Why energy policy was Turnbull's 'John Hewson' moment

REMEMBER how our gas supplies were exported to Asia and then some was bought back to satisfy the needs of our domestic consumers?

REMEMBER how our gas supplies were exported to Asia and then some was bought back to satisfy the needs of our domestic consumers?

PM Turnbull had to step in to quarantine enough supplies before export of too much gas.

This new National Energy Guarantee scheme seems to be designed by the same dolts who nearly left us gasless.

The inner-city Greens are cheering on for wind and solar, but Elon Musk and his fields of Tesla battery power will never run an aluminium smelter.

Only coal will do that. As night follows day times will come when, "the sun don't shine and the wind don't blow".

Our coal is being exported to fuel many new power plants in India and China. Maybe the above dolts will plan for large undersea cables to send us back electricity?

Try to get your heads around the "NEG for Dummies" online article recently. With evangelical Green zeal the policy claims "The NEG aims to deliver more cheaper, more reliable power while lowering carbon emissions. It would require retailers, such as gas, solar and wind farm owners, to sign contracts agreeing to supply a minimum amount of energy that could be available at all times."

It goes on to require electricity sold must have average emissions level that meet our targets set as part of the Paris Agreement.

Turnbull should have had someone to explain it all simply. Richard Branson famously said, "Complexity is your enemy. Any fool can make something complicated. It's hard to make something simple. If something can't be explained on the back of an envelope, it's rubbish."

NEG is Turnbull's John Hewson moment. Liberal leader John Hewson could not explain to Mike Willesee how much GST was on a birthday cake. Hewson lost the election and his leadership.

PETER KNOBEL

Toowoomba

Originally published as Why energy policy was Turnbull's 'John Hewson' moment