Over the past year, Germany has reopened 24 coal-fired power stations, China is building more than 100 gigawatts of coal-fired power and the Biden administration just approved a massive expansion of oil drilling in Alaska.
But Australia cannot even contemplate building a coal-fired power station to keep the lights on. It does not make any sense.
And, keeping the lights on might be at the lower end of the risks we face. The Albanese government’s purchase of two (and possibly five) nuclear-powered American submarines received widespread approval, except from the Greens and Paul Keating.
Just a few years ago, it would be impossible to contemplate broad support for nuclear submarines. Opinion has shifted rapidly because of the impending risk of conflict in our region. There remains an alarming gap, however, between the risks of war and what we are doing to prepare our broader economy for such a grim eventuality.
The purchase of submarines is one thing, but we cannot defend Australia without a functioning industrial economy.
Last month, the Australian energy regulator, known as the Australian Energy Market Operator, warned that Australia would be 8 gigawatts short of reliable power over the next decade, which is roughly an amount of power equal to four large coal-fired power stations.
Wind and solar cannot fill this gap. We need power options that can be on all the time.
So where is our “nuclear submarine” answer to this impending crisis for our industrial economy?
I suppose one option could be that we park the nuclear submarines in Sydney Harbour and run a long extension cord to the mainland to help. That would at least deliver one-eighth of the power gap from the nuclear reactors on board.
While a joke, this underscores the absurdity of our situation. We are going to permit up to five nuclear reactors to sail around our coastlines, and dock in our harbours, but it would remain illegal to build a nuclear reactor on the mainland. Make it make sense!
We do not have the time to protect sacred cows.
Scott Morrison made a courageous decision to overturn decades of perceived political wisdom on nuclear submarines. He was rewarded for his courage with barely a whimper of political opposition. It is time for the courage of politicians to lift to match the level of the crisis we face.
Instead, we continue to pointlessly fight a climate war almost alone even though we have no chance of winning it on our own. How does it make sense to think that we can trust China to act on climate change while we also spend more than $300bn because we are worried they will start a war in our region?
If we cannot trust China on coronavirus, if we cannot trust them to reduce the risks of conflict, we cannot trust them on climate.
And, if China does not act on climate, all our costly climate policies, which are increasing the cost of living, mean nothing.
More likely, China simply pays lip service to its climate commitments while it laughs behind our back about how we are self-handicapping our economies and with it our ability to defend ourselves.
These are hard truths, but life is hard and life is about choices. We are in the lucky position of still having the energy resources and the time to build coal and nuclear power stations to shore up our fragile energy situation. But time is running out.
The reason a German Greens government has reopened 24 coal-fired power stations is because the sudden and unexpected outbreak of war gave them no choice.
Their unpreparedness has cost them dearly. European governments have spent over $1 trillion to keep the lights on over the past year.
It puts Australia’s $300bn nuclear submarine commitment over 30 years in context.
But unlike the Germans, we have blown up our old coal-fired power stations – they had instead mothballed theirs. We are about to blow up another after the Liddell coal-fired power station shuts next month.
No image could better illustrate the nonsense of our ecological vanity.
We will blow up a turbine that powers our factories while spending billions on nuclear turbines, even though they remain illegal on the mainland.
There is one defence acquisition we must make that is even more important than the submarines. We urgently need a procurement program for common sense.
