Around 8000 Queenslanders got a rude shock a few weeks ago when the State-owned energy company, Energex, turned off their air conditioning on one of the hottest days of the year.
The action was part of the former Labor Government’s PeakSmart initiative which aims to save our crumbling energy grid by involuntarily cutting electricity demand at peak times.
The state control of basic goods and services has the hallmark of Soviet era Russia: “go without comrade to usher in the worker’s utopia.” As the State Government explains on its website about the PeakSmart scheme it “can significantly reduce carbon emissions, contributing to a more sustainable future.”
Just like Soviet Russia the state-imposed rationing does not seem to apply to the elite Politburo class, however. None of the top 10 suburbs that have had their air conditioning cut are within 30 kilometres of the Brisbane CBD. This is counter intuitive because our inner-city areas are the loudest in lecturing everyone of the impending crisis of climate change. If their words mean something, why aren’t they acting by signing up to sweat through the hottest days of the year.
Instead, in something of a surprise, the most committed climate change activists in Queensland seem to live in Morayfield, Redbank Plains, Springfield Lakes, Park Ridge, Logan Reserve, Pimpama and Coomera.
This contradiction is perhaps explained by the fact that you get $400 cash if you upgrade your air conditioning to let the State control it. The good people in the outer suburbs are signing up to help pay their electricity bills, not because they are concerned that Ipswich could be flooded by sea level rises anytime soon.
Meanwhile, the waterfront property owning climate activists are happy to pay lip service to the need to cut carbon emissions but are equally ok to pay high electricity prices so their houses can feel like a fridge even on the hottest summer day.
Some might argue that those who have had their air conditioning cut cannot complain because they signed up to the scheme and got the upfront saving. But do we really want a society where the reliability of your electricity depends on your ability to pay for it? Do we want an Australia where that if you are too poor you must let the State control your life? I thought the left wing of politics wanted to help poor people, not punish them.
Australia has the greatest supplies of energy per person of anywhere in the world. We export coal, gas and uranium to the world. There is no reason that we should not be able to guarantee the necessity of electricity to all Australians. As the new LNP Deputy Premier, Jarrod Bleijie, has said the forced shut down of people’s air conditioners on the hottest days is “unacceptable.”
However, it is also unavoidable unless we do something to make our energy system reliable and not weather dependent. After a decade of State Labor our coal fired power stations are in a state of disrepair and the only energy investments they made were into technologies that cannot provide power 24 hours a day.
If we do not want a two-class climate in Australia we need to build reliable coal and nuclear power stations. Building a few new coal fired power stations in Australia will not blow up the planet and in the longer term we should build nuclear too. And, if climate activists are not willing to cut back their consumption, in accordance with their statements, why should we listen to them?
