You’ll want to high-five him too.
In a John Oliver-esque take down of Australia’s climate policy, Waleed Aly has slammed the Government’s woeful efforts to combat climate change.
Just perfect: The Project skewers Joe Hockey on Islamaphobia.
The Project host opened with an explanation of the renewable energy target, which is meant to ensure that 20% of out electricity will come from renewable energy sources by 2020.
He then slammed the Coalition for their decision to review and subsequently slash the RET and the bi-partisan support they received to do so.
“The truth is no-one cares,” he says. “So let this be the first news report for an audience that doesn’t exist. Not only are the people this affects not watching and not voters, they’re not even born yet. It’s the generation to come that will look back and see this for what it is, a willful disregard for the future of this nation by the people we’ve elected to lead us.”
You said it, Waleed.
But you got one thing wrong, people do care and it’s time this government started listening. Maybe Abbott could start by watching this video.
Top Comments
I suppose you should never let the facts get in the way of a good story, particularly when there's a chance to bash Tony Abbott but it seems at least relevant to note that while it is correct that the target was intended to be 20% renewables by 2020, significant drops in forecast electricity demand since the 41,000 GWh target was set means that we will actually significantly overshoot 20%. The current debate is to what extent the target should be cut to reflect this change. Abbott originally sought to cut back so that 20% would actually be delivered but is now looking for a target that would deliver about 24% while the ALP agrees with the need for a cut but wants closer to 27%. There are good reasons for adjusting the target - the amount of renewable energy you can put on a grid is not absolute as wind jumps all over the place and can interfere with system stability and the more wind, the less highly efficient baseload generation you can use, raising overall electricity costs even though the fuel for renewables is of course free.
It's not immediately obvious in any case why you want renewables. The obvious answer is 'climate change' but renewable energy is a really expensive way of cutting greenhouse gas, up to ten times as much as other measures and even the Gillard emissions trading scheme which had an artificially high carbon price didn't trigger any move to renewable energy. We aren't running out of fuel any time soon (hundreds of years of both gas and coal in Australia) and while there are some localised air quality issues with some generators these would be best dealt with on a local level rather than mandating a given and arbitrary quantity of renewables Australia wide. I have no particular objection to them as a greenhouse gas mitigation tool when it's the most efficient way forward but the best thing to do is scrap the renewable target, introduce a broad based carbon price and let the market determine when renewables should be deployed.
Tony Abbott is dictator
You must own shares in dirty fossil fuel companies which fuel should remain in the ground with a do not touch sign.
Good to see someone highlighting Australia is bludging with its inaction on climate change compared to so many other countries (NZ 80% renewable energy and we can't manage 20%). Our penalty for inaction will be the flood of refugees we get from pacific island nations. We won't be able to turn those boats away.
Unfortunately not as a result of concern about climate change. Nz's emissions have soared in recent years and the general population don't care a bit, even though the glaciers are fast disappearing up the valleys.
So if they don't care, why are they using renewable energy instead of buying Australian Coal? The NZ govt must be choosing renewable over coal.