s medicine:
“Here are some ideas that may help remedy that situation:
Immediately cease all subsidies for so-called renewables. Totally and completely withdraw from the crazy Paris agreement. Declare Australia ‘open-for-business’ to electricity producers from Australia and around the world using the fuel or method of their choosing. Including coal and nuclear.
Cease all targets for the use of so-called renewables. Cease all targets for carbon dioxide emissions reduction. Only standard particulate emissions regulations should apply. Then, PM, the private sector may well be interested in building, owning and operating power stations and selling the electricity they produce into what should be a free and open electricity market.
Simple, PM.”
From JohnnY:
“Power is a basic necessity, try going without it for just half a day. In my view it should have remained as a public utility owned in common by all of us by the Commonwealth of Australia or the states. Too late now though. Profit motive is fine when there is an avenue for competition but for basic utilities competition is largely absent so the power companies are free to chase profit and subsidies at our expense. So good on our PM to try to break this private monopoly situation.”
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In a classic column, Henry Ergas noted the parallels between Sophocles’s Antigone and the Palaszczuk government’s refusal to allow Sarah Caisip, a 26-year-old Canberra-based graduate nurse, permission to attend her father’s funeral. Antigone refuses to obey the order given by Creon, the recently crowned king of Thebes, to let the body of her brother, who died a traitor, rot in the open. No one, notes Ergas, expressed better than Sophocles the clash between the demands of the state on the one hand, and the human imperative to properly honour the death of those we love on the other. Trevor P was peeved:
“To keep the PM out of Queensland was a shocking act of political cowardice. To stop a girl attending her father’s funeral was an inhuman act. To handcuff a pregnant women in her own home in front of her children was frankly an act straight of an East German handbook. All balance has been lost in the political scramble of (Annastacia Palaszczuk and Daniel Andrews) to coerce Australian citizens through brutal, and at the same time petty, displays of power.”
Mercy, begged MancJack:
“Australians all know that Andrews is utterly incompetent and has locked us all up in his prison state ‘for our own protection’. We get it that the electorate got what they deserved — although not many of us voted for him where I live.
“But Queenslanders please take note. Australians also want you to be better than the vision that AP projects of your home state to the rest of the country. It’s a vision of hard hearts, pure politics and nastiness. Cruel, even. We’re paying a heavy price in Victoria. Please be better than us when you go to the ballot box.”
Tallulah tut-tutted:
“ ‘The liberalism we inherited from the 19th century, she wrote, was a ‘liberalism of hope’ — the hope, most of all, that one could create the basis for human flourishing.’ Indeed, and when Obama ran on a campaign on hope, he was ridiculed mercilessly by the Right.”
Tragic, said Timothy:
“Label Labor state politicians as Creons or anything else you like. But in the end they are just Labor politicians whose primary objective is attaining and then holding onto political power. All other considerations, including morality or basic decency are secondary. What we are witnessing at play in Victoria and Queensland is that old Labor creed that was long ago labelled by veteran Labor luminary Graham Richardson. The creed of whatever it takes.”
Quoth Richard:
“The quality of mercy is not strained.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath.
It is twice blessed: It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown.
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; But mercy is above this sceptered sway.
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings;
It is an attribute to God Himself;
Here (from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice) is the antithesis to the position of Creon which, like that of Queensland and its rulers, sprang not from strength but from weakness. Queensland might have been successful in keeping the virus largely out (though the main threats came not from Southerners but from Queenslanders) but at what cost to its economy — a whole 179 new jobs created! — and its society. And in the end while Creon kept his power he lost all else which gave his life meaning.”
Adrian’s answer:
“I remember studying Antigones in year 10 at school, it’s been a while but the lessons remain.
I propose a solution to this Covid debacle. PwC is forecasting the cost of the pandemic to inner Melbourne will be $110 billion over five years with an average loss of 398,000 jobs over each of those years. There have been 745 deaths related to Covid in Victoria. Assuming that 1000 people die from Covid in Victoria, this government is saying a person that dies from Covid is worth $110 million over five years.
“Adopt a payout model similar to the life insurance industry so we can all resume a normal life. In the advent of a death, and a patient has no existing lifestyle disease the state government would pay the family $10 million. If the person had an existing lifestyle disease and died from Covid then the payout would be $2 million in a 50:50 split with the state and federal government. For all other comorbidities the pay out would be $1.5 million to the surviving families.
“Aged care facilities would require temperate checks, employees to wear face shields and masks. Any guests would need to be tested before hand and required to wear a mask and face shield as well as temperature checked
“All businesses reopen: Citizens required to wear a mask when leaving their property. $5000 fine for anyone not wearing a mask (It’s $33,000 in Taiwan)
Work from home encouraged. Government should encourage citizens to strengthen their immune systems in natural ways. For example encouraging citizens to increase their intake of fresh vegetables. The AIHW published in 2018 that 96pc of Australians don’t eat enough vegetables. 59pc of women and 50pc of men don’t get enough exercise. The emphasis is around a payout model, amounts are up for debate but life should be encouraged to continue as it was.”
Kate’s comment:
“Whilst study of the History of Western Civilisation might not have helped us express our present dilemmas as persuasively as Henry Ergas, at least we’d have known of the Creons of the past, and known how to deal with them today!”
Simon said
“Brilliant Henry, brilliant. Too bad our cretinous political Creons will neither read nor understand you or Sophocles. They should be shamed for what they are — cynical, cruel, heartless and incompetent. They are not worthy to be called Australian.”
Last word to LynZip:
“It was interesting that AP, in order to establish empathy, with tears in her eyes, advised she too was heartbroken and suffered, she too lost a loved one. Then we read she attended the funeral of her grandmother while refusing to allow a young nurse from a Covid-free state to see her dying father, finally allowing her to attend the funeral under guard and did not allow contact with her mother and young sister. Hardened criminals are not treated so harshly.
We learnt that Queensland hospitals are for Queenslanders only, which lead to the death of a baby and four young children were refused entry to visit their dying father, finally relenting to insist they undergo 2 week’s quarantine at the family’s expense (the resulting amount collected for them should serve to indicate what Australians thought of that measure – with no cost for survey expenses).
“I am an Australian adult who chooses to live in Qld, my Australian, Qld born and raised children live in other States. I have been unable to see my family for most of this year.
Being in a so-called vulnerable group, I take all suggested measures to protect my own safety.
While hotspot measures are reasonable and aged-cafe facilities should be the focus of every possible protective measure, I do not want my ‘safety’ to cause misery for others, the cruelty we have witnessed or compromise their future.
“As an adult and an Australian who lives in Qld, the oft-repeated concept of ‘keeping Queenslanders safe’ (until the election), infantilises us and is profoundly divisive and disrespectful. Not allowing the PM into Qld before the election is transparently politically motivated. Please do not use me to justify closed borders, division and cruelty.”
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Paul Kelly wrote that our foreign policy towards China demands a brutal recognition of the downward spiral in our relations but a purging of the pessimism that Australia can do nothing to improve things. Operating on the assumption that China is the enemy will bring that to pass. Christine’s counsel:
“For three years I have been saying: China is out to win. China is not our friend. And Australia is out to lunch.
“We are back from lunch. ‘China is out to win’ means that China, unlike Australia, has an explicit long term plan that considers the welfare of China (read the CCP) and only China. All other nations and cultures (internal and external) are viewed through the lens of this plan succeeding. So …
“China is not our friend but then it is no one else’s friend either. We have just been deluded for the last 25 years about this. Places like Vietnam, Japan and India have no such delusions.
This leaves us with the realisation that our interaction with China is not based on mutual goals or values. It can only be transactional; not because we don’t want to be friendly but because the CCP sees our way of life as a threat to their continued dominance of the Chinese people (and the Tibetans, Cambodians, Mongolians, North Koreans etc).
“So, what to do? First and foremost we need to limit (extinguish) the exploitation of our goodwill as had been happening with our education system, IP and access to land, housing and other assets. That one way trade needs to cease.
“This will get their attention and respect if we hold firm. Then we state, clearly and calmly our terms of engagement. And wait. They can accept or go elsewhere.
“Will they accept? I think: yes.
Will they try it on before they accept?
I think: yes.
Will that hurt BHP, our International Education market and energy markets?
I think; yes.
Will China seek to source coal, iron ore and gas elsewhere? Yes.
Then what?
Do you think that South America and Africa are going to accept being colonised a second time?
I think: no.
Will they be back to trade on our terms? I think: yes.
We need to stand firm.
We need to match their long term plan.”
Greg was negative:
“I usually agree with Paul Kelly but not in this case. To argue that Australia needs to find a way to re-friend China is a bit of a stretch remembering that China has been increasingly belligerent and downright hostile to its neighbours. We should note that although we export a lot to China, we also import a lot of finished goods, it is not a one-way street.
“The South China Sea expansion, blatant incursions into our universities and governments, the use of trade as a weapon, none of these were Australian initiatives. I don’t see appeasing China as getting us anywhere except placing our sovereignty in more danger.”
Blue Leader opened fire:
“We need to wake up, stand up for ourselves and become more self reliant in so many ways.
Few nations have the blessings which we have in people, resources and international respect.
That respect was hard won on the battlefields of the world and in the boardrooms as well.
Now we need to harness the resilience and creativity of our people, get our resources working for us, dream big, follow those dreams and take this nation into this century will a greater sense of itself and the best use of all that we have.
“We know what the fundamental problems are with water, energy transport, communications, our defences. But now we need to invest in ourselves and, with a plan, budget and clear accountability – fix them! And make this nation as good as it can possibly be! Lets start by getting rid of the prohibition on nuclear power, nuclear subs and the ultimate deterrent and national insurance policy, nuclear weapons.”
Paula posited:
“We could build the Iron Boomerang project railway between the Pilbara iron and Bowen coal with steel mills both ends coupled with shipping to service Australian and Indonesian forward demand. This project would also open up productivity in the centre, together reducing reliance on China.”
JFK argued:
“This is the same middle road argued by Hugh White, Paul Keating, Bob Carr, and others, that if we somehow ‘accommodate’ China we can have the best of both worlds: a security arrangement with the US; roaring trade with China. But they never specify what that accommodation should be or how far it should go other than saying that the US and her allies should give China more space. It’s foreign policy quackery.
“The world has already accommodated China enough by allowing it into the WTO. And where has that got us? China doesn’t play by the rules. Rather, it wants to replace the rules with its own.
“Paul Kelly is right in one respect: we need a long-term vision. We are getting that on the military side with the increased budget; we are strengthening our pitiful fuel reserves; we are now, finally, seeking to diversify our trading base beyond China. But we need to go further. 1) A more populous Australia (”populate or perish” is a post-war idea that needs to be revived for national security reasons) 2) Nuclear power 3) Stronger regional alliances (the “step-up” in the Pacific was a welcomed move).”
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Each Friday the cream of your views on the news rises and we honour the voices that made the debate great. To boost your chances of being featured, please be pertinent, pithy and preferably make a point. Solid arguments, original ideas, sparkling prose, rapier wit and rhetorical flourishes may count in your favour. Civility is essential. Comments may be edited for length.
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