Guest essay by Eric Worrall
If you alienate your base, don’t expect them to vote for you. Aussie green conservative leader Zak Kirkup even lost his own seat, after running on a platform of building the biggest jobs, renewable energy and export project in the nation, and vowing to shut down coal extraction.
WA election: McGowan government wins second term in Labor landslide as ‘disaster’ hits Liberals
By Rhiannon Shine
Posted Yesterday at 8:53pm, updated 7 minutes agoLabor has won the West Australian state election with Mark McGowan returned as Premier for a second term, in what has been described as a “disaster” for the WA Liberal Party.
Key points:
- The election was called for Labor less than 45 minutes after polls closed
- Liberal leader Zak Kirkup has lost his seat amid huge swings towards Labor
- The WA Nationals are set to hold more Lower House seats than the Liberals
In a devastating night for the Liberals, leader Zak Kirkup became the first WA major party leader to lose their own seat in 88 years, losing his own seat of Dawesville while declaring he took full responsibility for the party’s election wipe-out.
At this stage, the WA Nationals will hold more seats in the next State Parliament than the Liberal Party.
The Nationals will hold at least four seats in Parliament, while the Liberals cannot exceed that number after losing a swathe of seats in metropolitan Perth.
Labor scored a fast and overwhelming election victory as early figures showed massive swings towards Labor across the state.
Speaking less than 45 minutes after polls closed, the ABC’s chief election analyst Antony Green said given the Opposition would require a swing in its favour to win, it would not be able to win enough seats to form government.
…
What caused such a massive swing against the conservatives?
The victorious centre left West Australian Labor Party is spending cash on climate initiatives, but they are not scaring voters with wild promises or massive policy pivots. When West Australia’s EPA head sprang a surprise carbon offset requirement on heavy industry in 2019, Mark McGowan, leader of West Australian Labor, talked the EPA into backing down.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a fan of McGowan’s green policies. But an overwhelming majority of West Australian voters believe he is doing a good job.
In addition, the McGowan government is widely perceived to have kept the state safe from Covid-19. West Australia’s Covid lockdowns were amongst some of the most aggressive in Australia. People credit the McGowan government’s aggressive lockdown and border closures with keeping Covid-19 out of West Australia, and rapidly containing any outbreaks which occurred.
It is likely given McGowan’s popularity there was no conservative path to victory on this occasion. But Zak Kirkup’s attempt to outflank the centre left McGowan government on climate policy was an unmitigated disaster. Even in Australia, where voting is mandatory, people who normally vote conservative took the opportunity at the poll booth to vent their anger against a joke opposition leader who took their party in a direction they did not recognise.
South Australia isn’t a good advertisement for going all in on unreliables.
And WA trails NSW, Queensland and SA in total black coal resources. Victoria rules in brown coal.
But Western Australia has an abundance of natural gas, which they use for baseload energy generation and for gas peaker plants that are situated along the main north-south gas pipeline that runs through the middle of Perth, the state capital. This is where most of the WA population lives. Also WA is not connected to the main Australian grid, which in WA’s case and unlike Texas, is beneficial to WA. As the coal power stations gradually close, WA has simply to add more gas power plants.
SA is a great advertisement for renewables: the (now expanded) Tesla battery is saving consumers money
Griff, “saving money” in SA’s situation means slightly reducing the self-inflicted extra costs of having to buy power from the interstate coal-fueled grid when your own windmills stop turning because the wind stopped blowing or blew too hard.
If SA had kept its coal plants, it wouldn’t now be amongst the highest charging domestic power regimes in the world.
Hey look Griff, there’s this Stuff you have to buy from me every day whether you like it or not. I came up with a new way of creating Stuff that uses free fuel. But it doesn’t work very well so now the price of Stuff will double. Now I know that’s tough on you Griff, so I’m going to help you out. I’m going to take some of your money and spend it on a way to make the new way of creating Stuff a little bit better. Instead of the price being 2.0 times as much, it will now only be 1.8 times as much. Are you happy with the amount of money I am saving you?
SA has the highest electricity prices in Australia, and with almost no economy is sponging off the other states. What’s not to like!
Reliant on the interconnector with the State of Victoria and now seeking Federal funding to construct another into the State of New South Wales.
WRONG,
The “battery” is CHEWING UP consumer’s money, while providing absolutely ZERO net electricity.
FACTS griff, try finding some, somewhere. !!!
At this point, one starts to wonder if Griff is being a Devil’s Advocate, or perhaps a provocateur. Every time (he) shows up, the comments expand. Some are just shootback, but there are enough sensible refutations that (he) may well be blathering with purpose.
Hey Griff, here’s a deal.
On my next power bill I shall compare to one dating from the ‘pre-battery’ pre battery era.
If it is charged at a cheaper rate then you can have the savings.
If not, you can pay me the difference.
You up, Griff? Prepared to put your money where my savings is?
I live in WA and voted against the Liberals/Greens but not being Green is not why McGowan won. He won because he guided WA through the pandemic. The Liberals leader isn’t a “greeny” but a green 33 year old with little experience of politics. If you’re gonna run a story get the facts right
I also live in WA. The primary factors leading to Labor’s victory were, I think, as you have stated. However, the size of the margin was also no doubt due to many traditional liberal voters, like myself, sending a protest vote over the libs ridiculous energy policy, which was somehow more left than the lefties.
Did the voters have anyone they could vote for who opposed the renewable energy madness?
Yes – McGowan. From what I can see, McGowan has pulled off an astonishingly successful high wire act. He has tossed enough cash at green policies to buy off the urban elite, while at the same time stepping in and protecting heavy industry, making it very clear nobody will lose their job until there is a better alternative.
Whether he can continue to pull off this high wire act will be interesting viewing for his current term of office.
There were other candidates who weren’t keen on renewables. The nationals, whose main constituency is farmers and rural districts, don’t like renewables and expensive energy. But sometimes they’re on the fence, because a lot of farmers are making money out of solar.
A few minor parties like One Nation are totally opposed to renewables, but IMO One Nation is in big trouble because of their hard line opposition to Covid lockdowns. Most people in Australia support the Covid lockdowns because they seem to have been so successful here.
It makes sense. A labour party is for the workers. If the Labour leader is intelligent/informed/asks questions it is not hard to find the truth.
The green solutions do not work. Period. That fact is true,
Everyone who is not making money on the green scam, even Michael Moore knows that is true. Green energy damages the environment and will not work to reduce CO2 which is not a problem because it requires the magic battery.
Planet of the Humans
https://www.bitchute.com/video/KQnVEMOOYuJd/
A Zombie idiot government (who has been taken over by the ‘green’ scam pushers) will just spend and install green stuff until the magic battery is required or the country is bankrupt.
It is a race to bankruptcy and super high electricity prices, not a race to carbon zero.
Labour, like the US Democrats claim that they are workers. Yet time after time, they push policies the devastate workers and the middle class.
Not in the UK they aren’t that is why they remain unelectable, you listen to their plummy mouthed upper middle class activists and they make you puke.
Not really. By and large, the Australian Labor (sic) Party is the party of urban elites, government employees, and union officials (not workers). Generally, the Greens are more of a worry to Labor than the Liberals, because the Greens cut into their urban elite base. The further one lives from the land, the Greener one’s politics.
I’m partial to the Shooters, Fishers & Farmers Party, but I live in the bush in Queensland.
Most of the heavy industry in WA is up north, on a totally separate power grid that is run off the gas available in that region. Other large industries are situated along the main north-south gas pipeline that runs through Perth. So all these industries have access to reliable power sources.
Go woke go broke! The liberal party is going too far to the left especially in state governments.
That happens when you don’t run “fortified” elections. (oops)
“Even in Australia, where voting is mandatory, people who normally vote conservative took the opportunity at the poll booth to vent their anger against a joke opposition leader who took their party in a direction they did not recognise.”
Nor supported.
Sums up my thoughts and I voted. Hopefully the Federal politicians pay attention.
Hmmm, sort of reminds me of… ”there will be no carbon tax under a government I lead” . Then Julia Gillard changed her mind and lost the federal election in a landslide. That’s what happens when governments are formed when greens have the balance of power.
How many centre-right and centre-left politicians in Australia have now been shown the door by electors when they cuddle up to Greens looney policies?
Just on the national front –
Rudd (2010)
Gillard (2013)
Turnbull (2019)
All these pollies failed to register that there is NO satisfying the demands of Green loonies – promise them everything they’re currently demanding, and they’re straight back at ya with more demands.
Biden in the US nuked the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada as his first act upon taking office (with no consultation with Trudeau).
Then immediately the green loonies there were on Joe’s case to also shut down 2 more pipelines.
Rest assured Trudeau was inwardly ecstatic with that decision. Joe gets to play the bad guy and he gets to say it’s not my fault. Win-win for him. Trudeau is run by Butts, formerly of WWF and someone clearly interested in a full on green economy. No oil is good by them. Economics are mystical things, not understood by them.
Lol, the party that won are centre-left and hate the Greens, the equivalent of the Democrats. Zak Kirkup, the guy who got the biggest trouncing since Noah is conservative and hates the Greens even more.
“The victorious centre left West Australian Labor Party is spending cash on climate initiatives”
The other guy lost because according, to Eric, he threatened to spend money on climate initiatives.
I don’t think I’ve ever read a more ludicrous attempt at spinning a result.
I wasn’t trying to be obtuse Loydo, what I think happened was Zak attempted a policy pivot so radical he lost his core supporters. Whether the majority of West Australians support green policies is a different issue – clearly they support whatever Mark McGowan is doing. Zak tried to offer even more green, and nobody believed him.
Usually conservative-voting friends & family in WA agree with you Eric.
Sandgropers will back whoever supports mining, heavy industry, wheat, cattle, sheep, fishing, transport – all diesel fueled.
Greens with ~ 7% of the vote won no seats at all (again!)
That Zak idiot is a natural to join the Greens.
You can’t fix stupid.
I Voted. Not for Liberals nor for Labor. McGowan, from my perspective got in on the back of COVID and running a tight campaign with no aiming marks that could provide a target. Whether that popularity will last depends on what he does in this government; not on the last. He has had a tendency to try to rule by fiat. Whether he learned from that remains to be seen. A very weak opposition by numbers means much legislation can be rammed through.
“what I think happened was Zak attempted a policy pivot so radical he lost his core supporters.”
Nope. His policies look straight out of any Australian Conservative party’s playbook.
https://www.waliberal.org.au/our-plan/
They’re a bit vanilla and a bit motherhood but otherwise pretty non-threatening, but don’t actually have much to say about climate or renewables. The victory came about mainly it seems by McGowern’s personal popularity (the highest of any leader in Aussie history, I heard today – didn’t check that, but hey, he is pretty popular) and his border and covid policies.
Obtuse is not the word. No, you’re full of it. You sat down this morning and wondered how you could somehow work your farourite dog-whistle word into another headline. Like the one-trick pony you are, next post you; did it again. I guess you felt the first outing wasn’t click-baity enough so lets try: green + royal + US politics. That oughta bump up the comments. Don’t you think there is enough unipolar, fanboy, political commentry on this purportedly “global warming and climate change” site already? Grow up.
That plan doesn’t say anything about his plan for renewable energy.
“A Liberal Kirkup government plans to close all publicly owned coal-fired power stations by 2025 as part of the “biggest jobs, renewable energy and export project in the nation”, meaning Muja and Collie would shut within four years.
WA Liberal leader Zak Kirkup said the plan was the largest renewable energy project in Australia’s history, with estimates of $400 million being injected by a Liberal government alongside private investments.
“The New Energy Jobs plan will help create tens of thousands of jobs right here in WA,” he said.
“We’ll bring back manufacturing and help create a renewable energy future, not only for our state but for the rest of the country.
“It will make sure we reduce power bills, it’ll make sure the state government has a net zero emissions target that is ambitious and it is bold, but it underpins where WA needs to be for the decades to come.”
from “Our” ABC https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-11/coal-plants-to-shut-by-2025-in-wa-liberals-renewable-energy-plan/13143910
The Labor Party reckoned it was under costed. I agree it would have cost much more.
Build Back Better
….for someone else
WA Liberal leader Zak Kirkup sounds like AOC.
Loy-dodo FAILS AGAIN !!
McGowan was already doing that.
The real KICKER was Kirkup’s moronic greenie agenda..
NO-ONE WANTS IT,
not real Liberals,
and not real Labor.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-11/coal-plants-to-shut-by-2025-in-wa-liberals-renewable-energy-plan/13143910
https://reneweconomy.com.au/wa-liberals-target-100-pct-renewables-by-2030-in-surprising-climate-plan/
You are a PETTY, NIL-INFORMED LOSER, loy-dodo. !!
You are TOTALLY EMPTY…
… of any intelligence, knowledge, MORALITY or HONESTY !
Your understanding of Australian state government shenanigans (politics) is wafer thin. It’s time for a new tin foil hat with solar panels and a battery pack.
Loydo – Another paid shill for the CCP
Loy-dodo’s brain is asleep at the wheel. ! as usual…
Comprehension.. ZERO !! as usual
The “Liberal” fool tried to “out green” a relatively sensible moderate that cares about JOBS and PROGRESS.
Kirkups’ “greenie” policies were an absolutely trashing of any Conservative ideal.
And CRASHED and BURNED, because conservative were not going to vote for such crap.
Eric Worrall got it right. When I saw Zak Kirkup’s policies, I hoped that McGowan would obliterate him (I don’t live in WA so couldn’t vote but I would have voted for McGowan for all the reasons Eric Worrall stated). In the USA, Zak Kirkup would be known as a RINO. His espousal of insane green policies was the best thing he could do for the Liberal Party (for US readers, that’s the centre-right party in Australia). McGowan was always going to win the election for other reasons, but by ensuring total demolition for his own party, Zak Kirkup has given them every reason to wake up and see the insanity of kowtowing to the anti-fossil-fuel anti-prosperity lobby. We will have to wait and see if they do wake up, but hopefully we are seeing a sea change in the making. The Nationals (they are a bit further right than the Liberals) should now be forming the WA opposition, and a lot of hopes will be on their shoulders. I wish them strength and good luck.
Eric’s analysis is spot on; there is no spin. This Zak bloke was an idiot and got shown the door accordingly.
Here it is from WA Today:
Opposition Leader Zak Kirkup took his metaphorical DeLorean for a ride through the timestream this week as he went backwards with a failed Barnett policy from 2017 whilst simultaneously dragging the Liberal Party into the future with an energy policy that is downright green.
If this is how the WA election results turned out with an inept “green conservative’ leading the party, and McGowan standing by his result in saving the people of WA fron CIVID, just imaging what the Victorian election results will be like in November 2022. The “I stand with Dan” , when Andrews arises from his sick bed, will be to the fore again. Heaven help Victoria!
Where is the bloody Victorian Liberal party? And the PM better take note of this result.
Dan Andrews, premier of Victoria, has some big problems. Victoria’s lockdowns are seen as the most incompetent in Australia, and the pending early closure of the giant Yallourn coal station will leave Victoria extremely vulnerable to blackouts.
Victoria gets some of the worst weather in Australia, has a high population density, and has one of the largest industrial bases. They are about to learn the hard way they cannot survive without that coal station.
But there needs to be a sensible Liberal Leader that isn’t prepared to bend-over to the greenie disease that is infecting modern politics and society.
…. trouble is , even the once sensible Liberals are now heavily infected by greenie slime.
There is no-one for the moderate voter to vote for.
The sensible Liberal leaders in Victoria are hanging back, waiting for the tide to turn.
A childhood friend regularly posts “lets clap for Dan Andrews” style messages on Facebook. In most things he’s pretty down to earth and sensible, but he’s always voted Labor, and Dan Andrews for all his faults seems to have inspired a cult like following amongst his core supporters – his appeal to the labor heartland should not be underestimated.
Last time Labor lost badly in Victoria was when the incompetence of the Cain / Kirner government destroyed an entire public sector union. Victoria had to ask the Commonwealth for help.
Victorians are patient and they love their left wing leaders, but IMO Dan Andrews is starting to test that love in ways which haven’t been tested for decades.
The problem with waiting for someone else to take the lead is that sometimes nobody does.
At other times a totally marginal candidate steps into the vacuum the bigger players leave.
I hear you – but politicians usually only get one shot at the top job, and even now Dan Andrews lead seems unassailable. We’ll see how long that lasts after Yallourn shuts down, and heartland Dan Andrews supporters find their air conditioning doesn’t work during heatwaves.
dans NOT at all popular outside melb central
Same problem in NZ. Even the Libertarian ACT party is now banging on about Climate Change, and also want to make Covid tracing app mandatory. The way things are going , I will have literally nobody I could in conscience vote for next election.
Just put a big cross over the whole ballot paper, instead of in a box.
Davidf
“nobody I could in conscience vote for…”
Living in the UK, I can only say “Welcome to my world”
It will be interesting to see how Dan Andrews, McGowan, the fragrant Jacinda, Boris and just about every other brain-dead Beloved Leader on the planet fare when people eventually realise that Lockdown will kill far more people even than the Kung Flu. And that forfeiting their hard won and precious civil rights has been for absolutely no benefit to anyone other than those Beloved Leaders and their “elites”.
With Victoria going into its usually depressing autumn/winter weather, I would imagine Chairman Dan will be calling lots of new lockdowns. McGown seemed to use his snap 5 day lockdown strategically – made him look like he was doing something but not too painful. For Andrews, though, more likely to seem just more incompetence.
The strange thing is that One Nation vote plummeted even more. The Liberals had nothing different to offer-nothing. They stood for nothing.
The worst thing is that we are FORCED to preference Liberal or Labor-like they have a God-given right to be the only ones to be our overlords. The 2 have the same policies, meaning we are effectively a one party (Socialist) state. At the moment, the nominal conservative party is greener than the beyond Communist Greens on climate kowtowing.
Australia’s hard immigration and border lockdowns have defused one of One Nation’s major talking points, and they really stuffed up with their hardline opposition to the Covid lockdowns, which most Aussies credit with saving granny’s life.
Green policy is way down no most people’s list of priorities, and Mark McGowan has impressed people on other issues sufficiently to overcome any concerns about his green policies. In addition w/r to green policy IMO McGowan has successfully pulled off a political miracle – he’s convinced urban greens he wants to solve the climate crisis, while at the same time convincing heavy industry workers he’s got their back, and will not impose new taxes which could threaten their jobs and industries.
“climate crisis“ please Eric.
One Nation ideals are liked by many Ozzies , problem is they are too uncompromising ,often tarring others with the same brush . You cannot stop a runaway train down a hill by saying stop
,stop, stop . Brakes need to be applied with alternative tracks made available .and acceptable to those on the train .
Hey, I’m from Victoria Australia and I don’t even understand Western Australians.
Firstly, compare Texas to Western Australia
T – area 260,000sqkm
WA – area 2,600,000sqkm
T – population 29m
WA – population 2.9m
(This population density obviously plays a role in reducing COVID)
With similarities being a large number of working class earning good money from the resource industry. WA is the world capital of cashed up bogans.
Secondly, They didn’t really have lockdowns, they more or less had lockouts.
The only reason Western Australians got upset with COVID is they couldn’t travel to Victoria to watch the footy.
You’ve confused sq miles with sq km. You could work for NASA!
Area of TX is 268,596 sq mi, ie 695,662 sq km.
Thanks John
Australia has a lot of natural advantages w/r to Covid, such as low population density, a compliant population, and harsh sunlight and hot weather which rapidly rips those delicate little Covid retroviruses to shreds. West Australia has some of the harshest and hottest weather in Australia.
Victoria had a lot less luck with lockdowns – but Victoria has cold miserable weather in Winter, and a highly urbanised population. When Covid first struck Australia, Fall weather conditions in Melbourne were very similar to Spring weather conditions in Wuhan, China.
For what its worth I don’t think Dan Andrews did anything that different to other states w/r to lockdowns, I think Victoria’s disadvantages, high population density, highly urbanised population, and miserable winter weather severely undermined attempts to isolate outbreaks. But the national perception is Dan Andrews’ lockdowns were the most incompetent in Australia, and that Mark McGowan did a stunning job of protecting West Australia.
I think most of the world perceive that Victoria is where State Police arrest women in their pajamas for posting on Twitter,drag pregnant women out of cars, and have roaming hoards of uniformed thugs accosting old ladies in the park. Its not so much the lockdowns, as the Totalitarian methods of enforcement – which, to be fair, just tended to reinforce long running perception of the Victorian Police
true
BUT
the lockdowsn DID stop the sudanese and other gangs killing robbing n roaming round so it was some use
One big advantage is vitamin D levels (From the Australian Government Dept of Health – so hence the poor syntax where ‘particularly high’ actually refers to low levels being high):
“The Australian Health Survey 2011–12 (ABS 2014b) found that most Australian adults had Vitamin D levels above 50 nmol/L, with 23% having lower levels.
Prevalence of vitamin D levels lower than 50 nmol/L was:
lower in summer (14%) and higher in winter (36%)
relatively low across all the States and Territories in summer, ranging from 6% in Queensland to 19% in New South Wales
particularly high in winter for those living in the south-eastern states of Australia, such as Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory (49% compared with only 16% and 13% respectively in summer)
but remained relatively low in winter for those in Queensland and the Northern Territory.”
as long as youre not shut in in an old folks home with no windows to open and no way to get real sunlight, breathing aircon
the VERY few cases that came home to rural areas from the city n os travellers
stayed low and didnt spread at all
cos we dont live in termite nests like the city folks do
shops are not crowded and we tend to keep doors open and not run aircon in many shops also
only the very hottest days or coldest do they shut doors
Dan’s lockdowns themselves wewre not the problem. The problem is the reasons why those lockdowns were needed. They were needed because Dan and his idiot 8 member cabinet under the SOE powers appartently couldn’t run a decent quarantine. They were not even checking if people had COVID before they released them.
Didya ever wonder why this epidemic was almost universally handled by “locking up” just about everybody? The old, the sick in care facilities and everybody else at home.
In past epidemics- polio, measles, chicken pox, etc- the SICK people were quarantined with limited privileges for healthy family members. In the US several loony governors handed Covid patients over to nursing homes(filled with the sickest, most vulnerable old people over 60).
Since when did crazy ideas take over? It’s actually crazier than fighting a war. At least the war had some obvious aggression from really crazy leader(Adolf H was probably the craziest head of state ever).
Wow Waza, ex Kiwi now a parochial “eastern stater”
As an ex Kiwi but now a parochial Western Aussie I can say that we have had a great year over here, especially without the bogans from Collingwood and surrounds. Actually how much footy did Victorians have live? Not that I care for cross-country basketball as it’s not played in heaven 😉
Anyway onto serious matters. The WA Liberals lost this 2021election prior to the last State election. No re-generation and the influence of the very right Christian group within the party, especially the Upper House. Poor Zak got dropped right in it, the party had such a lack of talent that they elected a first-termer as their leader. Yes the “Wacky Zak” energy policy was unbelievable but I think most had made their choice before that was dropped. Now that the Liberals can have a party meeting in an old phone box it will be interesting to see how they are going to come back.
I hope this disaster flushes the LNP in NSW and SA of the same sort of “conservative” greens. If they want these sort of policies then they need to join the Greens Party.
He’s just lucky there are no criminal penalties for extreme stupidity.
Extreme stupidity still carries the death penalty. Darwin Awards
Left/Right is relative.
I learned recently ( from WUWT) that Democrats from some republican states are more right, than some republicans from Democrats states.
Western Australia fits this category. Both major political parties are relatively right.
Reminds me of so many “traditional” Republicans. They still believe that the path to victory is to be slightly less liberal than the Democrats are.
Unwinnable elections can be won , but not by losers .
McGowan has strong conservative policies, mostly untainted by the green slime agenda.
A Labor leader for people that WANT TO WORK !!
….. the antithesis of the socialist greenie agenda.
It’s easy to contain the Kung Flu by just dialling down the pCR cycles
It’s so easy isn’t it.I’m sure that’s the Biden regime missive to pathology to rapidly reduce the “cases” of Covid
yeah I queried the cycles and abc finally fessed up the numbers
would you believe?
a gobsmacking 40 to 45!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!cycles used for test in aus
waaaay waay over sanity
Bingo
Nothing to do with green policies, everything to do with covid. Or, not so much McGowan protecting WA from covid per se, as protecting WA from evils that might come from the rest of Australia.
Western Australia has long seen itself as different from the rest of country. There was a formal secession attempt in 1933, possible under the federal constitution, and newer succession movements over the last 40 or so years, including a current one. So McGowan’s hard state border lockdown appealed to a deep psychology in Western Australians. That made McGowan a universal hero, unlike Andrews in Victoria, popular though he is. The WA lockdown was easier too than the contested border lockdowns between the eastern states because there are no equivalent cross-border communities along the WA border to be affected.
There are other and often deeper politics at work than green / recyclables.
Some you win some you loose.
Brunei and Singapore successfully pushed not to become part of Malaysia. That didn’t turn out too bad.
WRT to the forming of Australia, New Zealand pulled out early, and Western Australia joined later.
Imagine the wealth of Western Australia if they had of gone alone.
Like UK, it seems Ozzie political parties are all occupying the same part of the political spectrum and election losses boil down to gaffs of party leaders. In UK, ‘Conservatives’ of late seem to be more into néomarxist green-fronted stuff than is Labour . In the US, I guess RINO Repubs are sort of similar. Northern Territory Labour made the same gaff as Kirkup regarding radical green policy and paid the price. The hubris seems boundless. Dont they do reasearch anymore on what their voters will put up with?
Certainly one can see that McGowan has hung onto traditional policy directions for the left which is getting rare in a globalized world. They actually care what their constituency thinks. Elsewhere, the left uses the votes to get in power but their constituency is the Euro-central/ Big Shift/NWO putsch.
Why is this even being posted here? Poorly written to boot.
The aim is to highlight there are many different political jurisdictions in the world. The politics of some state jurisdictions are very different to the politics of the nation.
Western Australia is one of those jurisdictions.
The left leaning and successful Labor Party has intentionally chosen to distance themselves from the alarmist climate change movement.
While this is not the only reason the Labor Party won, it is unique and newsworthy.
To highlight the moronic idiocy of Conservatives being greenie-weenie suckophants.
Its a LOSER strategy. !!
As of 2019 26.7% of residential buildings in WA had solar panels…
and I note this news story from last week:
‘Western Australia-based gold and nickel explorer Province Resources last month unveiled its HyEnergy Renewable Hydrogen Project, including plans for a 1 GW wind and solar PV facility to be established in the Gascoyne Region of Western Australia. The energy from that project will be used to produce approximately 60,000 tons of green hydrogen per year or up to 300,000 tons of green ammonia.’
So 3 out of every 4 households in WA (one of the sunniest places in the world) DON’T have solar panels on their roofs, despite taxpayer $$$s subsidizing these installations.
If I was running that programme, I’d want to “hide that decline” 🤪
Seriously a gold mining company is getting into renewable energy. After they fail due to incompetence after milking the taxpayers you will have nothing left but corroded solar panels in the desert.
Hi Griff
If it weren’t for our generous government subsidies (which have been wound back in recent times due to cost and growing concerns over grid instability), it would be closer to 5% (let’s be generous) residential penetration.
Let’s wait and see how it pans out for HyEnergy before you get too cocky. The Gascoyne region is extremely dusty and prone to cyclones – this should be fun to watch.
If you want to waste your money go right ahead. It’s more effective to give it directly to the company or crook and bypass the government triple tithe.
Ammonia- its best use is in fertilizer or other chemical manufacturing. Its very poor for carrying energy. Probably the only thing worse is pure hydrogen.
The best(cheapest, safest)way to transport energy is Octane: C8-H18.
It can be transported is sheet metal drums or tanks, it doesn’t corrode or evaporate rapidly.
In contrast, hydrogen that isn’t directly used in chemical reactions(refineries)has to be pressurized up to 800bar for transportation where it is very labile- it will interpenetrate steel and leak through the pipe. The costs include expensive alloy for tanks or pipe, special training for anyone running the process, and community training in case of a break or leak. The high pressure also costs a lot(20+30 X) that liquid fuels don’t.
Please take your fairy tales to an investment or entertainment website.
I don’t know squat about Australian politics. But what I do know is they better be electing people who are for a strong military because the odds are that those in power in this country aren’t going to be coming to their rescue if the Chinese decide to make a move. And even if they did, with what they are doing to our military right now, it won’t be long before it is not battle worthy.
China will not use their military, but they will use their money and influence to support groups that break down society and institutions…. smart effrs they are
Yea, that is why they continue to build up their military and now have the largest Navy on earth.
Agree, but they won’t use it. Far easier to subvert a country.
now if we can only get dan andrOOZE outta vic before the place is buried in birdshredders n pv obscenities!!
and whats left is flogged to china!
his back injury may remove him if were lucky
dunno if the rest of his mob are any better though;-(
PS
se sa just had a fire in their ONLY gas plant n powers soared 300%
lets see the useless battery profiting private co fail again
From my 1950/60s schooling I recall that Australia was a ‘Dominion’. I do hope that name is not more relevant in current elections there.
Two lessons in voter perception;
The guy is an absolute dope. Why has he not learnt a lesson to stay well away from the green agenda that is poison to any political career?
I suspect that he has learnt that lesson. In any case he has no political career now. The worst thing for the WA Liberals is that the shadow Minister who advanced the idea of closing the State Owned coal mines in five years and being net zero emissions by 2030 won his seat and is one of the only two Liberals in the WA Parliament.
Not so much a victory for ALP over Liberals as a victory for traditional working class Labour over New Woke Labor. Far from being happy, the federal Labor leader should be nervous that he is next for the chop when the power brokers realize that how to win an election is to shed the woke.
Now that the parliamentary party has been purged by the voters it will be interesting to see who the Liberals in WA preselect for the next election. Will they get back to their core values or will it be the New Green Liberals (and political irrelevance) that prevail?
Never chase the Green vote. The people who want Green Policies already VOTE GREEN.
The fact that 90% of Australian voters regularly choose to vote ‘not Green’ each election should be enough to tell people that Green = Fringe.
Stick to your core.
There has been no warming in Australia since 1880. Simply look at all the Temp Stations unaffected by the UHI and Water Vapor and you find no warming. Recent temperatures were well below the level in 1880, and only “adjustments” cause warming to the data.
Alice Springs (23.8S, 133.88E) ID:501943260000
https://data.giss.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/gistemp/stdata_show_v3.cgi?id=501943260000&dt=1&ds=5