Will Nick walk the talk?
THERE is a lot of misinformation spread about electricity.
Much of it flows from the polarising debate about climate change.
Like the federal Coalition, which announced a new energy policy this week, I’ll try and tiptoe my way through the climate wars.
Retailers and some large users – though not Sun Metals refinery I understand – will be required to contract a certain amount of power from dispatchable sources as well as meet the Government’s plan to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
While definitions vary, let’s say dispatchable means coal, gas, nuclear, hydro and batteries.
Also, from 2020 new renewable subsidies will be axed.
Some say these policies will lead to development of a coal- fired power station in North Queensland but I doubt it.
I think the working life of existing coal- fired plants will be maintained and extended and that the pace of construction of new wind and solar projects will be slowed.
I quizzed electrical engineer Professor Simon Bartlett this week on his thoughts.
He has 40 years’ experience in the electricity industry although he is a hydro- electricity nut and was project manager to the Tully Millstream project before it was nobbled by declaration of the Wet Tropics.
Prof Bartlett doesn’t see a future for new coal- fired plants, at least in North Queensland.
He suggests the problem is not so much the risk of a carbon price – which the Coalition effectively has introduced anyway – but the technology of coalfired plants.
There is limited ability to turn them on and off quickly when what is needed is very flexible plants that can respond when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow.
“It’s got to be what I call the dancing partner with PV and wind,” Prof Bartlett said.
He says hydro pumped storage, at one tenth the cost of battery storage with 10 times the life, is that partner and that North Queensland has a number of “fantastic sites”. NICK Xenophon should be careful what he wishes for.
With his eligibility to be in the Senate before the High Court, he’s making the jump back to state politics and the polls have welcomed him with open arms.
A Galaxy poll has him as South Australia’s preferred Premier by a mile and the state is almost split three ways between Xenophon’s SA Best, Labor and the Liberals.
It’s an extraordinary show of strength, but not one that comes without problems.
For almost 20 years Xenophon has built a reputation as “the man in the middle”, despite some policies that are far from the centre. But he’s never been called out, because he has played the media perfectly. He gives them a show, not just the stunts, but the drama of the negotiation.
Xenophon won’t commit to anything until virtually the last minute and with three crucial votes in the Senate, he can keep everyone waiting and watching him.
He’s refined the art of thumbs up, thumbs down and getting a few dollars for pet projects along the way. But if the polls are right he won’t be able to pull that off when he heads back to Adelaide.
To form a government he’s going to have a pick a side, he has to offer supply, confidence, and like Winston Peters in New Zealand, he’ll own a cobbled together government because it would be HIS government too. He wouldn’t be an observer any more, he’d be a participant and directly responsible for the good, bad and ugly of government.
Xenophon would have to come up with ideas rather than just pass judgment on everyone else’s.
This is where the endless limitations and compromises of government inevitably chip away at that new government smell.
As Premier or a minister you have to pick real winners and losers – Xenophon has never had to.
I love that we are living in the times of the minor parties. In Queensland, One Nation is about to become kingmaker, SA Best is about to surge, the Liberal Democrats are attracting huge names like Mark Latham, Bernardi’s Australian Conservatives is building a phenomenal machine away from the press gallery gaze and Hinch’s Justice Party is going to run hard at the Victorian poll.
For more and more voters, minor parties are like taking out insurance against the excesses of government and the bureaucracy.
But Xenophon, the media who give him a free ride and his voters should understand the beast of expectations changes the closer you get to running the show. If he wants real power, he can’t avoid it.
It will be fascinating to see just how small a target Xenophon will be in the campaign; so far his big promise is to cut the number of politicians. Yeah, but what about jobs, investment, infrastructure, schools, hospitals, law and order?
Xenophon has led a charmed public life – pick your fights and chose your stunts. But when you are in charge, everyone picks a fight with YOU. >> Joining Paul on the program
this Monday are Graham Richardson, Ross Cameron and
Janine Perrett.