Let’s focus on fixing potholes

The Viral Titanic Pothole Meme

From The Spectator's "Double Shot" newsletter:

Michael de Percy makes a salient point with the most prosaic of examples. Make our governments get out of identity politics, rent-seeking and pursuing the ideological agendas of the few, and get back to providing reliable services for the many – starting with fixing potholes. It’s a message that should be heeded by all three levels of our government.

Here is my latest article in The Spectator Australia's Flat White, Fixing potholes is a policy we can all agree on.

Fixing potholes is a policy we can all agree on

Imagine if councils actually did what they were paid for - fixing potholes and taking out the garbage instead of moaning about the date of Australia Day.

Would the world be a better place?https://t.co/HWErBzcyop

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) October 30, 2023

Coastal wind farms: On Sunday, the people said ‘no’ again

Coastal Wind Farms [Photo: Unsplash CC0]

When the first coastal wind farms were announced by Energy Minister Chris Bowen, I thought I was dreaming.

Australia has some of the best beaches in the world. People come to this country to see its unspoilt natural beauty. Despite a 42 per cent decline following the lockdowns, tourism remains Australia’s 14th-largest export industry. Along with education, it is one of the most sustainable industries that contributes to our standard of living.

Nobody wants to come to Australia to see rotting wind turbines at our beaches.

They can visit their own failed renewable energy white elephants at home. To make matters worse, our Energy Minister is pitching his vibe to elite activists while refusing to listen to ordinary Australians.

Groups of those aforementioned ordinary Australians are turning to social media in their thousands, particularly Facebook, to vent their frustration and to organise protests. These are farmers, fishers, tourism operators, tradies, surfers – everyday Australians. You might call them the forgotten people. They are slow to move but once motivated, they grow like a snowball.

Today they will gather in the surf near Port Stephens. The protest is called Paddle Out. Like many other groups who do not want to bear the cost of Mr Bowen’s fantasy, the people of Port Stephens have a Facebook group and theirs is a movement we should all support.

Here is my latest article in The Spectator Australia's Flat White, Coastal wind farms: this Sunday, the people say ‘no’ again.

Paddle Out protest against coastal wind farms!

Nobody wants to come to Australia to see rotting wind turbines at our beaches.

Today, Australians will gather in the surf near Port Stephens to protest against Bowen’s environment-ruining wind fantasy.https://t.co/xzY5O7uvzH

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) October 29, 2023

Albo gives EV drivers a free ride

EVs relaxing at Chernobyl

It is no secret that federal fuel excise revenues have been in decline for years, and something needs to be done about it. In fact, along with prominent transport industry experts, we wrote a book about it some five years ago. But the High Court, in a 4/3 split decision, has landed the problem in the Albanese government’s lap. What they do about it will impact us for decades to come.

Here is my latest article in The Spectator Australia's Flat White, Albo gives EV drivers a free ride.

Albo gives EV drivers a free ride

It is no secret that federal fuel excise revenues have been in decline for years, and something needs to be done about it.

How do we make sure EV drivers pay their fair share without a fuel excise?https://t.co/Vn5FbdQ2yX

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) October 26, 2023

Old-fashioned light rail costs more to go slowly to fewer places

Dr Michael de Percy at the Canberra Metro light rail terminus

Burley Griffin’s 1911 award-winning design for Canberra envisaged mass transit in the form of electric trams. At the time, the major capital cities in Australia had electric trams to bring workers into the CBD from the suburbs. But in 1926, as the national capital prepared to host Parliament, the first public bus services began operating in Canberra. Buses provided cheap, reliable, flexible, and fast public transport that didn’t require the expensive and inflexible infrastructure needed to operate trams. The bus was a modern technological innovation that soon made the tram obsolete in most of the other capital cities.

My op-ed in the Canberra Times, Sunday 22nd October 2023, p. 25 https://t.co/GHrT0lBn7u

— Le Flâneur Politique (@FlaneurPolitiq) October 22, 2023

The people have spoken, but elite activists aren't listening

Prime Minister Albanese [Photo: US Secretary of Defense - CC BY 2.0]

Not only was it an expensive exercise at the height of a cost of living crisis, the Prime Minister oversaw a campaign that tore Australia apart along the lines of race like never before in this nation's history

University-educated activists were using the plight of Indigenous Australians to absolve their 'white guilt' - now they don't know what to do | Michael de Percy
--------------

"It's not just here, it is a trend throughout liberal democracies

A liberal education teaches people… pic.twitter.com/P11fsezDgF

— Alexandra Marshall (@ellymelly) October 19, 2023

New Zealand’s dance with division is not over yet

New Zealanders aren't mugs, but they are not in the clear yet.

New Zealand’s October 14 election coincided with the Voice referendum where Australians decisively said ‘No’ to enshrining divisive race-based politics in the Constitution. Watching from across the pond, New Zealanders might reflect on the Australian experience that divided and continues to divide the nation as elite activists double down on their pre-referendum positions. However, New Zealanders may have little influence on the outcome as their Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) system forces coalition governments. This may mean the Act Party, the National Party’s junior coalition partner, will expect the government to test the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi by referendum. The decolonising trend that is currently shaking the foundations of Western liberal democracies is still evident in New Zealand politics. Indeed, it may well be a long, slow accident in the making if things don’t go in Chris Luxon’s favour.

New Zealand is not free of Woke yet

The decolonising trend that is currently shaking the foundations of Western liberal democracies is still evident in New Zealand politics.

The principles of the Treaty of Waitangi could be on the way to a referendum.https://t.co/EHLLIYMUki

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) October 18, 2023

Australia's Nuclear Future: It's your choice

These are cooling towers, and that is steam, not pollution.

Energy policy is clearly about choices. Mr Howard said in his book A Sense of Balance that it was a mistake to trade away an Australian Nuclear Industry in 1998, but the political realities at the time meant that Labor was opposed to Australia’s ability to develop life-saving medical products. Mr Howard did what needed to be done at the time. Unlike the proposed Voice, if the political will exists, the prohibition on nuclear can be amended by legislation. At the end of my presentation, I will show you a model I developed to understand how policies relating to networked technologies such as energy, transport, and telecommunications are impacted by choices made in the past. In effect, policies that follow certain patterns are like habits – they are easy to slip back into and difficult to change. But tonight, I want to make it clear that our energy future is a choice, and choosing our current policy to crash through or crash is a choice that will impact our prosperity and energy security for generations to come. To ensure I do not miss my key point in the time I have tonight, may I begin by urging that we choose wisely.