It seems to me that almost every day the ACT Labor/Greens Government comes up with another way to signal to the world how morally virtuous they are. The latest instalment of this virtue signalling has been the release of the ACT’s Integrated Energy Plan. It essentially calls for the phasing out of fossil fuels in the ACT, in other words banning gas appliances and fossil fuel powered cars, putting further pressure on the household budgets of Canberra’s most vulnerable.
Smoke and Mirrors
Why isn’t this plan helping the environment? It is because the ACT is part of the national electricity grid, which means whenever the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing in and around the ACT, we will be using electricity generated by coal and gas from around Australia. So even if the ACT Labor/Greens government were successful in their oppressive laws of banning all gas appliances, we will still effectively be burning coal and gas to heat up our homes. Now the ACT Labor/Greens government report states that our electricity comes from entirely renewable sources. In its latest Integrated Energy Plan it says:
“The ACT entered into contracts with renewables generators, including wind farms in South Australia, Victoria and NSW and several solar farms within the ACT. Through these contracts the ACT provides financial support to generators and, in return, receives the Large-scale Generation Certificates (LGCs) they produce. LGCs are tradable certificates that represent the amount of renewable energy that is generated. The ACT voluntarily surrenders the LGCs to the national Clean Energy Regulator. This means the ACT can claim the renewable electricity the LGCs represent toward its 100% target.”
This is simply not true and exposes how they simply do not understand the basic laws of physics. They somehow believe that there is a magical invention that can separate the renewable electricity from the fossil fuel electricity at the territory border when this is simply not possible. Even if you have a fancy contract or a carbon credit swap mechanism made up by some lawyer, it will be nothing more than creative carbon accounting as there is no way to bend the laws of physics.
Pressure on vulnerable households
However, this plan will put further pressure on the household budgets of Canberra’s most vulnerable. The Integrated Energy Plan lists a number of action points that divert valuable economic resources away from key issues. One of its listed action points is to “electrify all feasible public and community housing by 2030”. This in an environment where many ACT public housing homes are sitting empty because they are not fit to occupy. It is my belief that the government should focus on putting a roof over people’s heads rather than replacing (gas) hot water systems in working condition.
In addition, this Plan will “provide $5.2 million for a pilot to identify a pathway to electrification for private households that most need support”. In my opinion we should simply not force private households to replace their gas appliances, instead it is the government’s role to spend that money on improving our hospitals and schools.
The Plan also provides additional government assistance to electric car owners in the form of “the installation of fast electric vehicle […] charging hubs”. I’m not sure why taxpayers’ dollars are subsiding an individual’s purchase of a new Tesla sports car.
Additionally, the Plan outlines the commencement of “a review of unit titles management legislation to ensure it is fit-for-purpose to support electrification of multi-unit buildings”. This will push up the cost of already sky rocketing strata fees. To make things worse, it is clear that more draconian measures are on the way with the Plan even alluding to more “potential regulatory interventions to support electrification”.
I could continue about how this Plan will negatively impact Canberrans. However, at the end of the day, all the action points lead to three things. First, all these measures will be forced upon us by the Government. Secondly, they will drive up the cost of living in the ACT and finally, none of these actions will have a positive impact on the environment.
Wrong priorities
The current ACT Labor/Green’s Government’s priorities are wrong, we shouldn’t be intervening in people’s lives/homes in these ways, and that it’s only going to ramp up in the future. Governments should get out of the way and get back to focusing on the basics like reducing crime, fixing our hospitals and improving our education system.
You can find out more about the Canberra Liberals priorities for Policing, and other areas here.