Letter to the Editor: Is playing politics more important than facts?

DEAR News Of The Area,

IN a social media video in September, Federal Member for Cowper Pat Conaghan was highly critical of Labor’s emissions reduction target of 62-70 percent by 2035.

I have endeavoured to answer some of his statements with facts.

Pat stated: The average Australian is currently paying more than 30 percent more for power than they were four years ago.

Facts: When the Liberal/National government was voted out in 2022 inflation was over six percent and it is now three percent. Coal prices increased dramatically or spiked between 2021 and 2023 due to the disruption of supply chains and Russia’s war against Ukraine. Australia’s coal power stations are ageing and there were 128 failures over last summer, so maintenance and repairs costs have and will continue to increase electricity prices.

Pat stated: Your supermarket spend has also gone up significantly as manufacturers, primary producers and retailers are forced to pass on the increases in input costs to customers.

Facts: See the details above. The pandemic and the war on Ukraine caused chaos with supply chains around the world. For example, fertiliser costs for Australian farmers increased 180 percent in a couple years. Extreme weather events caused by climate change contribute to certain food shortages and increased prices. In 2024 we saw the CEO of Woolworths step down due to allegations by ABC Four Corners of price gouging. Liberal/Nationals and Labor shared the period between March 2021 and September 2023, when the total price of a staple shopping basket rose 15.2 percent. Over the same period, the price of cheese increased by 27.3 percent, bread by 24.1 percent, milk by 22.7 percent, dairy products by 22.5 percent, and eggs by 19.7 percent. A core challenge lies in companies’ unfettered ability to price items as they wish. The Australia Institute found that corporate profits significantly contributed to inflation between 2019-22.

Pat stated: Without an immediately reliable grid and affordable power, the cost of living crunch will only continue to worsen.

Facts: The Liberal and Nationals started the Snowy 2.0 which was a great initiative but poorly researched and planned, costs were announced at $2 billion, and it is now over $12 billion and well behind schedule. The LNP were in government for nine years and opposition for three years and still do not have an energy plan. Renewables like wind can be up and running in 12 to 15 months, coal fire power stations take between five and 10 years and cost between $2.2 and $5 billion. The LNP invested $600,000 in the Kurri Kurri Power Station (Hunter Power Project) which has now cost $1 billion, was to be a backup facility operated two percent of the time and was due to run on gas, diesel and possibly hydrogen. It can only run for hours on gas and then the tank is empty, and it takes 48 hours to refill. “Every megawatt of capacity provided by Kurri Kurri enables three megawatts of renewable wind and solar to come online and replace increasingly unreliable coal generation,” Dennis Barnes (CEO Snowy 2.00) said. The former chair of the Energy Security Board, Kerry Schott, has said the project makes little commercial sense and an analysis by Victoria University’s energy policy centre found the project had no prospect of generating enough revenue to justify its cost.

Pat stated: We are sitting on the world’s largest reserves of coal and gas but refuse to use them for cheap and reliable energy for the sake of a maximum 0.8 percent impact over ten years.

Facts: Australia is the second largest exporter of coal in the world. Australia’s coal is used to generate 3/4 of domestic electricity but its use has come down by about one percent. Gas usage has come down a fraction but is projected to increase slightly. Renewables are taking up more of the supply of electricity and are the cheapest and quickest way to introduce more capacity.

Pat stated: Australia’s contribution to global emissions is under 1.3 percent, the majority of which is due to our export market.

Facts: About 1/5 of Australia’s emissions come from exports of fossil fuels. Australia’s export emissions are 4.5 percent of the global emissions. Australia’s emissions are 1.3 percent and there are about 30 percent of the countries in the Paris agreement with small emissions.

If all those countries do not work on reducing their emissions, then the world is 30 percent worse off. As with LNP and Labor emissions have fluctuated, and in the first quarter emissions are down in all sectors. It appears no government has a concrete plan for base line energy but at least the roll out of renewables is making power cheaper for households and shoring up supply.

Regards,
Colin HUTTON,
Thora.