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Showing posts with label Energy Policy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Energy Policy. Show all posts

Is Net Zero environmentally friendly?

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Dr Ken Henry addresses the National Press Club. ‘Of course we need a carbon tax.’

From the National Press Club: This week’s address by Dr Ken Henry, former Secretary of the Treasury, was not a love letter to the government, but a personal plea from a former senior bureaucrat turned environmental crusader. Henry’s address as chair of the Australian Climate and Biodiversity Foundation (ACBF), a registered charity and lobby group, called for reform of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act 1999 (EPBC).

The call was largely based on Professor Graeme Samuel’s recent review of the EPBC Act that recommended the concept of Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) be applied on the basis of region-by-region rather than project-by-project.

Alexandra Marshall wrote in the Unfiltered newsletter:

Today we posted our first National Press Club interview. Michael de Percy has been braving Canberra to keep an eye on the little love-in going on between the press and our politicians. This week, Ken Henry came to plead with the government to bring back carbon taxes, strengthen environmental law, and fast-track wind and solar projects. We’ve got the highlights (aka the scariest bits) covered so you can see what’s up next on the nightmare Canberra agenda. It’s on Facebook and Twitter.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Is Net Zero environmentally friendly?

The Smart Energy Council’s love letter to Chris Bowen

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I want to... give a big shout out to... Chris Bowen – a highly effective minister.

From the National Press Club: Picture this. A room full of journalists, some scribbling notes, others stifling yawns, as John Grimes, CEO of the Smart Energy Council, takes the stage. His speech is less a policy address and more a love letter to the Labor Party, complete with effusive praise for the ‘highly effective’ Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen.

The air is thick with partisanship, and one can almost hear the faint strains of a Labor campaign jingle in the background. It’s a performance so one-sided that even the most ardent Labor supporters are blushing.

That’s what happened today.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, The Smart Energy Council’s love letter to Chris Bowen.

Bowen’s hydrogen mirage has vanished

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Green hydrogen. Going, going, gone!

The hydrogen economy, once heralded as the future of clean energy, is unravelling as I write. A few years back, I argued that hydrogen’s promise was overshadowed by practical and economic barriers. Despite the buzz, its high production costs, inefficient storage, and logistical challenges make it a poor fit for widespread adoption.

Everybody knew this except renewables zealots, especially Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen.

And just like that, the mirage has vanished.

Writing in the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall had this to say:

Green Hydrogen was meant to be the ‘great hope’ for the decarbonisation utopia – and yet it always sounded convoluted, expensive, and dodgy. If it had not been for the involvement of public money, it is difficult to imagine anyone dabbling in this folly. The one question everyone is asking, as another ten-odd billion dollars vanishes, is why aren’t there any repercussions for the ministers involved in the failure? How can all this money just – die?

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Bowen’s hydrogen mirage has vanished.

Labor’s energy crisis ends up on your bill

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Our energy system is in a crisis created by Labor and we're paying for it.

Mr Bowen has proven that governments are the worst at picking winners when it comes to the best technologies for a job (like Rudd and Conroy before him). Bowen’s renewables policy, one that young people really, really want (apparently), is quickly becoming an economic nightmare.

It turns out that the ‘cheapest form of energy’, is actually more expensive than everything else.

Alexandra Marshall had this to say in the Unfiltered newsletter:

And now for the bad news. Despite Chris Bowen and Anthony Albanese making wild promises about cheap energy bills, we found out today that all of our bills are going up. If you’re unfortunate enough to be in New South Wales, it’s really going up. The self-inflicted energy crisis is ending up on your bill and there’s not even a hint of apology or culpability from Bowen.

My opinion piece in The Spectator Australia, Labor’s energy crisis ends up on your bill.

It’s time to kick up a stink

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Left wing clowns complain and disrupt all the time. Now it's our turn.

Conservatives should become activists for their cause

If there’s one thing the left are good at, it’s in kicking up a stink when they don’t get their way. Now it’s our turn.

It’s clear the Coalition have abandoned conservatives. They’ll be joining Labor in the energy vandalism that is driving up prices. Chris Bowen has emerged from under his rock and he’ll be moralising about all the grifters he’s enabling. The NSW Liberals will love it.

Conservatives need to get their activism credentials up and running. If they don’t like being activists, then they need to put their money where their mouths are.

In the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes wrote:

Michael de Percy’s Flat White article, highlighting how bleak the world now is for Australians of a conservative disposition, also raises another reality that we on the right of centre must confront. The political axis has moved decidedly left, and the Left’s ideologues, activists and agitators are now the Establishment, and we the radical outsiders. How we retake the citadel needs to focus us not just for the next three years, but the next three decades. We are right, they are wrong – but they control most of the means of communication, education, and socialisation. Acknowledging this reality is not a call to surrender: it’s an exhortation to rise and fight, with both our heads and our hearts!

My opinion piece in The Spectator Australia, It’s time to kick up a stink.

Greens announce dumbest policy ever: ‘renters’ right to solar’

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The Greens are a clear and present danger to Australian society

Owning a rental property in Australia is becoming a complete farce. Why would you bother owning a rental property when renters can do whatever they want with your property? Adam Bandt’s latest socialist brainchild, the ‘Renters [sic] right to solar’, is the dumbest policy in Australian history.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Greens announce dumbest policy ever: ‘renters’ right to solar’.

Ted O’Brien was all over Chris Bowen like a wind turbine on an endangered bird

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Chris Bowen and Ted O'Brien face off in a political debate at the National Gallery of Australia.

From the National Press Club: I love the National Gallery of Australia (NGA), even if it’s gone so Woke that I can’t bring myself to be a member anymore. Today, the NGA was the battlefield for Speccie favourite, Chris ‘$275 cheaper’ Bowen, and Ted ‘too polished with little substance’ O’Brien for the National Press Club debate series. Clearly, the titles of Minister and Shadow Minister ‘for Climate Change and Energy’ indicate the level of importance your power bill matters to politicians.

The highlight was when some idiot protester – I picked this bloke as dodgy at the get-go – jumped up when Ted O’Brien began to speak and started shouting about ending coal and gas. The numerous AFP officers had the leftie protester out the door before I could get my phone out for a photo.

Writing in the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall had this to say:

...Ted O’Brien and Chris Bowen went toe-to-toe, with Bowen ultimately getting trampled all over. Or, as Michael de Percy put it, ‘Ted O’Brien was all over Chris Bowen like a wind turbine on an endangered bird.’

Writing in the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes had this to say:

On the domestic dramas of our election, there was a bright spot for the Coalition yesterday. In a debate between energy spokesmen, the LNP’s Ted O’Brien made Chris Bowen look like the half-mad zealot and fanatic he’s proven to be, even to resembling Marty Feldman’s Igor in Young Frankenstein. Michael de Percy (now with caricature next his headline, denoting his cult status with our readers) gives an account of the debate, which was anything but Dullist. 

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Ted O’Brien was all over Chris Bowen like a wind turbine on an endangered bird.

Simon says Teals keen for costly minority government

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Simon Holmes a Court at the National Press Club, 12 March 2025

From the National Press Club: The disdain for conservatives was palpable in Simon Holmes à Court’s address at the National Press Club in Canberra on March 12. It is interesting that the son of Robert Holmes à Court, Australia’s first billionaire (known as the ‘Great Acquirer’), appears less aggressive in business than he is politics.

Holmes à Court sees the Liberal Party as a great, big ‘carbon bomb’ that will go off if the Coalition are able to form a majority government later this year.

The Teals and the Greens have, in my opinion, the potential to fracture the left much like the conservative parties are fracturing the right. Naturally, both sides of the minor parties are arguing that a minority government is better than the alternative of a Labor or Coalition majority government. Holmes à Court referred to those people who intend to vote outside the two major parties as ‘double haters’ who are likely to bring about a minority government.

Writing in the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall had this to say:

Michael de Percy has been down in Canberra keeping an eye on Simon Holmes à Court at the National Press Club. The billionaire green energy enthusiast wasted no time in calling the Coalition the ‘greatest threat to climate action’ and then, bizarrely, took aim at their nuclear plan. Here is what he said…

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Simon says Teals keen for costly minority government.

Can the green energy dream power Australia's future industries?

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Australia's green hydrogen dream is rapidly coming undone
 

Australia's energy policy for heavy industries such as steel production are based on storing renewable energy as green hydrogen. However, steel production is energy intensive and green hydrogen is proving to be difficult to commercialise, let alone produce, store, and transport. The renewable energy link to Indonesia and Singapore, based on the plan for the Australian Renewable Energy Hub in the Pilbara, has been replaced by the idea that green hydrogen can be converted to green ammonia for transportation, and converted back to hydrogen on the other side. Again, the process is energy intensive. Add to the energy demands that will be created by data centres and artificial intelligence, the scaling up of energy production is unlikely to be met without nuclear. The green energy dream is unlikely to materialise and is proving unworkable.

The slides from my presentation are available below.

Green steel? Go woke, go broke

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Green steel is proving to be a fairy tale - only nuclear energy will save our heavy industries

After the Premier of South Australia put Whyalla Steelworks into administration, Mr Albanese found another $2.4 billion of taxpayers’ money to bail out the failed company. The Albanese government has since appeared ready to double-down on the production of ‘green steel’ at the plant. This has all the hallmarks of a bottomless pit. Without nuclear, green steel is another Labor unicorn that will reinforce what is now well-known wisdom: Go woke, go broke.

In the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall had this to say:

Another day, another critical industry falls – broken – into the arms of the government. This time it is the Whyalla steelworks. As Michael de Percy writes, ‘Mr Albanese found another $2.4 billion of taxpayers’ money to bail out the failed company. The Albanese government has since appeared ready to double-down on the production of ‘green steel’ at the plant.’

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Green steel? Go woke, go broke.

Australia’s Nuclear Future: Plan B for our energy needs

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Australia needs to remove the prohibition on nuclear energy before it is too late to catch up

Below are the slides and other details from my presentation entitled 'Australia’s Nuclear Future: Plan B for our energy needs', to the Forrest Men's Shed at the Wesley Uniting Church Forrest, Canberra.

Through his research, Michael has developed a model to explain networked infrastructure deployment and how technological legacies influence the policy choices available in the future. Based on this model, he will address the challenges to nuclear energy in Australia originating with the antinuclear narrative and the role of the McClelland Royal Commission into British Nuclear Testing in reinforcing this narrative. Michael will then discuss the policy legacies created by the Howard Government’s prohibition of nuclear in 1998, and the policy and infrastructure legacies created by Energy Minister Chris Bowen. He will explain the necessity of a government-controlled nuclear reactor fleet, what that might look like, and the importance of a civilian nuclear industry to support AUKUS. Michael will conclude with a discussion of the absence of a "Plan B" for Australia's energy needs, and the results of renewables-only strategies internationally and what these might mean for Australia’s energy future.

The slides are available below:

We need a Plan B for our future energy needs

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Nuclear is a necessary part of our energy Plan B

We need a Plan B for our future energy needs
Dr Michael de Percy, a respected political scientist and political commentator, recently delivered an insightful presentation to the Crookwell Rotary Club and their invited guests. The topic of discussion was nuclear energy, a subject that has become increasingly pertinent in global and local energy debates. As a resident of Gunning in the Upper Lachlan Shire, Dr de Percy provided a unique perspective on the potential role of nuclear power in addressing energy security and climate challenges. His talk was well received, sparking engaging conversations among attendees about the future of energy production in Australia. A brief extract of his presentation follows.

Networked infrastructure like roads, telecommunications networks, and energy grids are peculiar beasts.

In Australia, vast distances mean the cost of deploying infrastructure often outweighs the market’s ability to make a decent return on investment.

For much of Australia’s history, government has owned and operated transport, telecommunications, and energy systems to ensure these important services were delivered to citizens.

To keep costs down, governments adopted a market dominance and cost recovery model. This model prevented alternative systems from developing so the private sector wasn’t competing with the government.

The approach enabled relatively sound transport, telecommunications, and energy systems to operate during the last century. But technological convergence has created problems for Australia when it comes to cross-platform competition in services such as rail, communications, and energy. 

Once a particular technology is selected by government, resources are committed, and institutions are established to support the original policy decision.

History proves that time and again Australian policymakers have made decisions that seemed logical at the time, only to create major headaches in the future once technologies evolved.

These decisions often neglected the political issues that arose over the long time periods associated with the deployment of infrastructure.

Wireless telegraphy, FM radio, Australia’s rail network, the National Broadband Network, and more recently, renewables energy systems, are cases in point.

Nuclear energy is emerging as another technology that Australia has neglected. All indications internationally suggest that we will not achieve our emissions reduction targets nor provide sufficient energy for our future needs without nuclear.

The challenges to nuclear energy in Australia are inherently political. Labor’s antinuclear narrative stems from the role of the McClelland Royal Commission into British Nuclear Testing (which was designed to ignore Labor’s postwar role in allowing the nuclear tests) and reinforced by the Howard Government’s prohibition of nuclear in 1998 to enable the new OPAL reactor at Lucas Heights.

However, the absence of a Plan B for Australia's energy needs, and the results of renewables-only strategies internationally, mean that Australia’s energy future is particularly bleak.

The current renewables-only policy is failing rapidly, costing more, taking longer, facing community opposition, and it is unlikely to meet our future energy needs.

Following Australia’s historical pattern of infrastructure deployment, we have committed ourselves to one path that will have future ramifications.

Ignoring nuclear at this stage means we have no Plan B, and once we’ve blown our dough on the current policy, there will be hard times ahead to fix yet another infrastructure problem of our own making.

My article in the Upper Lachlan Gazette, Issue 171, 18 December 2024



Australia’s Nuclear Future: Plan B for our energy needs

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Australia needs to remove the prohibition on nuclear energy before it is too late to catch up

Below are the slides and other details from my presentation entitled 'Australia’s Nuclear Future: Plan B for our energy needs', to the Rotary Club of Crookwell at the Crookwell Services Club on the 5th November 2024.

Through his research, Michael has developed a model to explain networked infrastructure deployment and how technological legacies influence the policy choices available in the future. Based on this model, he will address the challenges to nuclear energy in Australia originating with the antinuclear narrative and the role of the McClelland Royal Commission into British Nuclear Testing in reinforcing this narrative. Michael will then discuss the policy legacies created by the Howard Government’s prohibition of nuclear in 1998, and the policy and infrastructure legacies created by Energy Minister Chris Bowen. He will explain the necessity of a government-controlled nuclear reactor fleet, what that might look like, and the importance of a civilian nuclear industry to support AUKUS. Michael will conclude with a discussion of the absence of a "Plan B" for Australia's energy needs, and the results of renewables-only strategies internationally and what these might mean for Australia’s energy future.

 

References

De Percy, M.A. and Poljak, J. (2022, 5 May). Energy security: Embracing technological neutrality. The Interpreter. Lowy Institute.

De Percy, M.A. (2022, 14 November). Rewire the Nation or go nuclear? The Spectator Australia.

De Percy, M.A. (2023, 15 May). Where’s our energy Plan B, Chris Bowen? The Spectator Australia.

De Percy, M.A. (2023, 24 May). Labor’s coal-fired green dream. The Spectator Australia.

De Percy, M.A. (2023, 23 August). Australia’s ideologically-driven energy crisis. The Spectator Australia.

De Percy, M.A. (2023, 29 October). Coastal wind farms: This Sunday, the people say ‘no’ again. The Spectator Australia.

De Percy, M.A. (2024, 6 January). Bowen's homemade recipe for an energy debacle. The Spectator Australia.

De Percy, M.A. (2024, 20 February). If we're serious about net zero, we need to lift nuclear prohibition. The Canberra Times.

De Percy, M.A. (2024, 2 July). No, Mr Bowen, community batteries are not a substitute for nuclear. The Spectator Australia.

De Percy, M.A. (2024, 23 September). Buyer beware as Bowen ‘models’ energy bills again. The Spectator Australia.

De Percy, M.A. (2024, 26 September). Bowen escapes energy scrutiny. Letters to the Editor, Australian Financial Review.

De Percy, M.A. (2024, 14 October). Government shows its fear [on nuclear]. Letters to the Editor, Australian Financial Review.

De Percy, M.A. (2024, 20 October). It will take more than hot air to fix Labor’s renewables woes. The Spectator Australia.

De Percy, M.A. (2024, 29 October). ACT energy policy faces federal pressure as renewables challenges mount. Energy News Bulletin.

De Percy, M.A. (2024). Australia in the Atomic Age: Menzies’s legacy and nuclear’s potential. In Z. Gorman (Ed.), The Menzies Ascendency: Fortune, Stability, Progress 1954–1961. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press.

It will take more than hot air to fix Labor’s renewables woes

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The cooling towers at Three Mile Island where Microsoft plans to power its AI and data centres.

The wheels are falling off Mr Bowen’s energy policy as the Albanese government heads downhill like an out-of-control billy cart. Mr Bowen’s energy policy can be summed up as ‘not Mr Dutton’s policy’. That’s the extent of the substance to it, as each day brings more bad news for the 82 per cent renewables charade. Meanwhile, the rest of the world is turning to nuclear to meet future demand.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, 'It will take more than hot air to fix Labor’s renewables woes'.

Government shows its fear over nuclear

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A public-funded inquiry to refute nuclear means the Albanese government is afraid

 My latest letter to the editor in the Australian Financial Review: Government shows its fear.

Bowen escapes energy scrutiny

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Chris Bowen cannot tell us how much his plan costing or if it will keep the lights on

My latest letter to the editor in the Australian Financial Review: Bowen escapes energy scrutiny.

Buyer beware as Bowen ‘models’ energy bills again

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Germany's transition to renewables has led to higher household electricity prices than in Australia

Anyone following Energy Minister Chris Bowen on X would know that Peter Dutton is living rent-free in the minister’s head. Now the Australia Institute and the Teals have joined the fray, all providing opinions on the efficacy of Mr Dutton’s nuclear energy plan.

The trouble is, voters still have no idea how much Mr Bowen’s controversial energy policy will cost or indeed whether it will keep the lights on.

Writing in the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall had this to say:

More hysteria today from Chris Bowen and the Labor Party at large regarding Peter Dutton’s nuclear energy plans. The amount of effort the left put into screeching about this topic serves as a pretty major hint that this is an election-winning position, if only Dutton can ignore his panicky advisors. Indeed, perhaps they should have a look at the social media comments left on Bowen’s X account, where almost all of the feedback supports Dutton, not Bowen. The rest is from people screeching angrily about how cheap renewable energy has made their bills unaffordable.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Buyer beware as Bowen ‘models’ energy bills again.

No, Mr Bowen, community batteries are not a substitute for nuclear

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Community batteries will be used to store excess solar energy [Photo: © Depositphotos.com]

At a recent press conference in Bexley North in Sydney’s south, Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen announced the opening of the latest community battery. Labor has promised to roll out at least 400 community batteries in the coming years.

In a tweet announcing the opening of the battery (which includes an EV charger), Mr Bowen stated:

This is practical, cheaper renewable energy now not expensive nuclear energy in 20 years.

But what Mr Bowen didn’t say is that this battery will not keep the lights on if the power goes out. And not only that, if the power goes out the battery ceases to function until the power comes back on.

In the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall had this to say:

And finally, Michael de Percy tells Mr Bowen ‘no’. Community batteries are not the saviour of the renewable energy grid. Indeed, in most cases the batteries only work when the grid has power – so too bad if you thought they were a protection against blackouts. These wasteful, expensive installations are only adding to the bill – and what a nasty bill it is.

My article laso appeared in the Best of Flat White:

This week in Flat White, attention has shifted from the merits of nuclear to the serious problems with Chris Bowen’s battery future. Michael de Percy points out a gap of expectation and reality within the public. No, community batteries do not keep the lights on. Worse, some of the largest battery projects only work while the grid is functioning so anyone who thinks they will smooth over the wind droughts and cloudy days will be disappointed. They are not comparable to the baseload energy offered by nuclear, in spite of what the three-eyed fish memes from Labor say.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, No, Mr Bowen, community batteries are not a substitute for nuclear.

The case for a government-owned nuclear reactor fleet

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Australia has laready built two major nuclear reactors. The HIFAR Reactor at Lucas Heights.

Peter Dutton’s announcement that the Coalition will build seven nuclear reactors on the sites of existing coal-fired power stations is good policy and it will work. In response, the Albanese government has nothing but lame memes and a $1.3 trillion renewables policy that shows no signs of providing reliable, affordable electricity for industry or consumers.

Indeed, under Albo’s watch, Australia is in the worst shape it’s ever been, considering the cost-of-living crisis is an own-goal by Albo and Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen. Even the much-maligned RMIT ABC Fact Check is now saying that Bowen’s claims about nuclear plants are ‘exaggerated’.

Labor is scared because it knows its ideologically driven energy policy is a grifter’s paradise that has nothing to do with providing cheap and reliable energy.

But much of this has been said already and it is not the point of my argument.

Here I outline the merits of a government-owned and built fleet of nuclear reactors for Australia.

Alexandra Marshall had this to say in the Unfiltered newsletter:

Michael de Percy makes the case for Dutton’s government-owned nuclear reactor fleet. Yes, there are some things that government can, and should, involve themselves in. Securing a reliable energy grid is one of them.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, The case for a government-owned nuclear reactor fleet.

Communist roots to anti-nuclear sentiment in Australia

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Doc Evatt's reputation never recovered from his infamous Molotov speech

At the end of the Second World War, the Chifley Labor government became involved in a joint project with Britain to develop nuclear weapons. The fall of Singapore in 1942 ended Australia’s illusion that the Mother Country would always come to our aid. And while thousands of Americans lost their lives defending Australia, conflicts with communists in Malaya, Korea, and Vietnam meant our backyard was not as safe as we thought.

Australia’s flirtation with communism in the post-war era impacted our defence and intelligence capability. Our allies simply did not trust us with details of ‘the bomb’. Attempts by left-leaning, well-meaning pacifists to form a world government to manage nuclear weapons helped the cause of international socialism. The anti-nuclear sentiment that still exists here today has its roots in communism in Australia.

Writing in the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall had this to say:

Political traitors are not new to Australia. Michael de Percy’s article over the weekend brings a timely reminder that the Left have a long history of undermining Australia’s national security to their fellow socialists. As he writes, ‘The Communist Party of Australia helped the Soviet Union by sending British intelligence via the Soviet Embassy in Canberra. Although defeated at a referendum, Menzies’ attempt to ban the Communist Party in Australia was not without justification.’

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Communist roots to anti-nuclear sentiment in Australia.
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