8 May 2024
Topics: SEC Newgate Mood of the Nation poll on climate targets, nuclear energy, EVs and road user charges, religious freedom
EO&E
Peta Credlin:
Let’s bring in my panel, Shadow Environment Minister, Senator Jonathon Duniam, senior fellow at the Menzies Research Centre, columnist at The Australian and now, currently short-term resident overseas, Nick Cater. Welcome to you both. Jonno, let’s start with that protest today outside of Kirribilli House, a whole lot of climate protesters demanding the Prime Minister reject new coal and gas projects – let’s look how much money they give us in the budget next week – because the new poll is out there revealing that Labor’s losing faith with climate zealots and more, but also ordinary Australians, they’re not happy either. The SEC Newgate Mood of the Nation poll found that only 57 per cent of people support Labor’s new emissions targets for 2030. That’s down from 64 per cent in February, and support for net zero, that’s down to 56 per cent. The activists aren’t happy and ordinary Australians aren’t happy. That’s not a good place to be for the Government.
Senator Duniam:
No, certainly not, Peta. Those numbers do prove, or indeed the images you’re playing at the moment, prove two things for me. The first one is that you will never appease the zealots. We could go back to living in caves and getting about on the backs of donkeys, and they still wouldn’t be happy. So, they should abandon pursuit of trying to appease this crowd. Secondly, it proves that if the Government goes about its business continuing to ignore what actually matters to the majority of Australians, and in this case it is the cost of energy, and sacrificing addressing that issue in pursuit of their ideological goals, you are going to lose the support of the voters. Those numbers bear that out. So hopefully, maybe ahead of the budget in the coming parliamentary sittings, Labor will adjust its course. But I highly doubt it. I think we’re going to stick to the plan and that is to force renewables down the throats of people when they can’t afford it.
Peta Credlin:
Nick, you’re coming to us tonight from Helsinki in Finland. They’re pushing ahead with nuclear power. They’ve just recently switched on their newest reactor. What’s the latest? What can we learn from Finland?
Nick Cater:
Well, Peta, I mean right now the finished electricity grid is about 90 per cent low carbon. Now that’s ahead of where Chris Bowen wants to get to in 2030 and we are not going to get anywhere near that with renewables alone. So how’s Finland done it? Well, hydro and nuclear. They opened a new nuclear plant reactor last year and that’s pumping out about two gigawatts of energy constantly. It’s one of the most efficient reactors in the world. And the other thing, Peta, is electricity here is relatively cheap to Europe. It’s about seventeen euro cents a megawatt. That’s about 40 per cent cheaper than it is in Germany where they’ve gone the renewables route. In fact, if you look at the table of energy prices in Europe, every country that has cheap energy in Europe, cheap electricity in Europe, has got either nuclear or a lot of hydro, more hydro than Australia could ever build. So it’s quite clear there’s only one route and it is the cheapest route and that’s what the Europeans are discovering.
Peta Credlin:
Well done for this, Nick. Good on you for being over there. This will be fantastic while you’re away. Hey Jonno, this talk that the Government’s not going to charge electric vehicles for using our roads, of course electric vehicles pay nothing through the excise on petrol to maintain roads. They are not going to do it until after the election. This looks like a vote grab to me.
Senator Duniam:
Peta, I think you’d be on the money there. I mean, no one likes a new tax, of course, but fair’s fair. You’re using roads, essential infrastructure, we have to pay for them like road users have the time immemorial. But of all the taxes to delay until after an election I think speaks volumes, and if we could run the numbers over where the prevalence of EV drivers happen to be, I reckon we’d find them in the seats where Labor are fighting off Green candidates and are worried about losing votes to them. I reckon there’s a fair degree of interplay there and call me a sceptic, but I reckon you’re right, that is a vote grab.
Peta Credlin:
Hey, Nick, just quickly, I mean when Australians voted in 2016 on the issue of same sex marriage, Malcolm Turnbull promised that religious freedoms would be protected. It’s now 2024. The issue has not been dealt with by the Parliament and real concern today from Catholics in Tasmania, they’re just the latest group upset that their rights are being eroded.
Nick Cater:
That’s right, Peta. I mean, we had limited protections that were brought in after the same sex marriage debate. That meant that churches and other religious institutions could make their own decisions on who they wanted to hire. Now that is going to be taken away under the Religious Freedom Act that Albanese is talking about and there’s going to be no countervailing measures put in that will adjust for that. So, we are moving where exactly where the activists want to go, where the church is brought to heel, and they have to go along with the whole woke dogma.
Peta Credlin:
I’ll leave it there. Good luck with budget next week, Senator Duniam. Nick, I can’t wait to talk to you in Europe with all the stuff you’re going to find out for us. See you both soon.