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The Coalition stakes its claim on affordable energy, challenging Labor’s Net Zero obsession. With real-world economics on their side, they could win both the argument—and the next election.

The Coalition has decided it wants to win the next election.

After six months of vacillating over whether or not they should simply ape the government’s energy policies, the Coalition has come up with an alternative.

Instead of destroying the Australian economy in pursuit of Net Zero, they’re going to prioritise providing Australians with affordable power.

Ladies and gentlemen, we finally have a contest!

And if you doubt me, just listen to the sound of the climate-industrial complex spontaneously combusting.

Fear-Mongers in Full Flight

We’ll start with the Climate Council, an organisation that believes Australian weather can be trained like a dog if we’re just stern enough with our carbon dioxide.

Here’s CEO Amanda McKenzie:

You’ve got to be joking. The Liberal National Coalition is diching net zero. They’ve gone from “I don’t hold a hose, mate” to “we’re throwing fuel on the fire”.

It’s a reckless plan to torch both our climate and our economy.

If this was enacted by a government, it would mean more fires, more floods, more deadly heatwaves. It’s saying, to hell with our kids’ future.

The Coalition’s plan means more floods and fires? Please!

Bushfires aren’t caused by Australians burning coal. And floods aren’t prevented by Australians putting up a wind turbine in a sheep paddock.

Anything Australia does will make virtually no difference to global temperatures, much less the number of floods and fires.

We could cease and desist all emissions tomorrow… and the planet would hardly blink.

When your opponents resort to shameless fear-mongering, you know you’re on a winner.

And then there was this:

And here’s the kicker, renewable energy is already the cheapest form of power.

If I were the Coalition, I’d be rejoicing at this response. Because it’s pretty easy to counter.

Do you believe the Climate Council? Or do you believe your power bill? Hmmmm.

Nervous Nellies

The Coalition can absolutely win this argument if they commit to it fully. And Labor knows it.

Have a listen to the PM at the weekend… Mr 34 per cent sounded nervous, which is why he went straight to name-calling:

“The idea that the lesson the Liberals have learnt … is that they need to be more right-wing, more sceptical, more in denial about climate change and continue to engage in these climate wars.”

Wanting to prioritise affordable power makes you Right-Wing? Really? That’s his line of attack?

By this definition, your grandmother turning off the air-con to save money is basically a militia member.

Again, if I were the Coalition… hearing that, I’d be so encouraged.

As for the PM accusing the Coalition of becoming “more sceptical”… well, I think we’re ALL pretty sceptical of anything this Prime Minister says. Especially when it comes to power prices.

And you heard him say that the Coalition is in denial about climate change?

Well, they’re not.

They’ve said they accept the science of climate change.

They just don’t accept the part where Australians have to go bankrupt to appease Greta Thunberg and Al Gore.

But the PM’s reflex reaction is to label the Coalition “deniers”.

If that’s how Albanese is going to argue – with slurs and invective – while the Coalition hammers away at the need for cheaper power, I’m putting my money on the Coalition to win the argument.

Albanese continued:

Good policy is moving toward the cheapest form of new energy. It’s not going backwards. I think Australians want Australians to move forward.

My government trusts the science. We’re focused on the needs and aspirations of the Australian people. We’re focused on making sure that we can deliver reliable energy.

We’re focused on cost-of-living pressures that are on Australians as well.

Albanese says we’re moving toward the cheapest form of new energy. Which begs the question… when will that be reflected in our bills?

He can’t say.

And did you note there that he said he’s focused on cost-of-living pressures?

Well, rising energy costs are the biggest cost-of-living pressure facing Australians right now, and they’re rising faster than the PM’s frequent flier points.

To ease cost-of-living pressures, the government has been subsidising power bills. So their action on cost of living is an admission that their promise of cheaper energy is a lie.

I’m telling you… the Liberals can win this argument – and win government – if they fully commit to it.

Dodgy Deflection

Hilariously, Housing Minister Clare O’Neil admits we are paying higher power bills.

But she says higher power bills are not the result of government policy. Oh no. Higher power bills are entirely the fault of Opposition infighting.

I’m confused: does “Coalition in-fighting” explain why my electricity bill hasn’t dropped $275?

If so, I assume it’s the same “Coalition in-fighting” that caused my local medical centre to giggle, when I offered them my Medicare card as payment after seeing my GP last week.

Honestly, can someone please remind Clare O’Neil that the Coalition is not in government, and hasn’t been for more than three years.

Sussan Ley and David Littleproud could hold daily cage fights in the Liberal party room, and it wouldn’t affect power prices a bit.

Clare O’Neil added:

Net Zero means lower household energy costs. Because our country is making the big investment in renewables we know we need to make.

Net Zero means lower household energy costs? Really?

How’s that working out for you?

Energy costs have gone up 40 per cent since Labor came to power. I remember when they promised the opposite.

It reminds me of a British politician who stood at the side of a road telling TV cameras that the road was perfectly safe as a car veered off into the bush right behind him.

But back to Clare O’Neil. She didn’t take long to pivot to emotional blackmail, as those without a winning argument always do.

Tucked up in her car, she insisted that dealing with Australia’s one per cent of global carbon emissions was key to saving the world:

And it’s about making sure that we leave a liveable planet for the next generation. What could matter more than that?

What could be more important than destroying our livelihoods for virtually nothing? Hmmm… let me think.

What about ensuring the next generation can afford to turn the lights on?

Like I said, Australia could cease and desist all carbon emissions tomorrow… and it would hardly make a scrap of difference to global emissions – they continue to go up.

Nor would it make a jot of difference to global temperatures.

No-one’s buying this ‘we have to lower emissions to save the world’ nonsense anymore.

Not even Bill Gates.

Name-Calling

Clare O’Neil continued:

So when a major party steps away from a target like this it raises really big questions. Who is going to make sure that Australia is competitive in what is obviously a global clean energy race?

Who is going to make sure that communities don’t get left behind?

And most importantly of all, what message are we sending to the young people of this country who are the ones who will ultimately live with the consequences.

This is just rubbish.

Who is going to make Australia competitive? Right now, the Government’s Net Zero obsession is making us utterly uncompetitive.

As for the global clean energy race… well, how’s that going?

America has quietly wandered off the track. China’s driving a diesel tractor down the middle of the track. And Australia? We’re sprinting enthusiastically toward a cliff.

Teal MP Alegra Spender tweeted this at the weekend:

The Libs are playing culture wars with energy policy, and the country is worse for it.

Advocating for lower power prices is engaging in pointless culture wars?

By that logic, turning on your kettle is basically hate speech.

I always thought the Teals were out of touch with ordinary Australians, but claiming the pursuit of cheap electricity is a culture war issue simply beggars belief.

Labor MP Julian Hill went with this:

It’s official. The extremists have now taken over the Liberals.

If I were the Liberals, I’d be loving that response.

The Labor Party is now saying that if you believe we should have affordable power, you’re an extremist. That’s their response.

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young took it up a notch, as the Greens always do, telling journalists:

They look like a bunch of nutters.

Strong words from a woman who once waved a dead salmon around in the Senate chamber like it was the hammer of Thor:

If I were the Coalition, I’d be hugely encouraged.

When Sarah Hanson-Young calls you a nutter, you know you’re on the right track.

But first prize for invective goes to Treasurer Jim Chalmers:

Sussan Ley has caved to the smirking crackpots and cookers in her own party. This is not some temp phase that they’re going through. This is not some temp lurch to the right. This coalition has become a party of extremists and Australians would pay a very hefty price for that extremism.

While progressives call the Coalition nutters and cookers and crackpots and extremists, the Coalition can simply point at energy bills.

Chris Bowen told journalists at the weekend that he didn’t want this debate. I bet.

We didn’t seek this debate. I would prefer a degree of bipartisanship about these matters. But we won’t be walking away from it. We will make this argument every single day. If the Coalition wants this between now and the next election.

And then he got on a plane to fly to Brazil, belching emissions all the way.

This is the strongest policy position the Coalition has taken in years.

Cheaper energy. Real-world economics. And a government whose only response is insults, hysteria, and renewable fairy tales.

If the Coalition sticks with this — if they actually commit — they can win the argument. And they can win the next election.

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Republished courtesy of The James Macpherson Report. Image courtesy of Adobe.