Australian Politics
Science pushed aside as media backs renewables
How can journalists claim Coalition support for nuclear power is “Trumpian”, or part of a conservative “culture war”, when 32 countries use nuclear energy?
How do media critics of nuclear power explain commitments by more than 20 countries from four continents to treble their nuclear power generation capacity in the wake of warnings at the COP28 climate meeting in Dubai last year that the world is falling behind in its emissions-reduction targets?
It is, of course, incumbent on political reporters to demand details from Opposition Leader Peter Dutton about his nuclear power announcement of June 18. Yet many journalists have for years been incurious about details of the renewables rollout preferred by the government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the previous Coalition government of Scott Morrison.
Aren’t the actual culture warriors the journalists who refuse to ask questions about problems in the renewables rollout, flagged publicly last August and again in May by the Grattan Institute, a strong renewables backer? Problems with the speed of the rollout were again admitted last week in the Australian Energy Market Operator’s 2024 Integrated System Plan. Yet to read or listen to reporters from the ABC, the Guardian and The New Daily, you would think the entire world was following Australia down the road to 100 per cent renewables, problem free.
The truth is the renewables rollout is in trouble across the northern hemisphere and particularly in Europe. And emissions are rising in China, India, Russia, most of Asia and much of South America.
Countries with higher percentages of renewables than the 82 per cent by 2030 policy target of Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen depend on hydro-electric power generation because of their abundant water resources.
This column has quoted the International Energy Agency saying the technology to reach 100 per cent renewables is not yet available. On November 14, 2022, this column quoted former Energy Security Board chair Kerry Schott telling ABC Radio National’s breakfast program host Patricia Karvelas about the scale of the energy transition and switching off coal. “Well, I think it may not be possible but I think we’ve got to try,” she said.
An ordinary listener might have expected RN to follow up that line. But no.
Critics on the right have often argued environmentalism, and particularly belief in renewables, has become a matter of quasi-religious fervour. Yet there are facts about power generation and grid stability that stubbornly refuse to evaporate in the face of the climate beliefs of left-wing journalists and Greens voters.
Chris Uhlmann, now with The Australian, felt the full fury of the pro-renewables camp when he wrote about the potential for high levels of renewables to destabilise the South Australian electricity grid after a statewide blackout on September 28, 2016. Critics accused Uhlmann of being a closet climate denier and insisting the blackout was entirely down to a storm.
They were – and largely remain – oblivious to Uhlmann’s central point about the engineering parameters needed to provide stability in all electricity grids. This is not just about the intermittent nature of wind and solar power, but about the effects of asynchronous renewables in synchronous power distribution systems.
This column, a fan of contributions by power generation specialists to Professor Judith Curry’s Climate Etc blog, recommends a three-part series by US “planning engineer” Russ Schussler, retired vice-president of system planning for the Georgia Transmission Corporation.
Schussler rates hydro as the best renewable resource for grid stability but also criticises the focus by critics of renewables on the intermittency of wind and solar.
“The major challenges associated with increased penetration of wind and solar … are not caused by intermittency, but rather from how the energy is injected into the grid,” he said. “The electric energy produced by wind and solar is transformed by a power converter using inverters in order to synchronise with the oscillating grid. In terms of reliability, resources that spin in synchronism with the grid as electricity is produced are much better for the grid than those resources which use inverter-based technology to convert for grid injection.”
This is the science: using asynchronous power from wind and solar in a synchronous system is a much bigger problem than environmentalists understand.
Power engineers say that as renewables penetration increases, so does the grid stability problem. This is the big “82 per cent renewables” question.
Add to that the ecological damage done to large areas of mainland Australia by building out 10,000km of new power lines, millions of solar panels and tens of thousands of wind turbines. All this as the rest of the world continues to increase CO2 emissions. Yet Bowen and others believe our comparative advantage in wind and sun will make Australia a green energy superpower.
Much of their optimism flows from predictions about the potential for exports of green hydrogen, a technology yet to be developed economically.
Even Grattan has sounded a warning about hydrogen, suggesting the extent of our comparative advantage might be limited to green steel and green fertiliser. There is another hint in the latest AEMO ISP as to why Labor’s green industry ambitions may falter. Page seven of the AEMO plan says “renewables accounted for almost 40 per cent of the electricity market” in 2023.
“Rooftop solar alone contributed more electricity to the grid in the first quarter of 2024 (13 per cent) than did grid-scale solar, wind, hydro or gas.” That’s right – suburban homes are generating much of our new renewable power. What does this mean for the government’s “future made in Australia” plans?
This column on May 5 analysed the draft ISP, the latest Grattan warnings on the slow pace of the renewables rollout, and a critique by the Centre for Independent Studies. The CIS goes to the heart of the point about rooftop solar.
Why does AEMO acknowledge the importance of rooftop solar as well as the future role for home batteries but not cost their installation? That is, this major cost is not included in the $122bn figure Bowen used to fob off ABC 7.30 host Sarah Ferguson last Monday.
The CIS study said rooftop solar and home batteries would have cost $360bn at today’s prices by 2050. And the latest ISP press material on the AEMO website specifically acknowledges Bowen’s $122bn figure “does NOT include the cost of commissioned, committed or anticipated projects, consumer energy resources, distribution network upgrades”.
This column on March 17 was sceptical the Coalition would actually take a nuclear policy to the next election. Maybe that was wrong. Such a policy would be subject to the mother of all scare campaigns by the Greens and Labor.
All that political risk would be for a generation system that could have no influence on power prices or system reliability until the late 2030s when the first reactor came on stream.
Yet even if Dutton is writing the longest political suicide note since John Hewson’s Fightback, surely journalists owe the public genuine scrutiny of the costs, risks and benefits of both nuclear and renewables.
Especially since AEMO itself acknowledges Bowen’s $122bn figure is not the total cost of the renewables path.
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Queensland's first Safe Active Street puts bikes front and centre in Toowoomba
This is a lot of nonsense. Bikes are unsafe, usable only by fit people and disastrous in wet weather. Many elderly NEED a car to get around
On Pierce Street in Toowoomba, at the edge of the CBD, the blatant, bold surface markings leave no doubt that this quiet, tree-lined road is unlike any other.
"To me, as a cyclist, it tells me quite clearly that's where I should be cycling — right in the middle of the road," said Hugh Wilson, the president of the Toowoomba Bicycles Users Group.
"It's a symbol that bicycles are 'it' for the street."
An idea five years in the making, Queensland's first "Safe Active Street" prioritises cyclists, allowing them to ride in the centre of the road.
The 30-kilometre-per-hour speed limit applies to all vehicles: cars, bicycles, electric bikes, and scooters.
Part of the Principal Cycle Network, the small suburban street links two of Toowoomba's major bike paths, and the council hopes it will lead to an increase in cycling activity.
Councillor Carol Taylor said the inspiration came from Denmark.
"We want it to be a place people can take their children and know they're going to be safe as they become used to travelling on roads and cycleways," she said.
For Mr Wilson, an experienced cyclist, the idea that, even for only 500 metres, a car should give way to a bicycle on a Queensland road is radical.
"In that sense, the council should be congratulated, but we'll see how it goes beyond this street," he said.
"Unfortunately, not many drivers come down Pierce Street, but it's a start."
Irrespective of its size, the road has gained the attention of urban planners.
"Cycling is a mode of transport that's incredibly beneficial to broader society," said Mark Limb, senior lecturer in urban and regional planning at QUT.
Dr Limb believed linking established bike paths with Safe Active Streets to form transport corridors will benefit all road users.
"I think those who are upset about cyclists blocking their way should also be celebrating this sort of thing because every cyclist doing a trip, like going to work or to the shops, means a car off the road — so that's less traffic," he said.
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New Brisbane school to focus on classics
The Power family, whose father, James snr, established Campion College, Australia’s first liberal arts tertiary institution, is behind the launch of new school in Brisbane next week.
St John Henry Newman College, initially catering from Prep to Year 3, will be built at Tarragindi, on Brisbane’s southside next year, to open in 2026. One class will be added each year, with a separate campus, later, for secondary school in 2030.
Inaugural chairman and managing director of the Power group of companies, James Power, said expressions of interest from parents were strong.
The school would be geared to the classical, Western tradition, an emphasis in the early years on direct instruction, numeracy and literacy (including phonics), encouraging reading and no devices in the classroom. When history and geography were introduced the subjects would be taught factually, not laced with ideology.
Kenneth Crowther, a teacher at Toowoomba Christian College, who has been appointed principal and is completing his PhD in Shakespeare said classical schools emphasised on introducing students to the “great books’’ – from Dante to Dostoevsky.
“For the juniors, that’ll be Aesop’s fables, Beatrix Potter, Winnie the Pooh and Wind in the Willows, C.S. Lewis’s Narnia and Tolkien,’’ Mr Crowther said.
In recent years, many parents have been disappointed to find traditional favourites missing in school reading and English lessons.
As a Catholic school, religion will be part of the curriculum, with the priests of the Brisbane Oratory to serve as chaplains.
The establishment of classical schools by communities concerned about education standards has become a major trend in the US.
Australia’s first classical Orthodox school, the St John of Kronstadt Academy, opened on Brisbane’s southside this year for Prep to Year 3 and will also add a grade a year. Its stated aims are “to provide our children with a classical Orthodox curriculum that will nurture the child’s soul, mind and body, develop Orthodox wisdom and virtue and will be steeped in Orthodox faith and liturgical tradition”.
In Melbourne, the principal of St Philip’s Catholic Primary School, Blackburn North, Michelle Worcester and Parish Priest Fr Nicholas Dillon will oversee the transformation of the local Catholic school to a classical model next year and in 2026. The change has the support of Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools authorities and will be first of its kind under the system.
Based on parental interest and inquiries, which have come from as far away as country Victoria, Fr Dillon expects to the school numbers, which have fallen to 29, to double in the first year.
Similar transformations of schools in the US over the past 40 years had seen small enrolments expand to 300. “Parents are looking for a quality back-to-basics approach and want their children introduced to classical literature and Western civilisation,’’ Fr Dillon said.
St John Henry Newman College will be launched at the Brisbane Oratory on Thursday, July 11. Its patrons include businessman and Brisbane Broncos chairman Karl Morris and retired computer scientist, businessman and former Dean of Bond University business school and author Ashley Goldsworthy.
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The Australian Education Union is miffed about phonics
Kevin Andrews
One of my earliest memories is sitting on the front verandah of my parents’ farmhouse. My two younger brothers and I were sunning ourselves along with my mother. In the years well before the ‘slip, slop, slap’ campaign, she had rubbed olive oil into our skin so that we would tan. She believed – like many others in the late 50s and early 60s – that a tan would prevent sunburn. It was before I attended the local primary school, so I must have been about four years of age.
In addition to the small trikes we rode around the verandah, my parents had purchased a blackboard on which we could draw. It had the letters of the alphabet along the top and bottom of the board, and the numbers from 1 – 20 down the sides. My mother would help us to write words, sounding out the appropriate letters from the alphabet on the board. By the time I attended school, I could read and write basic sentences. I took to reading books with alacrity, reading to my parents each night. Not having a television until I was about 15 also spurred an interest in reading. It is perhaps little wonder that I chose occupations that have required copious reading.
These early experiences were reinforced at school. In addition to reading, we learnt the times tables by rote. I recall chanting the times tables as a class each morning. ‘One two is two, two twos are four, three twos are six’ and so on. It was fun and effective. Legible writing was encouraged. The cursive script of earlier generations had been dispatched, but neat, readable letters and sentences were practised daily. Parents placed great emphasis on their children being able to read, write, and count as the most important skills to master at primary school. I believe that is what most parents still desire.
This is not to deny that many children have difficulties in learning to read and write. Several of my own children were dyslexic. This was a significant challenge which required extra tuition and support, mostly by their mother, with the backup of remedial programs in schools and learning specialists. Phonics played a significant role.
These reflections came to mind as I read that Victoria has finally accepted that phonics should be taught in schools. The state’s Deputy Premier, Ben Carroll, who is also Education Minister, announced that the explicit learning method would be reintroduced into the state’s schools next year. The Catholic system in Victoria has already adopted the changes.
The Australian Education Union has opposed the changes, urging teachers to reject the new approach. ‘The AEU Joint Primary and Secondary Sector Council views with significant dismay the policy announcement by Victorian Education Minister, Ben Carroll, on the misnamed Making Best Practice Common Practice in The Education State, without proper consultation with the profession and the AEU.’ Instead, the Union demanded additional funding to the sector. Moreover, the minister should support teachers to ‘make professional decisions about the content and pedagogies appropriate for the learning programs in their classrooms and schools.’ In other words, teachers should decide what is taught, not the duly elected government.
The Union was clearly miffed that Mr Carroll would make a decision not proposed or endorsed by its members. How dare a minister do his job and a government govern! No wonder it has taken years for Victoria to follow other states and jurisdictions to introduce the changes, despite studies demonstrating the advantages of phonics. Indeed, the statement failed to even use the word phonics!
This is a union steeped in Marxist-inspired ideology. It opposes the funding of non-government schools, opposes any ranking of academic performance and has subscribed to every cause in the modern zeitgeist, ranging from global warming to multi-gender recognition. The AEU and other teacher organisations rail at any suggestion that literacy standards have fallen. Perhaps the fact that Mr Carroll is from Labor’s right faction partially explains the antipathy of the AEU towards his education policies.
Why would the Union oppose the use of phonics when English is a phonetic language? Apart from the ideological nonsense pedalled by the Union, there is a suspicion that some teachers are the victims of the approach to learning that has been favoured for the past few decades. Will the reinstatement of phonics expose the inadequacy of the educational methods, possibly the deficiency of some teachers themselves?
The falling standards of English language are evident everywhere. How many times do you hear someone pronounce ‘nothing’ as ‘nothink’, even some otherwise well-educated people? My wife constantly points out grammar errors in newspapers, such as using an incorrect verb with a collective noun, for example ‘the government are…’
Union chagrin wasn’t confined to the AEU this past week. John Setka, the firebrand secretary of the CFMEU, attracted widespread criticism for his proposal to slow down work on construction sites associated with the Australian Football League while they employed the former Building and Construction Commissioner, Stephen McBurney. Mr McBurney, a distinguished AFL umpire officiating at four grand finals, is now head of umpiring for the League.
His previous employment, as a public official, under legislation passed by the Parliament, should not be subject to intimidation. Thankfully the AFL has rejected the comments, despite its endorsement of Woke culture generally. But the ambivalent response by many Labor MPs and ministers was less robust. Instead of stating clearly that such comments are unacceptable, many dodged the issue, saying that Setka was an effective Union representative. Perhaps the millions that his Union has donated to the Labor Party, and the support for various Labor candidates, influenced their muted response. They could learn something from Mr Carroll, who was prepared to ignore the AEU’s bleating and act in the best interests of the state’s schoolchildren.
https://www.spectator.com.au/2024/06/the-australian-education-union-is-miffed-about-phonics/
**********************************************Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
https://immigwatch.blogspot.com (IMMIGRATION WATCH)
https://awesternheart.blogspot.com (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)
http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs
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Evelyn Rae, a conservative Australian political commentator
Margo Robbie -- a beautiful australian
My son Joe at ANU
One of the happiest pictures ever -- Cleo Smith, aged 4
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