The facts speak otherwise. In reality, Australia is one of the few nations on track to deliver its Paris commitments. Not only will we meet our target, we will exceed it.
Other countries such as New Zealand and Canada talk big but do very little. The New Zealand prime minister is not even going to Glasgow, presumably because she is embarrassed that her actions do not match her rhetoric.
I am pleased that we have a Federal Government that has refused to be stampeded by activists with little to lose and is formulating a measured plan which it is confident can be delivered by 2050 with the help of emerging technology.
The Nationals deserve credit for putting some facts on the table, thereby facilitating rational debate about the likely costs involved in a net zero target and who will foot the bill.
Mr Lockyer and others wanting Australia to cave into unreasonable, unrealistic and likely unachievable demands at COP 26 would be better employed reflecting on what a hasty closure of fossil fuel electricity generation will do to food availability and production costs.
The green revolution which enables Australia to produce sufficient food to feed 80 million people around the globe is very dependent on the application of nitrogenous fertiliser. Fertiliser manufacture is energy intensive. Prices for fertiliser have tripled in the past 12 months largely due to the energy crisis in Europe and China.
If coal- and gas-fired generators are scrapped prematurely, fertiliser will become even more expensive, resulting in farmers cutting back on its use unless food prices in the supermarkets rise substantially.
Are those advocating full bore at Glasgow next week prepared to pay a lot more when they go to Coles and Woolies?
As Lloyd Polkinghorne from the Speak Up Campaign rightly says in the same article: “Be careful what you commit to.”
— Bill Baxter
Nagambie
