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The Greens’ War on Coal

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The Greens’ war on coal is fuelled by misinformation. Modern coal is particulate free, and gas recovery technology on new coal fired power plants captures and converts steam stack gas into essential products like fertilizer, AdBlue, ethanol and even explosives, resulting in zero gasses being released into the atmosphere.

Coal mines are remediated to return the land to its original state.  Many Australian mines have already transformed into productive pastures.  In the long term, coal mines do not damage the country; rather, it’s industrial wind and solar that do. Blasting the tops off mountains to install industrial wind turbines is permanent environmental destruction.

Coal is essential for the health of our grid, for providing breadwinner jobs and to ensure prosperity of rural communities.

Transcript

The Greens misinformation on coal has gone on long enough. Fifty thousand Australians rely directly on the coal industry for their livelihood. Given the services to coalmines, add another 50,000 people that coal keeps afloat in mining communities—actually, it’s much, much more than an additional 50,000, with a reported multiplier across Australia of six times the number of jobs directly from mines. They’re communities that, if this unscientific rubbish from the Greens goes on much longer, the Greens will decimate. 

Modern coal plants are free from particulates and noxious gases. The only thing that leaves their steam stacks is water vapour and carbon dioxide: nature’s fertilisers. Australian and international firms now offer a process to capture those gases and convert them to productive things like fertiliser, AdBlue and ethanol—some things that the Greens will need so they can keep blasting the tops off mountains for wind turbines; that’s explosives. With this new capture and conversion technology, coal uses fewer resources and has a smaller environmental footprint than any nature-dependent power the Greens can advocate. 

Coal is not damaging to the environment. To those who post photos online of coalmines, alleging environmental vandalism and that the planet is boiling, please tell the whole story and please tell the truth. Coalmines are rehabilitated after use. A few moments ago I posted a link to the New Hope Group’s website, showing the remediation of their coalmines that I’ve personally inspected. It’s beautiful green countryside supporting thousands of cattle and in turn supporting rural communities. Mines remediate; that is fact. And damage from wind turbines and their access road construction is permanent; that is fact. 

Under current legislation, mining must pay into a bond fund to pay for remediation. No such provision exists for the net zero madness. Once this orgy of taxpayer and electricity-user subsidies is exhausted, these solar and wind companies will sell their installations into a shell company and scoot on back to whatever foreign tax haven in which they’re based. On humanitarian and environmental grounds, One Nation opposes this reckless, destructive Greens motion. Taxpayers will be left to clean up the mess. Communities will be destroyed, and it will cost electricity users and taxpayers tens of billions of dollars more to clean up after this insane green nightmare. 

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Government Will Take Power from YOUR Solar Panels and EV

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For years, the Government has subsidised rooftop solar and, more recently, wall batteries. This isn’t so you can have cheap power, it’s so they can have YOUR cheap power.

Half of Australia’s solar energy is generated from rooftop systems. During the morning and evening peak hours, when the sun isn’t shining and wind energy reduces by 90%, the government will take the charge from your wall battery and EV to keep the grid going. This is called “grid connectivity”. Under net zero policies, you will receive only as much electricity as the officials in Canberra decide you can have.

One Nation will end the net zero scam, build new high efficiency coal plants and restore wealth and prosperity to Australia.

Transcript

I thank Senator Van for this matter of public importance. Without criticising the science, cost and impracticability of net zero, which I did last night and will do again tomorrow, it’s certainly possible to talk about wasted capacity in the electricity sector. The ad hoc stance towards solar power in Australia has meant that a lot of people have fitted solar panels without battery storage. This is a distortion in the market as a result of government interference—subsidising solar panels early on while only subsidising wall batteries much later. In fact, the distortion in the energy market as a result of government interference is exactly why energy prices in Australia are out of control. In the most energy rich country in the world we should have the cheapest retail electricity in the world; it should not be amongst the dearest. 

Remember, though, that One Nation is the party of free enterprise. If an Australian homeowner, body corporate or business wants to spend their own money to install solar power, connect it to a battery and then use that investment to start trading in electricity, all power to you. In fact, homeowners organising themselves to direct the output of their solar panels into community batteries is a way of getting into the energy business.  

The government promised community batteries, and I know it has so far funded 370. Only one of the 370 grants went to a community organisation. The other 369 were to either government departments or energy companies. Why are we giving grants to energy companies to build big batteries when the proceeds of those big batteries will be sold back to the grid? Can’t they finance themselves? The Albanese government are handing out taxpayers’ money to their big business mates at a time that everyday Australians need the money for themselves.  

Electric vehicles are another area where energy trading could be an option. Modern EVs use a battery which can hold 100 kilowatt hours of electricity. If charged from the owner’s own solar panels during the day, selling that electricity into the grid during peak hour will help stave off blackouts. Instead, all of these measures fracture energy generation and make the task of maintaining the reliability of the grid harder and more expensive.  

There is a better solution. Modern clean-coal technology allows for the retrofitting of a device which captures all of the gas coming out of a coal fired plant and converts the gas into useful products like fertiliser, AdBlue and ethanol. In the language of the woke, that means zero emissions. This process costs less than $100 million per power station and works best using sea water. Instead of spending more than $1 trillion and up to $2 trillion to simply replace our electricity generation and convert to electrification, clean coal will achieve the same objective for a few hundred million dollars. Clean coal is the real wasted resource in the Australian energy market. Clean coal will reduce the cost of living under Labor. 

The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT (Senator Hughes): The time for the discussion has expired.  

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The Uni-Party’s Net Zero Utopia

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The government claims they’ll build 40 huge wind turbines every month, 22,000 solar panels every day and at least 10,000 kilometres of power lines – in less than 6 years. Despite their promises of a ‘net-zero’ utopia, they have no idea how many has even been built.

As coal power stations are forced to shut down and nothing has been built to replace them, Australia is heading towards a scary place.

Blackouts and an environmental wasteland will be the reality of the uni-party’s ‘net-zero utopia’.

Transcript

Senator ROBERTS: My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Senator Wong. Minister, exactly how many wind turbines, solar panels, batteries and kilometres of transmission lines were built last month? 

Senator Wong: Thank you, Senator. I don’t have a monthly breakdown of what has occurred in terms of renewables since we came to government. But what I can say to you is that we have invested $22.5 billion to, over the next decade, help make Australia a renewable energy superpower. We have a budgeted plan that is backed by the experts at AEMO, the Australian Energy Market Operator. They have an Integrated System Plan that looks at the total cost, out to 2050, of generation, storage and transmission of renewable energy, which the government is working to and is contributing to. 

I would also make the point, Senator—and you do understand markets—that the uncertainty under the coalition meant that 24 out of 28 coal-fired power stations announced their closure. We did not have new investment to replace them at the scale needed, and that is because the market knew that, with 20-plus energy policies, there was no certainty to enable investment in additional generation and supply. If we want to bring prices down and ensure reliability, we have to have more supply. 

The PRESIDENT: Senator Roberts, first supplementary? 

Senator ROBERTS: Unlike with coalmines, there’s no obligation for industrial wind and solar sites to rehabilitate the land. The cost of pulling down wind and solar sites is left completely with landowners and farmers who have no idea what they’re signing up for. Minister, does your wind and solar plan rely on saddling farmers with the entire cost of disposal, or will your government legislate rehabilitation bonds for wind and solar projects? 

Senator Wong: Senator, what I would say to you is that there has been a lot of investment and a lot of interest from Australians, in terms of both investors and landowners and landholders, to be part of this transition. It is true that there are a lot of challenges associated with it, including investment in transmission, which is one of the reasons the government is working on both increasing the flexibility of the system and also ensuring that more capacity is delivered across the country. For example, our Capacity Investment Scheme has delivered over 32 gigawatts of capacity. We’ve had the largest ever single tender for renewable energy, which is currently open for bids.  

In relation to your issues, I don’t have advice on—(Time expired) 

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Net Zero Policies Fuel Rising Cost of Living

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The cost of living continues to skyrocket out of control.

This government is pouring fuel on the fire with its net zero policies making everything in the economy more expensive. The true scale of how crazy their plans are is apparent with some simple figures. Yet this government is ignorant to the damage they are causing.

Fix the cost of living and bring down inflation – ditch the net zero plans.

Transcript | Part 1 – Question Time

Senator ROBERTS: My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Senator McAllister. For every 100 megawatts of installed coal-fired power station capacity, the production of electricity average is around 95 to 98 megawatts. For every 100 megawatts of installed solar and wind generation capacity, though, the actual production of electricity average is just 23 megawatts, with wind itself being just 21. This means that to achieve design capacity, more than four times the installed rated capacity is required—almost five times for wind. Minister, is this included in Labor’s transition costs?

Senator McAllister: Thanks very much for the question, Senator Roberts. In terms of costings, we take the advice of the experts. We’ve had this conversation more than once, in fact, in the context of estimates and in other forums. AEMO works through a range of scenarios and configurations for the National Electricity Market and makes an assessment of the optimal pathway to meet our energy requirements at the optimal cost. They do consider, of course, the capacity factors of the different options that are available to us. There’s actually quite a lot of work to do. The truth is that we inherited a mess in the energy system. When we came in, the average wholesale energy price was $286 a megawatt hour—

The PRESIDENT: Minister McAllister, please resume your seat. Senator Roberts?

Senator ROBERTS: Point of order on relevance: standing order 72(3)(c) says that answers shall be directly relevant to each question. Can we get on to whether or not Labor is aware—

The PRESIDENT: Senator Roberts, as I’ve reminded other senators in this place, make your point of order but don’t follow it up with a statement. The minister is being directly relevant to the points of your question. Minister McAllister, please continue.

Senator McAllister: Thanks, President. As I was saying, we came to government with a lot of work to do because the previous government had 22 energy policies, all of which failed. None of them landed. During the period when they were in government, four gigawatts of dispatchable capacity left the system and only one came on. We actually need to take steps to sort that out, because the previous government was repeatedly warned by the market operator that a failure to deal with the impending closure of coal-fired power stations was going to cause a reliability problem. We have sought advice from the experts at the market operator to help us design the policy settings that will actually allow us to replace that exit in capacity. It’s a lot more than anything that was ever delivered by the people opposite. The very great shame is that, for a person who I know seeks to represent people in Queensland, you show an odd lack of interest in the opportunities that come about as a consequence of making and facilitating these investments, which have the potential to bring jobs and new industry to the communities that you claim to care about.

The PRESIDENT: Senator Roberts, first supplementary?

Senator ROBERTS: During morning and evening peak hours, for every 100 megawatts of installed solar and wind generation capacity, the actual production of electricity averages just 10 megawatts. This means that achieving design capacity requires 10 times the installed rated capacity. Minister, what impact does this massive additional cost have on solar and wind installation capital costs and on electricity prices?

Senator McAllister: Senator, your question actually omits a really important part of the advice that we received from the market operator. The advice that we received—and it’s based on very significant economic modelling and engagement with a whole range of market participants and experts in the energy system—is that the optimal configuration of technology for a future grid involves renewables, firmed by storage, including batteries, and supplemented by gas. That’s the plan that has been recommended to us, and the policy settings that we’ve put in place are designed to allow investment in those kinds of technologies to be brought forward. As I indicated in my answer to your primary question, there is a problem because there was an extended period
when the lack of certainty in the policy settings of the previous government meant that the necessary investment didn’t take place, and we are taking steps to remedy that problem.

The PRESIDENT: Senator Roberts, second supplementary?

Senator ROBERTS: A modern coal-fired power station is expected to last 60 years. Solar panels and wind turbines are expected to last 12 to 15 years—at most, 20. Over the 60-year life of a coal-fired power plant, the combination of wind and solar cobbled together to replace a single coal plant will need to be replaced four times. Minister, when will Labor release its system cost of the 2050 grid system?

Senator McAllister: As the senator would know if he’d examined the Integrated System Plan, it does include a costing for the capital costs associated with building the grid out to 2050. So the answer is: it is released and updated on a regular basis by way of the Integrated System Plan. That’s the basis on which we establish our policies to deal with the transition that’s underway in the electricity system. The truth is that it is underway, Senator Roberts. I know that that is a proposition you don’t agree with, but in just two years we’ve seen a 25 per cent increase in our national grid in the cheapest and cleanest form of energy that there is, which is reliable renewables, and we’ve ticked off enough reliable renewables projects to power three million homes. Those things matter. Establishing a clear pathway for the electricity supply that’s necessary to meet the needs of households and businesses is an absolute priority for this government and should be for every other government as well.

Transcript | Part 2 – Take Note

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister representing the Minister for Climate Change and Energy (Senator McAllister) to a question without notice I asked today relating to the cost of the net zero wind and solar transition.

With this so-called transition, both major parties are artificially increasing the cost of energy, pouring fuel on the inflation and cost-of-living crises. Labor and the Liberals planning to run the grid on net zero is trying to smash a square peg into a round hole.

In question time I used simple, proven facts and figures to show these plans are ridiculous. It comes down to something called ‘capacity factor’. That describes how much electricity we actually get from various types of power stations. A coal-fired power station runs at nearly a 95 per cent capacity factor or higher. That means, if we install a 100-megawatt coal-fired power station, on average, including downtime for maintenance, we get about 95 megawatts out of it over time.

Wind and solar are far lower. Their average capacity factor is just 23 per cent. That means that to replace 100 megawatts of coal-fired power we need to build 400 megawatts of wind and solar. Even if we do this massive and costly overbuild, it’s not guaranteed that wind and solar power will be available when we need it. At peak hours, morning and evening, when most people turn on devices and appliances, the capacity factor of wind and solar is just 10 per cent. We’re up for 1,000 megawatts of wind and solar to replace each 100 megawatts of coal-fired power, plus the billions of dollars in batteries and the tens of thousands of kilometres of transmission lines.

A coal-fired power station lasts 60 years—four times longer than wind and solar, which must be replaced after 15 years or so. That’s another four times the expense for solar and wind, making it a total of 4,000 megawatts to replace each 100 megawatts of coal power—40 times more expensive.

This supposed plan is not a plan; it’s lunacy. It’s costing trillions of dollars. This insanity and deceit are driving up the cost of living. Only One Nation will stop subsidising large-scale wind and solar to bring down power bills for all Australians.

Question agreed to.

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The Cost of Living Under Labor

The Albanese government’s decision to cut back on real infrastructure spending to make way for Net Zero spending demonstrates that Labor is out of control.

I spoke in agreement with Senator Babet on a Matter of Urgency that this government’s spending is wrongheaded and is doing far more harm than good. Everyday Australians are working harder yet still going backwards on a treadmill that’s worsened under Labor.

As taxpayers we have already paid to build effective base load, coal-fired power stations and all the associated structures to carry and deliver this reliable source of electricity. You’d think the government could spend the annual budget on any number of desperately needed infrastructures projects that Australians have been waiting for. But no, Albanese’s government is tearing down what works and has already been built, to replace it with short-lived wind and solar set ups that are not fit for purpose.

The Net Zero fairy-tale is a nightmare that is driving up power bills all over the country and is a major contributor to the cost of living pain.

The polls are demonstrating just how much people are over this Prime Minister, who has wrung every last cent out of everyday Australians while cosying up to foreign globalist interests.

One Nation is now the party for the workers and economic recovery. One Nation’s grounded, commonsense approach will benefit all Australians.

Transcript

As a servant to the many different people who make up our one Queensland community, I agree with Senator Babet that the government’s spending is wrongheaded and is causing more harm than good. The Albanese government’s announcement this week to cut back on real infrastructure spending to make way for nonsensical net zero spending is counterintuitive, a wrecking ball for future generations. Taxpayers have already paid for the national electricity grid through their tax payments and through their electricity bills. Taxpayers have already built beautiful, cost-effective baseload coalfired power stations and the associated poles and wires.

Instead of using the annual share of the budget that goes to infrastructure to build something new and useful, the Albanese government is tearing down what has already been built and building it again—and, much like this Prime Minister, building it with something that is not fit for purpose. Wind and solar are the most unreliable and expensive forms of power, once everything is factored in, including transmission lines. Wind turbines last for 15 years and solar installations about the same. All the nature-dependent power installed under this and previous governments has to be replaced before we get to 2050 and then replaced again and again every 15 years after that—again and again and again: insanity, a permanent black hole that benefits nobody except the predatory, parasitic billionaires who pull this government’s strings.

Speaking of fit for purpose, Snowy Hydro 2.0 has proved that city bankers like Malcolm Turnbull are crap at picking infrastructure projects. To continue throwing good money after bad with this failure will come at the opportunity cost of funding sensible infrastructure projects like Big Buffalo dam and hydro, Hells Gates Dam, Koombooloomba hydro, Urannah Water Precinct, Emu Swamp and South East Flows Restoration. These are all worthwhile infrastructure projects that One Nation will build. And inland rail to the Port of Gladstone, the east-west rail line and a steel park at Abbot Point are projects One Nation will continue to push and support and build.

Then there are the road projects, schools, rural hospitals and so much more that this government is shelving so it can waste money on the UN’s net zero fairytales—nightmares. Weather-dependent generation needs batteries to back it up—more expense. The environmental destruction is finally getting attention, after scars have already been cut across national parks all over this beautiful country. Each gigawatt of coalfired power has to be replaced with five gigawatts of wind or solar. No amount of solar will provide power at night without expensive batteries that are dirty to manufacture and last an even shorter time than the solar panels they so positively affirm.

The net zero alliance puts the cost of 100 renewables with no blackouts by 2050 at $1.5 trillion—260 gigawatts of installed capacity to replace 60 gigawatts of coal. No wonder the infrastructure minister, Minister King, announced that the Albanese government would require state governments to pay for at least half of any infrastructure project in their state. And new infrastructure projects must be over $500 million before the federal government will fund their half. That will leave the states to pay for most infrastructure projects entirely. That’s Victoria done for, with all the debt Labor Premier Andrews left behind.

What next, a state levy to pay for infrastructure that the federal government should rightly be paying for now? This is socialists taxing the life out of the public. Australia already ranks 57th out of 62 of the largest economies for income tax levels, with first being the lowest tax rate, and 56th for company tax. We’re nearly the highest. Foreign corporations, of course, are not included. They’re token. Tax payments are only for public relations. Successive governments have been unable to deal with multinational tax avoidance—because they’re not really trying. Electoral donations keep getting in the way—funny how that works!

According to the OECD, Australians’ average annual wage growth from 2019 to 2022 was the seventh lowest among the 38 OECD nations, at less than three per cent. Inflation is now six per cent, after being at eight per cent. If everyday Australians feel like they’re working harder and going backwards, it’s because they are. As Senator Babet quite rightly pointed out on this motion, if it feels like your mortgage and rent are a struggle to pay, it’s because they are—thanks to Labor. Tax cuts for upper-income earners are coming next year. Here’s a better idea: index the tax thresholds so that Australians don’t pay tax when their wages rise to compensate for inflation and push them into a higher-rate tax bracket. We should be indexing taxes to the inflation rate to prevent bracket creep.

The Prime Minister has wrung every cent out of everyday Australians, and the political polls are saying quite clearly that people are jack of it. One Nation are now the party of workers. One Nation are the party of sensible economic management for the benefit of all Australians. We have one flag. We are one community. We are one economy. We are one nation.

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The market is not abandoning coal, the government is forcing the market to abandon coal

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Australians are constantly told that banks, electricity markets and buyers are all turning away from coal and gas because it’s too expensive or the buyers just don’t like it anymore. It’s bullshit.

It is the Government that is applying direct pressure on coal and gas while it gives wind and solar a free ride. There is a sneaky, hidden piece of legislation called the Renewable Energy Shortfall Charge that is enforced by the Clean Energy Regulator (CER).

It forces your electricity company to buy a percentage of all of their electricity from wind and solar complexes. If your electricity company buys too much coal or gas fired electricity, they have to pay to buy green credits (generation certificates) off wind and solar generators or they will be fined.

Like slowly boiling a frog, the percentage of wind and solar your electricity company is forced to buy has been ratcheted up from 0.65% in 2001 to 18.64% this year. The increases are only accelerating.

So remember when anyone tells you “the market” is abandoning coal that it’s a lie. It’s only the government that’s choosing to abandon coal.

Transcript

Senator Roberts: I want to get help with an issue that constituents want to understand and so do I; I don’t understand it. It has relevance to the primacy of energy costs in the budget. I’m hoping to get into a relatively complex area and get your evidence or confirmation on how the renewable energy shortfall charge, under the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act, works. Perhaps you could bring anyone to the table who has expertise in that.

Mr Parker: Sure. Mark Williamson has the expertise.

Senator Roberts: Thank you, Mr Williamson. I will try to step my way through the legislation here, and you can pick me up where I’m wrong or missing something. The renewable energy shortfall charge applies to liable entities?

Mr M Williamson: Correct.

Senator Roberts: Which is defined in sections 35, 31, 32 and 33, and essentially talks about entities that make a wholesale acquisition of electricity.

Mr M Williamson: Yes. For simplicity, these are typically electricity retailers.

Senator Roberts: Retailers.

Mr M Williamson: Yes.

Senator Roberts: Wholesalers?

Mr M Williamson: The electricity retailers are typically the liable parties.

Senator Roberts: Okay; they are the liable parties because they sell it to the end user.

Mr M Williamson: Correct.

Senator Roberts: Okay. Thank you. That’s great.

Mr Parker: Or large users, people directly purchasing electricity.

Senator Roberts: So large users who buy direct can also be facing these charges.

Mr Parker: Correct.

Mr M Williamson: Correct.

Senator Roberts: Can I get you to explain who the liable entities for the renewable energy shortfall charge are in simple terms—again, retail or large users?

Mr M Williamson: I need to frame and explain the renewable energy target for you. It sets an obligation on these retailers or large users who are buying direct to surrender to us each year a certain number of large-scale generation certificates and small-scale technology certificates. Those amounts are based on percentages set each year in regulation by the minister. Effectively, if you’re an electricity retailer, you take your acquisition of electricity in megawatt hours, you multiply it by those percentages and that tells you the number of certificates that you need to surrender to us. If a liable entity does not surrender the certificates or surrenders fewer than they should, that makes them liable for the shortfall charge.

Senator Roberts: So it’s not power generators and not wholesalers; it’s just retail and large consumers, as Mr Parker said.

Mr M Williamson: Correct; and they’re only liable for the shortfall charge if they do not surrender enough certificates to us to meet their renewable energy target liability.

Senator Roberts: Can you talk me through the large-scale generation certificates that you just mentioned.  What are they and what is the effect of surrendering them for that company?

Mr M Williamson: Large-scale generation certificates are issued for each accredited power station that’s from a renewable energy source.

Senator Roberts: Solar or wind, for example?

Mr M Williamson: Correct. Hydro, as well, is quite common. They get a certificate for every net megawatt hour of generation. Those certificates can be used on the demand side to equip liability, so they can be sold to electricity retailers or big users, or they can be voluntarily cancelled to prove the use of renewable energy. For example, you may have heard of the GreenPower scheme. That operates in a way that businesses who want to have more renewable energy use proven, other than just the statutory renewable energy target, can buy and cancel large-scale generation certificates.

Senator Roberts: So a coal-fired power station would not get them?

Mr M Williamson: That’s correct.

Senator Roberts: Definitely not. Solar and wind would. And purchasers must buy at least 18.64 per cent right now of solar or wind power or hydro.

Mr M Williamson: Effectively, that’s the case. I think that percentage you’ve mentioned is the renewable power percentage and so, yes, those electricity retailers or big users multiply their electricity acquisitions by that percentage. That tells them the number of certificates that they have to cancel to us.

Senator Roberts: I’ve got some figures in front me about the renewable power percentage. I’ll just go through them. In 2001, it started—so that’s 22 years ago—and it was just 0.24 per cent, about a quarter of one per cent. Then it went up in the following year. You mentioned that this is a ministerial directive.

Mr M Williamson: The minister sets these percentages, based on calculations that we do each year, but the actual targets are set in the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act. A certain number of gigawatt hours of generation each year was set in the act. That got to the target, which is 33,000 gigawatt hours, which is set in the legislation from 2020, and that same number continues to 2030. That 33,000 gigawatt-hour target was reset in mid-2015 by parliament. In the early stages of the scheme, there was a table in the act that set the numbers that dictated where that percentage would be set.

Senator Roberts: Is that table in section 39(1) of the act?

Mr M Williamson: I’d have to ask the general counsel to try to find the right part of the legislation.

Senator Roberts: While we’re waiting for confirmation, in 2001 it was 0.24. In 2002, the following year, it was 0.62, and it had slow increments, mild increments, until 2010. It took 10 years to get to 5.986 per cent. Then, from 2011 onwards, it rose, in 11 years, to 18.64. So it was 5.6 per cent in the first 10 years and there was a 13 per cent increase in the next 11 years.

Mr M Williamson: These were legislated increases. That was the way that the scheme was designed.

Senator Roberts: I want to understand this. First of all, I’ve focused mainly on the climate, because I haven’t found anyone who can give me the science that proves the need for this. But I haven’t focused on the energy, and that’s where I want to go in the future. That means resolving some of the complexities. I want to no-understand this because we always hear that it’s the market that’s forcing coal-fired generators out and that one likes coal. Yet it appears to me, with this renewable energy shortfall charge—a fine, if you like—that it’s actually the government forcing the retail sellers and the end users to buy wind and solar energy or, essentially, they’ll be faced with this fine. Is that correct?

Mr M Williamson: The construct of the scheme is that the retailers should buy the certificates. The shortfall charge is only where they do not choose to or are unable to get the certificates that they need. So it’s the default mechanism. But the way the scheme works is that the retailers should get in and be buying renewable energy. That should bring through more renewable energy, and that’s the way the scheme works.

Senator Roberts: It appears deceptive from one perspective. I’m not accusing you of doing that, but it appears deceptive from one perspective, hidden in the complex legalese. Have you ever advertised to the public that the government, through you, is forcing retail purchasers and large-end users to purchase more and more wind and solar?

Mr M Williamson: We don’t do specific broad community education, but all of this is regularly published; it’s published by other bodies, such as the Australian Energy Regulator and the Australian Energy Market Commission. It is generally well known that there’s an obligation on the electricity retailers. As I said, a lot of electricity users are choosing to buy GreenPower and to go further than the minimum statutory target.

Senator Roberts: What we have is a consumer faced with a choice of buying electricity. If they don’t buy an adequate amount or proportion of solar and wind, they will have to pay a charge in addition to the subsidies that the solar and wind producers are getting.

Mr M Williamson: No. The obligation is set with electricity retailers. There are a lot of electricity retailers. In a competitive market, they should source the certificates at the best price they can and have the lowest level of input cost for the renewable energy target.

Senator Roberts: My point, Mr Williamson and Mr Parker—you can correct me or confirm—is that, in my opinion, now that I’ve had it clarified, this is the most significant intervention in the electricity market that the government has ever conducted, and not just this government but previous governments as well. By ministerial directive via legislation, they’re ratcheting up the percentage of renewable electricity that every electricity buyer has to buy, or face a fine over the course of 20 years.

Mr M Williamson: Let me clarify, again, that the underlying numbers that lead to those percentages are locked in the act, so parliament took a decision to lock those numbers in. We do complex calculations to convert that to a percentage and they are put to the minister. The act sets out the things that the minister must consider. This is all set in legislation that was passed in parliament.

Senator Roberts: Thank you for affirming that yet again. My mistake: I thought I said ‘in the act’, but maybe I didn’t. Doesn’t this confirm that solar and wind are much more expensive? We’ve all been hearing the fluff that says people are going away from coal because it’s more expensive. Solar and wind get subsidies; plus, if somebody buys coal-fired power, the retailers or large-end users can be up for a charge. Doesn’t this really confirm that, without subsidies and without a throttle on the coal-fired competition, wind and solar are too expensive?

Mr M Williamson: Not in my view; I wouldn’t agree with that at all.

Senator Roberts: On what basis?

Mr M Williamson: There are incentives in the form of those large-scale generation certificates that go to the generators.

Senator Roberts: The solar and wind generators?

Mr M Williamson: Correct. Effectively, who benefits often depends on the nature of power purchase agreements between those solar and wind power station operators and the retailers. But, in essence, the numbers—if you look at the Australian Energy Market Operator’s Quarterly Energy Dynamics report, every time that wind and solar are setting the price in the wholesale electricity market, the prices are very low and, in some cases, in negative territory. It’s quite clear that, in fact, wind and solar are driving down wholesale electricity prices, which are also an input to retailers and to all of us as consumers.

Senator Roberts: I would say that’s an aberration. What’s happening is that coal is actually being forced out by the governments—I say ‘governments’ plural—and it’s a direct market intervention in addition to the subsidies. The subsidies enhance solar and wind; the charge slams coal.

Senator McAllister: Senator Roberts, in your questions just now and, indeed, yesterday, you mentioned subsidies. Are there any particular subsidies that you’re interested in? I think it’s been challenging sometimes for witnesses to engage with your questioning, because you don’t name them and I’m just unclear what it is that you’re referring to.

Senator Roberts: Subsidies on solar and wind.

Senator McAllister: Issued by whom?

Senator Roberts: Federal government, state governments.

Senator McAllister: Is there a program in particular that you’re seeking information on?

Senator Roberts: No, I don’t have any one in mind in particular.

Senator McAllister: I see. Please go on.

Chair: Senator Roberts, I’m going to wind you up as well. We can come back to you, if you need.

Senator Roberts: I’d just make the point that the market is not abandoning coal; the government is forcing buyers to not buy coal. That’s the point.

Chair: Thank you for your statement.

Senator Roberts: Thank you very much, Mr Williamson, for clarifying.

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What’s the “genius” plan to replace the 1200MW Liddell?

A 500MW battery, lunacy.

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Wind and Solar subsidies have to be ditched

Australia has the largest amount of money (wasted) on intermittent renewables in our history, the most wind and solar feeding into the grid in history, and what is the result? Skyrocketing power prices and risk of blackouts! Ditch wind and solar subsidies. Bring back cheap, reliable power.

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Morrison-Joyce Government speak with forked tongues over coal

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As the cost of living pinches Australian households, the Morrison-Joyce government favours foolish net zero targets, rather than investing in a new power station for Australia’s energy affordability and security.

Shine Energy’s coal-fired Collinsville power station in North Queensland is a community-led project dedicated to providing affordable energy using Australia’s clean coal reserves and can be a vital part of Australia’s national energy and industry security.

Senator Roberts said, “An election campaign brings out the duplicitous politicking from our politicians, when they choose their words of support so carefully that the back door is always open for reneging.

“Barnaby Joyce’s lame private statements of support for the business case of Collinsville power station is no green light for the power station to go ahead.”

The Morrison-Joyce government and Labor share and continue a deceitful and dishonest stance on coal. 

Senator Roberts added, “When spruiking to city voters, it’s all about net zero and “dirty” coal, then they clean up their act in the regional areas and spruik clean coal, jobs and energy security.

“Australian voters have listened to these politicians speak with forked tongues over coal for years now, while they continue to pander to globalist agendas and put our national energy security and people’s jobs and livelihoods at risk.”

One Nation alone provides voters with a consistent and strong message about the value of Australia’s coal-fired and technologically advanced power stations for energy security, jobs and reducing our cost of living.

One Nation is the only party of energy security. One Nation is the only party of energy affordability.

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Is Anthony Fauci a genocidal maniac?

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The evidence of Anthony Fauci’s previous bungles is available for all to see. This and more on Marcus Paul in the Morning.

Transcript

[Marcus Paul]

You know I’ve enjoyed my sparring sessions with One Nation Senator, Malcolm Roberts, throughout 2021. So much so that I’m gonna do it for years to come. Malcolm And I sometimes don’t see eye to eye on certain issues, and that’s okay. One thing I do appreciate is him holding the federal government to account on a number of issues. And Malcolm has been very vocal on issues that he is passionate about. Look, I don’t know a politician that seemingly does as much research and collates as much empirical data as what he does. And for that, he should be commended. Malcolm Roberts, good morning.

[Malcolm Roberts]

Good morning, Marcus, and thank you for the introduction.

[Marcus Paul]

It’s all right, Mate.

[Malcolm Roberts]

By the way, I’ve got two things. First of all, you’d be very pleased to know that you’re converting me. I’m reading a book by a lefty.

[Marcus Paul]

Ah, stop it.

[Malcolm Roberts]

And it is stunning. And the lefty is Robert Kennedy, who is Robert Kennedy Jr., actually.

[Marcus Paul]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Malcolm Roberts]

Robert Kennedy, the assassinated Robert Kennedy’s son.

[Marcus Paul]

Right.

[Malcolm Roberts]

Marcus, It is absolutely stunning.

[Marcus Paul]

What’s it about?

[Malcolm Roberts]

Well, it’s called, the title is called, “The Real Anthony Fauci”.

[Marcus Paul]

Right, okay.

[Malcolm Roberts]

You know who Fauci is, of course.

[Marcus Paul]

I do, yes.

[Malcolm Roberts]

He’s the man who started this exaggeration around the world. And that man, according to Robert Kennedy’s work, is an absolute criminal. He’s an inhumane, genocidal maniac. And he has deliberately suppressed, and dishonestly suppressed ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, and many other standard treatments, combinations of treatments that doctors around the world have been using highly successfully for one reason, to get injections into people around the world. And Robert Kennedy has sat down and wrote this book over a number of months. He’s got something like 2000 references in it from scientific peer reviewed papers, right through to newspaper articles. And he documents about his criminal behaviour over decades. And it is absolutely stunning. And we have all been sold a pup. And Fauci has got blood on his hands to the tune of hundreds of thousands of fatalities, and thousands of, tens of thousands. That’s hundreds of thousands of fatalities that could have not occurred because we would have been using other treatments. And tens of thousands of people who have died due to adverse effects from these injections. It is absolutely disgraceful and we need to be holding people to account.

[Marcus Paul]

All right, what’s the name of the book again?

[Malcolm Roberts]

“The Real Anthony Fauci.” I ordered it a couple of months ago when I heard it was coming, for my son for a birthday present, but it hasn’t arrived yet because I think it’s selling so well in America that they can’t print them fast enough. You could get it in Britain for around about $2.99 for the, what is it, PDF version and the Kindle version. It is stunning.

[Marcus Paul]

All right. What I want you to do as well, considering you’re into books written by lefties, there is another book that I would like you to read. It’s written by a good friend of mine, Vanessa Badham. It’s called “Qanon and On.” All right, so that’s another. In fact, I might even get a copy of you signed by Van herself, sent to your office for Christmas, from me to you. How’s that?

[Malcolm Roberts]

That’ll go well, yeah.

[Marcus Paul]

There you go. All right, Mate. What else are we?

[Malcolm Roberts]

Yeah, the other thing, the other thing I wanted to raise was I’m still waiting.

[Marcus Paul]

I know you’ll be waiting forever. Look, I got you, I got you a listener. I got you a listener to debate with this year. Wasn’t tearing him a new one enough or what?

[Malcolm Roberts]

Well, Mate, he showed that there is no science because he didn’t present any science, no empirical evidence proving cause and effect. And that’s the thing that I see everywhere. I’ve held politicians accountable, senior politicians, Penny Wong, Anthony Albanese, no one has got this stuff, Mate, no one.

[Marcus Paul]

You’ve taken on the Wongster. There’s no way.

[Malcolm Roberts]

I wrote a letter to her asking her for the evidence.

[Marcus Paul]

Yeah, but what about if you and, now that’s a debate I’d pay to see, you and Penny Wong having a discussion about climate change.

[Malcolm Roberts]

I’ll donate the proceeds to a charity that you care to name, Mate. You arrange it and I’ll be there.

[Marcus Paul]

Well, I can only ask. I can but ask. I mentioned this before. Nearly 40% of Australia’s coal fired generation capacity will shut down by 2030 under the greenhouse gas emission cuts promised by Labour and the federal government. Both have proposed a massive expansion of renewable energy to cut pollution from electricity generation, which accounts for around 30% of Australia’s emissions. Now I already called for the oxygen for Matt Canavan. Do I need to send oxygen your way as well?

[Malcolm Roberts]

No, because the facts will dismantle it. Unfortunately, a lot of people are going to hurt and we’re gonna lose a lot of industry. Labour is saying they want to stop coal. And yet they’re saying they won’t cost a single coal miner’s job. That is complete rubbish. It’s the stuff that comes out of the south end of a northbound bull Marcus. It is complete rubbish.

[Marcus Paul]

Hey Mate, just repeat that.

[Malcolm Roberts]

How can you shut down an industry, yet not cost a single job? The people in the Hunter, the people in Central Queensland will be devastated. But more significantly, when you shut down the cheapest form of power in this country, you will export more and more manufacturing jobs to China. We export our coal to China. They use our high quality, high energy, cheap, affordable coal. They generate coal [energy] at eight cents a kilowatt/hour. Because of our restrictions, we sell it at 25 cents a kilowatt/hour. We’ve gone from the cheapest coal and the cheapest power in the world to the most expensive. We have exported, not only our coal. We have exported our jobs, our manufacturing sector to China. And now we are dependent on the Chinese for much of our manufactured products. We can no longer sustain a defence force in this country because we don’t make our own bullets. We don’t make our own armaments. We don’t make our own machines. This is absolutely disgraceful. This is a highly important security issue, an economic issue, a social issue, a moral issue, and an integrity issue. And Labour is destroying, plans to destroy the country. If they get into power

[Marcus Paul]

Wow.

[Malcolm Roberts]

It’ll be the Greens, that run this joint.

[Marcus Paul]

Oh, rubbish.

[Malcolm Roberts]

It will be the Greens.

[Marcus Paul]

What a load of rot.

[Malcolm Roberts]

Look at the two coalitions. We’ve had the Liberal National Coalition since 2013. Prior to that, the last government was the Gillard Miln Labour Green Coalition.

[Marcus Paul]

That’s because it was a minority government. And obviously she was beholden to crossbenchers. And I don’t think that’ll happen under Albo, personally. I think they’re making it pretty, no, they’re making it pretty clear. I’ll speak to Richard Miles about it very soon. I’ll ask him like I’ve asked Anthony Albanese in the past. Will you be forming a coalition, for want of a better word, with the Greens? Their answer will be at an emphatic no, Malcolm.

[Malcolm Roberts]

That’s what they say. That’s not what they will do. They want power more than anything else. Even if they’re slaves to the Green. The Greens will say jump and Labour will say how high. That’s what’s gonna happen.

[Marcus Paul]

I love it, I love it. This is why I love having you on cause you and I can, we can spar and have a bit of fun. But as I say, I meant what I said at the beginning of the programme, of our chat. I do appreciate and do respect how hard you work. And, you fundamentally stand your ground on all of the issues that you feel so strongly for. And you have a strong supporter base as well. And look, I wouldn’t be surprised, given what’s been going on in this country in the last 12 to 18 months, that the One Nation vote doesn’t head north to a great extent when we hit the ballot box next May.

[Malcolm Roberts]

Well, I don’t make predictions about what people will do in elections. That’s up to the voters. But I do know that there is a huge groundswell around this country away from Liberal Nationals and away from Labour Greens. So I’ll leave it to the voters. But more significantly, what’s going on in Queensland, Marcus, is they’re starting to dismantle the narrative around COVID. There’s a huge groundswell. I’ve addressed crowds, hundreds, thousands of people, and Marcus, more telling than the numbers of people, are the energy in the people. They are angry, but then they are hopeful. They’re united. We have got local councils passing motions up and down our state and increasing in numbers, saying to the Palaszczuk Government, they will not be enforcing the injection mandate. The federal government knows, we’ve put them on notice. We will be continuing to oppose government legislation in the new year until we get our freedom back. We’ve got liberal senators now, two of them, Gerard Rennick and Alex Antic, standing up saying they will abstain from all government voting. The government is powerless, and we have to get our freedoms back, and the people are ready for that. They want their freedom back. Think again how I opened this session. Anthony Fauci is a genocidal maniac who has killed, no, he’s killed hundreds of thousands of people. He’s responsible for their deaths. And he’s also responsible for the prevention.

[Marcus Paul]

Don’t get me sued, Malcolm.

[Malcolm Roberts]

The data is there. I’ve read the data. I make comments only based on data.

[Marcus Paul]

All right, Mate. I’ve got to go. So just repeat that phrase. One of the best I’ve heard all year, what was it? Something out of the southern end of a bull. What?

[Malcolm Roberts]

It’s the stuff that comes out of the south end of a northbound bull, but more significantly, Merry Christmas to you, Marcus. I love being on with you, as you say. It’s good to have a respectful debate and Merry Christmas to all of your listeners and a happy new year to all. Let’s get this place back to normal.

[Marcus Paul]

You look after yourself. And to you and your family, take care. And I look forward to our further sparring matches next year in 2022. Thank you, Mate.

[Malcolm Roberts]

Thanks, Marcus. One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts. I love that. Well, what I would say is, he’s proposing that there’d be a Labour Greens coalition. Well, that to me sounds like something that comes out of the south end of a northbound bull.

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