Just as the Howard government once claimed incorrectly that refugees were throwing their children into the water, the Turnbull government is deliberately misleading the public about the cause of blackouts and energy shortages around the country. Blaming renewable energy for causing the storms and heatwaves that cause blackouts is simply the latest attempt by this government to blame the victims of their policies. Unfortunately, victim blaming has a long but proud record in Australia.
On Thursday afternoon, the Australian Energy Market Operator first signalled that the latest heatwave was likely to lead to “load-shedding events”, which is a weasel word for a small blackout, caused deliberately by the operator, to prevent a large blackout caused by a mismatch between supply and demand. To be crystal clear, the planned “load shedding” was not because of the “intermittent” nature of wind energy; in fact, it was discussed days in advance because it’s just so hot in eastern Australia. As there are so many air conditioners now, the fact is that all of the generating capacity running flat out might not be enough to satisfy demand for energy on hot afternoons, when the kids get home from school and the factories are still running …
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Malcolm Turnbull wants to subsidise the construction of new “baseload” coal-fired power stations even though the problem we face is a “peak demand” problem. Of course, some people point out that there are forms of power generation, like solar, that provide most of their power at times of peak demand events. But since those people are not on the Prime Minister’s backbench, and don’t have a vote in the next leadership ballot, their views are being ignored right now …
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As the rest of the world invests heavily in solar, wind, batteries, energy efficiency and the redesign of electricity markets to ensure that consumers and the environment are protected, the Turnbull government is doubling down on its protection of Australia’s coal industry. As coal demand from India and China winds down, our subsidies for new coal mines and new coal-fired power stations are just beginning to ramp up.
Just as no babies were thrown into the water by their parents in 2001, even the coal-fired electricity lobbyists agree no new coal-fired power stations will be built in Australia. But the purpose of lying isn’t to solve a problem: it’s to hide one. Turnbull once said he wouldn’t lead a party that didn’t take climate change as seriously as he did. That’s why he’d rather a phoney debate about the cause of blackouts than a real one about his abandonment of support for carbon pricing, renewable energy and has newfound desire to subsidise coal mines.
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Richard Denniss, Fairfax
