Essay by Eric Worrall
Queensland’s long reigning premier Annastacia Palaszczuk may have cut and run in the face of negative polls and a looming election, but her successor’s plan to accelerate coal job losses will help?
āMy job to convince themā: Steven Miles knows climate change is coming for Queensland
Exclusive: New premier hopes to navigate path to transition in disaster-prone state that makes billions from coal
Andrew Messenger Sun 24 Dec 2023 01.00 AEDT
Even for an incoming state premier, Steven Miles has had a busy first week.
…
Miles had already set out to make climate change one of the themes of his first week in office, even before ex-Tropical Cyclone Jasper flooded the stateās north. Two Fridays running, the student of Al Gore has rolled out major green announcements: doubling the stateās emissions reduction target to 75% by 2035 in his first announcement as premier and banning new gas developments from the stateās far western river systems, an election promise dating to 2015.
Miles is eager to build a consensus around the economics of the transition: a link between city and bush, right and left.
…
Miles hopes he has found the answer.
āItās my job to convince [people] that addressing climate change isnāt a threat to jobs, itās actually a way to protect jobs,ā Miles says.
āIf you look at the high-emitting industries in places like Gladstone and Townsville, theyāre going to lose their global customers if they continue to be reliant on such high levels of fossil fuel energy.
āSo the best way we can protect those jobs is by providing them with renewable energy so that they can sell their products into markets that increasingly want green, aluminium, green steel, green products. And similarly, if we get it right, we can also attract new industries.
āIn the past, they weāre attracted to our cheap, plentiful fossil fuel-based energy. In the future we will have cheap, plentiful, firmed renewable energy.ā
…
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/dec/24/my-job-to-convince-them-steven-miles-knows-climate-change-is-coming-for-queensland
The problem with this plan is cheap, plentiful, firmed renewable energy does not exist.
Batteries are impossibly expensive. Available dam sites are way too distant and wouldn’t provide enough capacity. And if the plan is to firm using natural gas or coal, there is no need to build the renewables – it would always be cheaper just to build the natural gas or coal, and forget the renewables.
Net Zero cannot and will not happen, with current technology choices.
Sadly Queensland’s mainstream political opponents, the Liberal National Party, are also committed to Net Zero, just on a slightly slower timeframe – so they are almost as bad.
Why is my home state of Queensland cursed with such a parade of economic fools? If international demand for coal drops, the industry will scale back and realign on its own. There is no need to talk coal down and try to kill it off.
The one hope of political sanity in Queensland, Queensland is also home to One Nation and Katter’s Australian Party. Katter is aligned with remote rural regions, and supports ethanol mandates, but they also oppose emissions reductions. One Nation has a sound climate policy. Both have more palatable energy ideas than any of the current mainstream parties.
On the international stage, there is no evidence of a long term drop in coal demand, quite the opposite. The IEA keeps predicting a drop in demand on the basis of the expected Net Zero transition, but in 2022 and 2023 coal use reached all time highs, and 2024 demand is also expected to be high. None of the renewable energy systems being created by green obsessed governments are delivering. The only threat to long term coal demand is nuclear energy, which enjoyed a boost in profile and popularity at the recent COP28.
Personally I expect a significant short to medium term drop in demand, but not because of Net Zero. The economically incompetent Xi Jinping Chinese Communist regime is doing every wrong move you can imagine in the face of their realestate sector collapse, their government is pouring money into well connected but already failed industries, and doubling down on useless infrastructure projects – all the failed policies which made the 2008 GFC so painful in the west, and more. But nobody can predict when that circus act will come unstuck.
“Why is my home state of Queensland cursed with such a parade of economic fools?”
because you have so many city voter fools ?
š
I highly recommend you take a look at “The Aussie Wire” News podcasts and get to know Topher Field of “Battleground Melbourne” fame. These reports are very informative not only to Aussies but to the world to give us a peek at the insanity that may eventually reach our shores as well.
World leader’s pants on fire: Climate Change alarmism is getting silly
Today on The Aussie Wire News:
https://youtu.be/rX2Vp4jhbWA
TEWS_Pilot
Thanks for the Jo Nova video link.
Only 14 minutes but well worth watching and sharing widely.
You’re not wrong. Here’s Gold Coast Mayor Tom pissed that weather forecasting/warning is a very inexact science-
Gold Coast, QLD: Mayor Tom Tateās fury at late BOM storm warning | news.com.au ā Australiaās leading news site
Not to worry plenty of city slickers along with BoM experts and sundry publicly paid weather worriers reckon they can actually change the weather if only you’d listen to them and put up more coal fired Chinese solar panels and windmills. Really truly I’m not making this up.
It is not for no reason that the saying “that every country gets the government they deserve” has long been a valid observation.
Anyone who would admit that they’ve been voluntarily indoctrinated into Al Gore’s climate catastrophe cult should be automatically banned from seeking any sorts of positions of responsibility.
Including parenthood.
(especially parenthood?)
I believe in manbearpig, half man, half bear, and half pig.
I see you got a Participation Certificate from the IPCC’s Summary For Policymakers “Special Mathematics – Advanced Fractions” course?
š
You can’t be cereal.
I’ll give a rye smile…
No, heās super super cereal!
I’m Al Gore, and I’m here to save you.
Excelsior!
Corny sort of joke… I barley got it !
If you wheat a moment, you’ll get there.
This may help. I imagine hate speech like South Park is not tolerated in Oz
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BGoEP-IqoDg
What’s about your maths ?? š
Eric, your home state is not special in this regard – most western democracies now suffer from this curse.
Politicians everywhere are discarding the basic math, reading, comprehension, analytical and retention proficiencies they achieved in order to receive their high school diplomas.
Nobody can convince me that behind closed doors, these politicians really know, understand and accept the realities of the impossibilities of 100% renewable energy, net zero, and all the other climate calamity bullshit.
But hey, votes is all wot counts, innit?
In the US 60 percent of the voters agree with the “climate agenda”.
Be afraid. Be very afraid.
you still have faith in surveys?
At least he didn’t send the full post again for the gazzillionth time š
Eric, sight unseen I will trade our entire government for a tribe of Aborigines and a future draft choice to be named later.
Because urban parasites cannot correctly process data and live independently, they herd in cities where, sadly, they vote to impose their idiocy on everyone.
Coal use keeps growing worldwide.
Renewables collapsing in Germany.
Germany: āRenewable Energy Sector Facing The Abyssāā¦āOn The Brinkā ā¦Economy Breaking Up (notrickszone.com)
What will it take gormless politicians to wake up to reality. !
My Consol Energy (coal) stock is up over 100% in the past year and pays a 4-5% dividend to boot.
Why didn’t you tell me about this three years ago?
So this means Australia has stopped selling coal to China and anyone else, eh?
Not yet. But it is why Australia is buying nuclear submarines from USA. Australia realises that when it shuts the coal mines China might not be happy.
China can get by with their own thermal coal supported by imports from Indonesia, Russia and Mongolia. But met coal is not as easy to come by so Australian mine closures would severely impact steel production.
China needs Australia for iron ore and met coal. And Australia needs the income so it can buy more solar panels and wind turbines from China as well as the nuclear submarines.
What they have not yet worked out is – where will the replacement solar panels and wind turbines come from if Australia is not selling met coal to China. Is Australia heading for an unsustainable transition?
The transition will be sustainable once the round eyes are all out of ę¾³å¤§å©äŗ for good.
No worries mate, Biden has your backsāyou wonāt be abandonedājust go to Mexico and walk across the border.
No shortage of fools in Queensland, dare I say.
Don’t forget that the majority of Queensland’s coal production is metallurgical not thermal.
I don’t wish harm on anyone in particular, but I desperately hope someone (somewhere else) goes all-in on this stuff so we can all see how it turns out before we cast too many more ballots here.
If it goes badly as I expect, they must be left to make do in the cold and dark, lonely and hungry. They must not be allowed to seek refuge in more provident jurisdictions.
Of course, if by a miracle it goes well then I shall admit my error and vote to join in.
Steven Miles thinks by stopping the mining and export of coal he can change Queensland weather š.
His King Canute moment.. except he may actually believe he can.
Such is the ignorance and “I-am-a-god” arrogance of far-left politicians.
Why would you want to change “beautiful one day, perfect the next”?
Miles is not alone. A few weeks back, the Australian PM promised to stop the flooding by building more wind and solar farms.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/video/anthony-albanese-speaks-on-climate-change-during-flood-visit/0npy1ef7p
Severe weather events are now owned by the climate botherers and every severe event is more proof of CO2 induced climate change. This is a compelling argument for a teenager who may have just experienced their first severe weather event. And most people have short memories – the present tends to be uppermost in the thoughts.
The winter storm brewing off the west coast of North America will be more proof of climate change when it hits.
“… providing them with renewable energy so that they can sell their products into markets that increasingly want green, aluminium, green steel, green products.”
Show me! I suspect basic industries want a product that meets specifications at a competitive price. I can’t imagine a customer walking into a store and saying to the clerk: “I want a snow shovel made from green steel.” EVs use specialty steel called “electric steel” — Do any EV manufactures tout their electric motors made from “green steel”?
Companies (and governments) that want to sell stuff should become more efficient and sell products for less. Jobs are a cost, so eliminating some jobs is a plus. “High paying” green jobs are a double cost.
I’m in the USA, but our governments are run by fools.
The latest Biden/Harris blunder is set to turn forests into massive fuel accumulators and watch them burn.
Find one company, somewhere, that says it is imperative that their aluminum has to be ‘green sourced’…
(and I’ll show you a company that deserves a visit a bottle of gallium).
Upvoted.
Every time I hear a politician eagerly propose adding lots of well-paid green jobs I never think, “Ooooh, what a great idea; I should vote for you”. I think, “You towering imbecile; how did you reach your station in life with a brain like that?”
Then I remember, those are words they have to say so we will keep them there. It’s us.
Well they’ve only been promising these well paid green jobs for 25 years or so – they are bound to turn up soon are’nt they?
Queensland .. downgraded to non-productive third world status.
Indonesia ramps up its coal exports, with China’s help, of course.
ZERO difference to the amount of coal produced and used world wide.
Australia appears as badly bitten by the green climate bug as the UK, Germany, and California. Nasty long term side effects.
And all for naught, as China and India refuse to be bitten.
It appears to me that Steven Miles is a political animal who has never worked a day in a real productive job. He seems divorced from reality and deficient in common sense. Are Australian voters so dumbed down or apathetic that they cannot see the consequence of putting people like him into positions of political leadership?
You have just married, started a family and bought a house in the hinterland of the Gold Coast in southern Queensland. On Christmas Day, the house gets severely damaged by wind and hail the size of cricket balls that you have never experienced before.
The State Premier promises to fix the weather by building more wind and solar farms and to stop sending coal to China. Is the Premier the new messiah or a con man?
I think there are sill around 100,000 houses around southeast Queensland without power. But the Premier will fix the weather to prevent that ever happening again.
Lets face it, the number of people who get scammed by internet scammers is enough to make it a worthwhile occupation for the scammers. Miles has the backing of the UN when it comes to his con and it appears more than half the western population are either involved in the con or being conned.
When every severe weather event bears the hallmark of climate change, the con is on a robust foundation. It is probably better than eternal damnation as the basis of a con.
Union factions godfathers make all political appointments for Labor party reps in Australia.
The reps you see on tv are sock puppets pure and simple.
How does Miles propose to keep his state functioning and pay the half million public sector fat cats without the coal export royalties?
Things have reached the height of absurdity when coal mining royalties pay for so-called renewable projects, wind solar and pumped hydro.
At night, basically ALL electricity in Queensland comes from COAL and a bit of gas.
Solar obviously does a good job of providing electricity during the “Sunshine State” summers, but that doesn’t help during the night, and can get quite low on cloudy winter days.
Queensland absolutely NEEDS that COAL-fired electricity, for the long-term foreseeable future.
The insanity is almost endemic in the entire western world now. And as we know not just in government. We now have corporate and investment/ hedge fund types, billionaires as well as the usual fuzzy thinking progressive academic fruitcakes that have talked themselves into a hybrid command and control economy due to ā AIā.
Sometimes I really believe there might be a Marxist gene. The āAI has just destroyed the capitalist model, universal income will be a necessity ā narrative is really getting irritating. I think itās a flawed concept , just as flawed as transition to renewables. Eric Weinstein (and others )have talked himself into a communist model after he made millions working for Peter Thiel (not to be confused with brother Bret who I think has more common sense)
The hypocrisy never ends with these people. Letās try cutting taxes and replacing the government work force with AI after just getting rid of most of it before talking about freaking ā universal incomeā.Then let the market of and for wants, needs and desires of a free people sort the rest out.
Do you really believe that the rich will be affected by the same rules that are imposed on us? Of course not – they have money and influence, and will continue to enjoy that lifestyle no matter what the rest of us plebs get saddled with.
My goodness we do live in an absurd world. The QLD premier wants to power Gladstone – a major coal export terminal – with renewables in order to cut CO2 emissions, with not a single word about cutting coal exports. BP and Shell have set themselves Net Zero targets in a bid to reduce emissions. What is so absurd is that the emissions reduction and Net Zero targets don’t apply to the coal, oil or gas being produced and transported, no they only apply to the indirect GHG emissions. So companies that sell a squillion petajoules of fossil fuel spend a considerable amount of time and effort on reducing / offsetting their CO2 emissions during the production process in order to trumpet achievement of Net Zero, while still adding as many petajoules as they can to their sales.
They really don’t give a toss about the climate. Even politicians can’t be that thick.
Saw a funny ad while watching the cricket on TV yesterday.
Red Energy, (owned by Snowy Hydro), who propagandises themselves as being “carbon neutered”..
… offering 15000 QANTAS “frequent flyer” points to new customers.
Perhaps they can’t see the ironing?
Itās worse. They donāt know there is a connection.
I am certain that thinking ability is not a requirement for any politician.
Put him on the list, he is going to have a lot to answer for.
“The only threat to long term coal demand is nuclear energy, which enjoyed a boost in profile and popularity at the recent COP28.”
Nuclear expert Mycle Schneider on the COP28 pledge to triple nuclear energy production:
https://thebulletin.org/2023/12/nuclear-expert-mycle-schneider-on-the-cop28-pledge-to-triple-nuclear-energy-production-trumpism-enters-energy-policy/
Dutton wants Australia to join the ānuclear renaissanceā ā but this dream has failed before
https://theconversation.com/dutton-wants-australia-to-join-the-nuclear-renaissance-but-this-dream-has-failed-before-209584
I told Federal Senator Matt Canavan to his face they are falling between two chairs with their nuclear policy.
Nuclear in Australia solves nothing in the short term. The greens hate nuclear net zero, so no votes there. And a big nuclear push would drive up energy bills at least in the short term, due to the need to absorb capital costs.
I have no problem with nuclear but it should be on the basis of genuine economic need, like remote locations where fuel transportation is a challenge.
The far-left, that you represent, doesn’t want nuclear.
They want intermittent nothingness.
Any political leader at any level entertaining the quaint notion that renewables are ready to take over from fossil fuels needs to consider these figures from the Statistical Review of World Energy. It points out that despite an inflation-adjusted total of $11.7 trillion that has been invested in clean energy worldwide between 2015 and 2023, fossil fuel consumption since 1995 has fallen only 3.8% and coal, oil and natural gas still supply 81.8% of the world’s primary generation. So why would anyone believe that wind and solar in particular can supplant fossil fuels? In actuality, the belief they really need to embrace is that Net Zero by 2050 and probably well beyond is unattainable. But accepting reality has never been a strong point of the environmentalists.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-67718719 wooden wind turbines? Thoughts please
Ask the Dutch…. from a century ago !
Make that two. By the mid 19th century they had moved to steam-driven pumps, powered by coal.
They come as self-assembly packs and are made in China.
6 months to a year and the cracks will open up, the wood will swell and they will be useless. Shortly after that they’ll fall apart or burn in a wildfire, lightning strike or some such. Even more of a waste of money than the metal ones.
Most people and industries prefer to buy the low cost product- not the green product. It’s been shown to be the case with wood products. Who’ll pay twice as much for a stick of lumber just because it’s certified green? Of course I’m all for high quality forestry- but the green certification systems add a great deal of cost to the products.
Somebody is making a little extra cash somewhere in the pipeline…
Whatever Miles does won’t make the slightest bit of difference to the amount of coal use worldwide. The IEA has recently published an update on coal – ‘Coal 2023 Analysis and forecast to 2026’ (Dec 2023)
Coal growth in 2023 saw big drops in the EU and US and lower rates of decline in Korea, Japan, Canada and Australia.
Nevertheless the growth in China, India, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines – which together represent 70% of coal demand – “will more than offset these decreases on a global level”
“In China and India particularly rising coal consumption is driven by robust growth in demand for electricity and low hydro output”
“China consumes more than half of the world’s coal” and “produces half of it” In 2026 they “expect China and India to account for more than 70% of global coal consumption.”
In 2023 Indonesia exported 500Mt of coal – “a level never reached by any country before”
They say coal demand in South Asia – Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka is “robust”. And South Africa accounted for “84% of the continents coal consumption in 2022”
“In the short and medium term, steel production from iron ore will continue to be based on met coal as it does not appear……alternative inputs such as hydrogen will be market ready in the coming years”