<
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/commentisfree/article/2024/may/28/on-australias-climate-and-extinction-crises-the-major-parties-both-have-questions-to-answer>
"Federal parliament is back for the next fortnight and I have a wishlist. Not
for things that will happen – let’s not get ahead of ourselves – but for
questions that could be addressed if the country is to treat the climate and
extinction crises as seriously as our leaders claim they do.
There is no shortage of discussion about nuclear energy due to the Coalition’s
much-hyped but yet-to-appear plan to overturn a national ban and bring it to
Australia. The issue won plenty of attention after a CSIRO-led assessment that
it would be far, far more expensive than wind and solar backed by energy
storage and new transmission lines.
It also found that, even under the most generous set of assumptions, there
would be no nuclear power here before 2040. These are, of course, important
points in their own right. Given the scale and pace of change needed to avoid
blackouts and set up the country for a rapidly changing future, and the lack of
bipartisan support, they should logically be enough to kill off nuclear as a
serious medium-term alternative.
But there are broader questions about the Coalition’s stance that go beyond
logistics and cost and deserve attention. They are not the same, but there are
also issues with the government’s rhetoric on the climate crisis and
environment, and the gap between what it says and does.
Let’s start with the Coalition. As things stand, the opposition has no climate
policy."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
