Russell Broadbent here, your Federal Member for Monash.
Chris Uhlmann puts it best, ‘Energy is Everything, and without Energy there is no Economy’.
We are seeing this right now with rapid rises in employment in the public-funded ‘care economy’, at the expense of reduced employment in manufacturing and other productive industry.
It’s a sign, among others, that the industrial capability that built this nation is no longer. Australia’s largest electricity user, Tomago Aluminium, says they can’t continue smelting under the current exorbitant costs of electricity. It’s the same message from every single business and household in Australia – but the Albanese Government is deaf to their calls.
If we want to genuinely ease the cost of living, we need cheaper energy for cheaper food and cheaper electricity. If we want to address falling productivity in this country, we need cheap energy for Australian industries to compete in this globalised economy.
In terms of the marketplace for energy, coal is better placed to meet demand all the time, 24/7. Renewables simply can’t do this, and as the proportion of intermittent supply grows, the bigger cost on the entire energy system. Coal-fired electricity is still 37% cheaper than renewables even when considering the fuel cost.
So, when it comes to the energy debate, there is only one clear winner – It’s the system Australia was built on. We thrived on baseload power provided by Australian coal and supported by gas peaking generators. This provides the lowest system cost, and the lowest cost to end-users…us.
Energy is a component of every good and service that we consume. It has a huge lever on the economy, and if we want to restore Australia to its former glory, let’s get back to coal and gas.
That’s Justice as I see it for this nation.
