We’re becoming a nation that can’t do things anymore

Chris Bowen on the campaign trail with Anthony Albanese and Roger Cook.

A Labor minority government portends a diabolical energy policy trajectory for Australia. It will set us on a path that follows Spain’s recent massive blackouts.

Labor’s internal realignment, away from its more sensible right wing factions, towards the ideological left has already damaged our energy advantage in recent years. Under a minority government, the influence of the teals and Greens will exacerbate the ideologically driven direction of our energy policy. This will result in widespread economic damage because energy feeds into every element of our economy. Manufacturing and blue collar jobs will be hit first. The rest of us hit next. As a result, our cost of living and tax burden will get much worse.

The teals and Greens could force Labor to take the luck away from the lucky country. Energy and resources drive Australia’s competitive edge. For decades our energy advantage has provided for our higher standards of living compared to the rest of the world. It allows us to pay higher wages and maintain higher workplace standards, while still competing in the global economy.

But Australia is not in shape to win in the global economic arena any more. We are shedding economic muscle mass; we’re actively destroying our energy edge. Australia is now heading onto the field with self-inflicted injuries from regulatory overburden, activist lawfare and a hostile investment climate. Labor will continue trading our best economic player overseas, in return for the Greens and teals who can’t win at anything except complaining.

We are becoming a country that can’t do things anymore. Government departments have lost the balance between investment facilitation and regulation. Now it’s all about regulation and stopping things.

Approvals for major investments that used to take a couple of months now take several years. Labor has not only allowed but help fund activist lawfare against our energy projects, which amounts to economic self-sabotage.

That’s enough to kill off many investments and deter others from trying to invest here. Meanwhile, America and Asia are unleashing their oil, gas, renewable and nuclear resources, unburdened by excessive green activism.

Labor knows its energy track record has been poor, although won’t publicly admit it.

Indeed, it has taken a special level of ineptitude to leave virtually everyone as a loser under our current energy polices. Energy producers, consumers, taxpayers, fossil fuel producers, the renewables sector and households are all worse off. Prices are higher and energy security risks are rising.

Greens Leader Adam Bandt joins Remah Naii, Max Chandler-Mather, Elizabeth Watson Brown and Stephen Bates at a central pre-poll booth in Brisbane.

It’s a matter of time until Labor’s 83 per cent renewable target by 2030 is walked back. It is now impossible to achieve after Labor has allowed the renewables rollout to be bogged down by endless approvals problems and infrastructure logjams. All energy investment – even renewables – has been worse off under Labor.

One way or another Energy Minister Chris Bowen’s time is up. His poor performance in both campaigning and in his energy portfolio has left him increasingly friendless. Even if he keeps his seat, he will likely be moved on from the Climate Change and Energy portfolio. This is what happens when a minister’s arrogance sees him ignoring warnings from experts and his own departments – when an Energy Minister refuses to even meet with the largest companies in our energy sector!

Bowen’s performance is a taste of what can happen when the Greens and teals have too much influence over Labor. Bowen’s deluded ambitions for the leadership saw him pandering to the green fringe, despite not coming from the left faction himself. It saw him become unwilling to address green tape, hostile to widespread parts of the energy industry, and remain blinkered to our energy security risks.

The teals and Greens are sheltered from the realities of our regions and industries that drive our economy. Under a minority government, their ideologically-driven energy agenda risks taking us further away from engineering realities. They will continue to push for the simple sounding “more renewables, less fossil fuels” policies, without learning the lesson from Spain’s unprecedented blackouts: a high renewables penetration is not stable without sufficient investment in network services to keep up with it. Of course, a minority government’s environmental policies will hinder much needed network investment from occurring, too.

Exhibiting a unique level of cowardice, Labor has already shunted its signature gas policy within a week of making it because of Greens pressure in the Senate. We should expect the teals and Greens to hold any other sensible Labor energy policies hostage in parliament with increased frequency and severity under a minority government. The damage of the last few years may pale in comparison to what comes next.

Kylea Tink, Sophie Scamps, Allegra Spender, Kate Cheney and other teal independents hold a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra

Funding for activist lawfare will continue and may increase. Unworkable EPBC Act reforms will be given new impetus, providing more spurious avenues to stop investment across the country. The Indigenous connection to country will continue to be abused by green activists to stop investment. Major energy projects – and thousands of jobs – will be held hostage to political posturing, just like the approval for the North West Shelf extension is at the moment.

These aren’t hypothetical concerns: the Greens and teals are already telling us that this kind of economic vandalism is their policy priority.

Meanwhile Australian blue collar jobs are dying in silence. Labor has already deserted them to pander to the green factions. Manufacturing is usually the first victim of a vandalised energy trajectory, before it is felt as acutely by the rest of the public. There have been a few high profile closures of energy intensive manufacturing. Many smaller manufacturers are closing that don’t make media headlines. They just disappear silently. The jobs – and families and communities they support – suffering in silence in their wake. Perhaps their silence will be broken on Election Day.

Saul Kavonic is head of energy research at MST Marquee.