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The Sustainable Hour no. 551 | Transcript | Podcast notes
In this week’s Sustainable Hour, we confront the widening gap between government promises and climate reality. While major fossil fuel projects like Woodside’s Northwest Shelf extension and Viva’s gas terminal in Geelong get green lights, communities, cooperatives and worker-owned ventures are showing us what the real energy transition looks like.
Our guest in The Sustainable Hour no. 551 is Colin Long, who is a Just Transition Officer at the Victorian Trades Hall Council in Melbourne.
Colin is also member of the board of Cooperative Power, an energy company which sells gas in order to assist their customers get off gas. He delivers one of the strongest critiques yet of Australia’s gas addiction and lays out a compelling vision for a democratic, worker-led renewable future.
Colin explains how the gas industry’s grip on Australian politics continues to block the clean energy shift – and how worker cooperatives like Earthworker and Copower are doing it anyway, even using the gas industry to undermine the gas industry.
Colin regularly writes blogposts on Substack:
→ Radical Civility – 7 December 2024:
Decarbonising the electricity system
“Profit or planet?”
→ Radical Civility – 28 January 2025:
They will not stop unless we stop them
“Fossil fuel executives kill people.”
→ Radical Civility – 9 May 2025:
Thoughts on the Australian election
“Hope springs anew. Will it be dashed?”
A carbon bomb disguised as policy
- Gas is not a transition fuel
- Gas drives up energy prices
- Gas shortages are fabricated to justify more drilling
- Community and worker-led models offer real, scalable alternatives
. . .
Colin Mockett’s Global Outlook
opens with the federal government’s decision to approve 4.3 billion tonnes of future emissions via Woodside’s gas extension — locking in emissions until 2070. $2.2 billion dollars have been lost to climate-related disasters in Australia in just six months. And yet, fossil fuel subsidies roll on.
Community wind power
We listen to an excerpt of an ABC report from the town Denmark in Western Australia, where a community-owned wind farm now powers 40 per cent of their town.
New music in this Hour
Builders of the Future | Lyrics
– A musical-style anthem for a just transition inspired by our interview with Colin Long in The Sustainable Hour no. 551
– A soaring call to embrace a better world, already within reach, inspired by our discussions in The Sustainable Hour no. 551
→ More music from The Sustainable Hour
Take action
- Use letition.org to send your own letter to MPs and Ministers. Let’s flood their inboxes with truth
- The Greens are collecting protest letters to send to every politician. Join the wave
- Join local movements like Voices of Corangamite – next meeting on 6 August – or The Greens
- Buy Saul Griffith’s new book Plug In! (out 17 June) for practical guidance on going all-electric
Concluding messages
Gas is not the future. We are. Whether it’s through the power of your dollar, your voice or your vote, you can get off gas, starve the demand, and help build the better world that’s already trying to emerge.
Additionally we feel a responsibility to look at the fact that this week is First Nations Reconciliation Week – a week where we acknowledge the past wrongs inflicted on the original inhabitants of this land. This includes acknowledging the genocide, the systematic attempt to eradicate a culture, that happened in the 19th century.
By setting a week aside each year to focus on the past wrongs perpetrated on the oldest surviving culture on our planet we are appreciating the increasing importance of tapping into their ancient wisdom, a wisdom with a strong focus on nurturing both their country and their communities. A wisdom that is going to be more and more important as we face up to the climate crisis.
“We’re trying to develop worker cooperatives, particularly Earthworker, where we make solar hot water systems. And we do draft proofing, all sorts of things like that. Very small scale, but what we’re trying to experiment with is new systems of economic organisation that empower ordinary people and are democratic that might be able to step up in the event of a collapse. That we have new forms of economic organisation that can push back against the rise of the far right in the event of serious economic dislocation and can provide alternative ways of us organising our economies that would be better than the existing ways and better than anything that would come after a collapse. So it’s a sort of a pre-figurative experiment with trying to develop things that might be useful in the event of a collapse.”
~ Colin Long, Just Transition Officer at the Victorian Trades Hall Council
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We at The Sustainable Hour would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we are broadcasting, the Wadawurrung People. We pay our respects to their elders – past, present, and emerging, and extend that respect to all First Nations people.
The traditional custodians lived in harmony with the land for millennia, nurturing it and thriving in often harsh conditions. Their connection to the land was deeply spiritual and sustainable. This land was invaded and stolen from them. It was never ceded. Today, it is increasingly clear that if we are to survive the climate emergency we face, we must learn from their land management practices and cultural wisdom.
True climate justice cannot be achieved until Australia’s First Nations people receive the justice they deserve. When we speak about the future, we must include respect for those yet to be born, the generations to come. As the old saying reminds us: “We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.” It is deeply unfair that decisions to ignore the climate emergency are being made by those who won’t live to face the worst impacts, leaving future generations to bear the burden of their inaction.
“The Indigenous worldview has been marginalised for generations because it was seen as antiquated and unscientific and its ethics of respect for Mother Earth were in conflict with the industrial worldview. But now, in this time of climate change and massive loss of biodiversity, we understand that the Indigenous worldview is neither unscientific nor antiquated, but is, in fact, a source of wisdom that we urgently need.”
~ Robin Wall Kimmerer, weallcanada.org
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“A gas terminal would be good news for Geelong. A reliable and affordable supply of gas is critical for industry and manufacturing, supporting employment and economic growth.”
~ A Viva Energy spokesperson who didn’t want her/his name published
Quick questions and critiques of this statement
Let’s take a closer look at that claim:
Reliable? Really?
- How is gas “reliable” when supply depends on finite wells that deplete over time?
- What about the risks of gas leaks, explosions, and toxic emissions – does that sound like reliability?
- Has Viva disclosed how many unplanned shutdowns or leak events their infrastructure has had?
Affordable? For whom?
- Gas is currently the most expensive energy source in Australia’s mix – why call it ‘affordable’?
- Isn’t gas one of the key reasons electricity prices are high and rising, as Colin Long explained?
- Who is actually benefiting financially – local residents, or fossil fuel investors?
Supporting employment?
- Isn’t the gas industry shedding jobs globally as renewables overtake fossil fuels?
- Where’s the plan to retrain and support workers when this terminal becomes a stranded asset in a few years?
- Why not invest in industries with real job growth potential, like renewables and electrification?
Economic growth ≠ community wellbeing
- Does endless economic growth justify locking Geelong into decades of emissions?
- Shouldn’t the priority be creating a resilient, climate-safe economy – not chasing outdated growth metrics?
- How will this project contribute to long-term stability, health, or energy security?
No name, no accountability
- Why is the spokesperson unnamed? What does that say about confidence in the project?
- If this gas terminal is “good news,” why hide behind anonymity?
- Doesn’t this secrecy signal that even Viva’s insiders know this project lacks a social licence?
Shame on this Labor government – and on every business leader who thinks locking our community and workers into more years of gas consumption is a good idea. As if we’re not already seeing the cost of climate breakdown on our screens daily – bushfires, floods, disasters – costing Australians billions every year, and rising.
We could see this approval coming when we learned this in March 2025:
→ 21 March 2025 – Centre for Climate Safety:
Labor government’s gas expansion madness exposed in Geelong
Read more:
→ Geelong Independent – 6 June 2025:
Gas terminal approved
Front cover story
→ The Guardian – 6 June 2025:
Labor accused of ‘gaslighting’ Australians on climate crisis as fossil fuel projects keep getting approved
‘They offer sympathy and then just go and approve massive fossil fuel projects anyway,’ one advocate says
“Murray Watt didn’t need to consider climate change. The law didn’t ask him to, because for three years Labor has been stalling on laws that would. A triumph of his own party’s inaction. www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/share/20836/….
— Peggy Sanders (@peggysanders.bsky.social) June 6, 2025 at 5:15 AM
[image or embed]
Meeting about Viva Energy’s proposed gas terminal
Newsletter from ACF Geelong:
Late last week, the Victorian Premier gave environmental approval to one of the biggest fossil fuel projects in the state – Viva Energy’s proposed gas terminal in Corio Bay, Geelong. She made the announcement while dining with CEOs at a $10,000 per table business gala, against the wishes of many affected residents living in Geelong.
If the gas import terminal goes ahead, LNG tanker ships will pass within a few hundred meters of homes in North Shore – a safety risk that the community has raised again and again.
And yet when we finally got our hands on the inquiry report this morning (after the Government had sent their media release out first to Murdoch media last night), we learned something shocking. Questions over safety, navigation and massive amounts of additional dredging have been brushed aside as something to consider later.
The Geelong community has fought against this terminal for years. We’ve shown up at rallies, made submissions, signed petitions, sent postcards and spoken at public hearings.
We’ve raised concerns about the huge climate impact of importing gas and the damaging effect of dredging in sensitive seagrass meadows – only to be dismissed with a short speech by the Premier at an industry ‘autumn ball’ whilst our community is impacted directly by droughts, bushfires and floods due to the climate crisis !
This isn’t how community concerns should be treated, and we need to let our local MPs know that it’s not okay.
Will you email a government MP and ask them to pass on your deep disappointment to the Premier and Planning Minister? (We’ve laid out the talking points when you click the link below)
There is one silver lining – despite the headlines, Viva Energy’s project is a long way from assured. They still need to secure a gas processing ship, and they’re competing with three other proposed gas terminals for a single spot in the east coast market.
Furthermore, the long awaited (but never delivered) safety and navigation studies could reveal additional dredging is needed, prompting a whole new environmental assessment.
Only one hurdle has been passed, but it’s important for the community to express our disappointment to local MPs so they get the message loud and clear – we don’t want this gas terminal.
So what’s next for this campaign?
Local groups from the Geelong Renewables Not Gas Alliance will be meeting to celebrate our work together and digest and respond this Wednesday 4 June at 5.30pm.
It’s important that we come together to support each other in the face of some disastrous decisions this week.
You can RSVP for the gathering here >>
Thanks for taking action.
This is not over yet, I hope to see you on Wednesday night.
Sal and the ACF Geelong team
Protests in Corio and Corangamite electorates
Yesterday, OCEAN (Otway Coastal Environment Action Network) along with Geelong and Surf Coast community members rallied outside of Labor MP’s Richard Marles’ and Libby Coker’s offices in protest against Labor’s approval of Woodside’s North West Shelf gas processing plant extension to 2070.
The action followed snap actions which have been held right across the country in response to this decision.
Woodside’s North West Shelf expansion is part of the Burrup Hub project, which will be the country’s most polluting fossil fuel project ever. The North West Shelf processing facility is currently eroding the 50,000 year old Murujuga rock paintings, the oldest rock art in the world.
Mitch Pope, OCEAN campaigner said:
“Approving this project is a complete betrayal to the people of Australia who voted for stronger climate action. It’s a betrayal to young people, First Nations peoples, and communities around the country suffering from the current severe droughts and floods made worse by burning fossil fuels.
“As the climate crisis is accelerating, we must be doing all we can to stop burning fossil fuels and transition to a clean energy economy, not approving more carbon bombs. I can’t believe we’re still saying this in 2025.
“Young people are in complete despair over this decision, losing hope for the future and it’s clear Labor are choosing to ignore them. Labor must listen to the Australian people and stop Woodside’s North West Shelf extension and Burrup Hub project.”
Fired Up: Woodside’s enablers
Newsletter from Fossil Ad Ban and Comms Declare:
| What blows up our climate targets, endangers ancient rock art and precious coastal reefs and does nothing to reduce gas prices? Woodside’s extension of its North West Shelf gas project off the WA coast. So, why would new Labor Government Environment Minister, Murray Watt, approve such a terrible proposition? It may have something to do with Woodside’s big influence game.  In addition to its large in-house marketing team, Woodside has several agencies – doing lobbying and branding. The ‘Energised by Opportunity’ is a brand developed by Gatecrasher and is aimed at gaining the big petroleum company more recruits – an increasingly difficult task. But its big guns are from global media holding company, WPP. Labor-aligned Hawker Britton, is listed as Woodside’s lobbyist in WA, Victoria and Federal parliament’s. And WPP’s Perth-based The Brand Agency also works for Woodside. Weird how WPP also claims to be “building better futures for our people, planet, clients and communities.” Tell Minister Watt what you think of Woodside.  And as the Australian Government was giving the green light to Woodside’s climate bomb, it was also telling Pacific Islanders what a great climate ally it is. Check out this post in Papua New Guinea which claims Australia “stands side by side” with nations whose very futures are at risk from fossil fuelled-climate change. With climate allies like Australia, who needs enemies? Comms Declare |
“Labor’s decision has shown complete contempt for the Geelong community, climate experts, and environmentalists who overwhelmingly oppose a gas import terminal in Corio bay.”
~ Dr Sarah Mansfield, The Greens
Media release from the Greens:
Vic Labor approves climate-wrecking floating gas terminal in Corio Bay
The Victorian Greens have condemned the Victorian Labor Government for giving the tick of approval for Viva Energy’s floating gas terminal in Corio Bay.
The Greens have been campaigning alongside local communities since 2022 to put an end to this dangerous, polluting, unnecessary project.
Labor’s decision has shown complete contempt for the Geelong community, climate experts, and environmentalists who overwhelmingly oppose a gas import terminal in Corio bay.
In the same week that Victorian Labor approved this massive floating gas terminal, Federal Labor signed off on Woodside’s North West Shelf – set to emit 6.1 billion tonnes of carbon.
The Greens say these decisions expose Labor as climate hypocrites: a total betrayal, being bought by the fossil fuel industry instead of listening to future generations.
The floating gas terminal not only presents massive health and climate risks, but it will also likely require dredging to accommodate the LNG tankers which will absolutely devastate the beautiful local marine environment.
The Greens say that there is absolutely no reason for this project to go ahead and any justification is a total sham as over 80% of Australia’s gas is exported, an important terminal will actually result in Victorians buying back Australian gas at a higher price.
Quotes attributable to Greens Member for Western Victoria and Deputy Leader, Dr Sarah Mansfield:
“This is absolutely devastating news. Victorian Labor have turned their backs on our bay environment, on the health and safety of communities in Geelong, and on our climate. They have failed to listen to thousands of community members, environment groups, and experts, instead selling out to the fossil fuel lobby. It’s unforgiveable.
With the North West Shelf and now this massive floating gas terminal – this week Labor has really torched what little climate credibility they had – they may as well be the Coalition at this point.”
Quotes attributed to the Leader of the Victorian Greens, Ellen Sandell:
“First the Federal Labor Government approves Australia’s biggest fossil fuel project in WA, now the Victorian state Labor Government has approved a huge floating gas ship in Victoria. These are both massive fossil fuel projects that are fuelling the climate crisis and it shows that Labor simply does not give a stuff about climate change”.
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→ ABC News – 30 May 2025:
Gas storage terminal for Victoria gets state government approval
“Victoria’s planning minister has given environmental approval for a proposed floating gas terminal off the coast of Geelong. The Viva Energy floating gas terminal project, to be built in Corio Bay, has been strongly opposed by local and environmental groups. The government says the project will ensure gas supply won’t run out for the vast majority of Victorian households who rely on it for cooking and heating.”
→ ABC News 7.30 – 29 May 2025:
The contentious decision to extend the North West Shelf gas project
“The Albanese government’s decision to approve an extension of the North West Shelf gas project in WA has been highly contentious but it’s also raised the question of why we are selling most of our gas overseas, while we are being warned of shortages here at home. Here’s political editor Laura Tingle with her take. Plus, Sarah Ferguson interviews Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young.” (video, 15 minutes)
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Feeling woodsidespair? Here’s how you can fight back
Sue Barrett wrote in a newsletter:
Here’s how you can fight back, whether you’re 15 or 95:
1. Hit Them Where It Hurts: Money
- Divest & Bank Ethically
- Move your superannuation, savings, or investments out of fossil fuel-funded banks (e.g. CommBank, NAB) and into ethical alternatives (e.g. Bank Australia, Future Super).
- Use Market Forces’ comparison tool (marketforces.org.au) to check your bank’s fossil fuel exposure.
- Boycott & Pressure
- Avoid companies partnering with Woodside (e.g. Santos, BHP) and publicly call them out on social media.
- Support businesses committed to renewables (e.g. Energy Locals for power (see more links below), Patagonia for apparel).
2. Amplify Your Voice
- Flood Politicians with Demands
- Email/Tweet your MP weekly (template: “Why did you approve the NWS Extension despite IPCC warnings? #NoNewGas”).
- Join community delegations to MPs’ offices (e.g. Australian Youth Climate Coalition, Australian Conservation Foundation).
- Vote Strategically
- Research candidates’ fossil fuel ties
- In elections, put climate-wrecking MPs last (e.g. those backing gas expansions).
3. Disrupt the Narrative
- Challenge Greenwashing
- Report misleading ads (e.g. Woodside’s “clean energy” claims) to the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC).
- Share emissions comparisons (like the Temu T-shirt analogy) on social media. Tag journalists and politicians.
- Join Protests & Share the Story
- Attend Stop Woodside rallies (follow @Fridays4Future, @SeedMob).
- Older Australians: Leverage your credibility amd write op-eds or talk to local media about intergenerational justice.
4. Legal & Institutional Pressure
- Support Climate Litigation
- Donate to Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) cases against fossil fuel projects.
- Push for Shareholder Resolutions (even 1 share lets you attend Woodside’s AGM and demand accountability).
- Demand Institutional Divestment
- Lobby your university, council, or workplace to cut ties with Woodside (e.g. UWA’s fossil fuel research partnerships).
5. Build Alternatives
- Go Renewable at Home
- Switch to 100% green power (e.g. Diamond Energy, Enova – see list below).
- Install solar/batteries using government rebates (even renters can join solar gardens).
- Join Community Campaigns
- Volunteer with Solar Citizens or Local Renewable Energy Hubs to push for public clean energy projects.
Final Thought: This Is How We Win
Pick one tactic above and start today.
Real change happens when ordinary people, young and old, refuse to accept blame-shifting and demand systemic action.
Together, we can force Woodside and the politicians enabling it to choose: phase out fossil fuels, or face irrelevance in history’s rear-view mirror.
“Perhaps it is time to change the way we try to change things.”
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→ ABC News – 27 May 2027:
Denmark’s co-op wind farm to double output as energy projects gather steam
“One of Australia’s first community-owned wind farms plans to expand its production to meet growing demand. Hundreds of community-led projects have been developed as part of a growing national trend. Energy analysts say programs supporting renewable technology should be targeted towards regional communities.”
→ ABC Landline – 24 February 2025:
Energy Transformation: can wind farms, and farming, coexist in W.A.?
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Danish newspaper reports: “Denmark is drowning in solar power”
📉 A record-breaking May has flooded the Danish electricity grid with solar power – and sent electricity prices plummeting. With over 150 hours of negative prices, some Danes are literally being paid to use power. The clean energy transition isn’t just ‘green’ – it is ‘golden’ for smart consumers with flexible plans.
→ Jyllands-Posten – 29 May 2025:
Price party for electricity customers: A mobile phone, an app – and plenty of sunshine
“Many hours of sunshine have driven electricity prices down every afternoon throughout May, and the number of hours with negative prices is setting a record.”
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Shocking climate report from WMO
There’s a 70% chance the global average temperature over the 2025–2029 period will exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the ideal threshold set by world leaders in 2015 to avoid the worst of climate change, according to an authoritative new report from the World Meteorological Organization.
The report also allows for a small possibility that the global temperature one year in that period will exceed 2 degrees Celsius – a first, which scientists called “shocking,” because that possibility was previously judged “effectively impossible.”
→ Climate Home News – 28 May 2025:
Scientists predict global warming of more than 1.5C for 2025-2029 period
“The World Meteorological Organization says there is a 70% chance the global average temperature in these five years will be more than 1.5C hotter than pre-industrial times.”
“Climate change is here – and it’s killing people.”
~ Friederike Otto, climate scientist, World Weather Attribution and Imperial College London
Every barrel of oil burned, every tonne of CO₂ emitted – it all adds to the toll. Nearly half the world’s population has paid a heavy price for our continued burning of vast amounts of oil, coal, and gas.
Over the past year, 4 billion people experienced at least 30 extra days of extreme heat due to global warming, a new study finds. These aren’t just uncomfortable days. Heatwaves are the deadliest climate-related weather phenomenon, causing illness, death, crop failure, and strained health systems – especially in the Global South.
But also in Europe and the United States, heat is becoming a hidden killer. In 2023 alone, 47,000 people in Europe died from extreme temperatures.
Report:
Climate Change and the Escalation of Global Extreme Heat
“Human-caused climate change is boosting dangerous extreme heat for billions of people, and making heat events longer and more likely.”
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Transcript of The Sustainable Hour no. 551
Antonio Guterres:
We are flirting with climate disaster.
Jingle
The Sustainable Hour. For a green, clean, sustainable Geelong. The Sustainable Hour.
Tony Gleeson:
Welcome to The Sustainable Hour. This is episode number 551. As always, we’d like to start off by acknowledging that we’re broadcasting from the land of the Wadawurrong people. It’s very fitting – seeing that this is the end of Reconciliation Week – that we acknowledge their elders – past, present, and those that earn that great honour in the future. We’re broadcasting from stolen land, land that was never ceded – always was and always will be First Nations land. We are hoping in doing this show, and especially as we go towards the end of Reconciliation Week, that we learn from the ancient wisdom that the Wadawurrong people have garnered from nurturing both their land and their communities for millennia before that land was stolen. And in that ancient wisdom lies so many lessons for us as we navigate the climate crisis.
Mik Aidt:
If you take a look at what the scientists are telling us now – and when I say the scientists, I mean, like, the IPCC, the United Nations Climate Panel, and the World Meteorological Organization – the question is no longer if, or whether, at some time we’ll end up in a climate disaster. We blew the chance that we had to avoid that. The question now is: how bad are we going to allow it to get? And our governments obviously want to allow this madness to continue.
We’ve now hit the 430 mark. That’s 430 parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere. Where the safe level is something we left a decade ago. But who’s talking about that? I don’t know. Let’s just continue allowing the construction of more gas projects and more gas terminals and let’s open up some more coal mines, shouldn’t we? How bad bill we allow this to get?
I’m aware that our global news bulletin-man Colin Mockett has some figures for us today that we need to hear on how bad it already is, how much damage and destruction our irresponsible governments and business leaders have already imposed on us, the Australian people, this year. While the fossil fuel companies, of course, are laughing all the way to the bank, with their pockets filled with our taxpayer money in subsidies.
Colin Market, OAM, I think it’s quickly over to you today, because I’m getting out of breath.
Colin Mockett’s Global Outlook:
Yes Mik, well, look, there are wildfires in Canada that are out of control, there are deadly floods in Nigeria, but my roundup this week could only start in one place and that is: Western Australia. That’s where our nation’s newly appointed environment minister Murray Watt for his first task in the position approved Woodside’s Northwest Shelf Gas Project’s extension to 2070.
This means it’s now set to release an additional 4.3 billion tonnes of emissions over the coming decades. This is more than 10 years worth of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions at its current rate. So they’re going to be doubling the amount that we put into the atmosphere.
Now, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese keeps telling us that this gas is needed for, in his words, ‘firming capacity’ or ‘to support our neighbours’. That’s Morrison talk. That’s the stuff that the other side of politics, the people who deny climate change, that was what they claimed was the need for our gas.
In truth, the WA gas markets are separate from those on the East Coast. There is no pipeline connecting them, so it’s not going to be used in Australia. None of it will be used on the East Coast, or if it does, it won’t be well into the future when they get a tanker coming, and that’s what they’re working on at the same time.
It’s worth saying we already know from previous world roundups that the gas we’re exporting to Japan is no longer needed in Japan because they have worked very hard on getting fossil fuels out of their industries. So what they’re doing is re-exporting it at a profit to Malaysia and Saudi Arabia. So we’ve already got an export market to go to Japan and they don’t want it because their markets flooded.
Now isn’t that the most ridiculous system that you could ever come up with?
The global market for gas is already oversupplied. Australia doesn’t need it and the world doesn’t want it. So the only reason for doing it, the only winners on that decision is Woodside the company and its shareholders. And it’s what they’ve done is essentially buy time before they are forced to give up going for gas.
The announcement came at the same time that the Victorian government, our government, gave environmental approval for Viva Energy’s gas import terminal for Corio Bay. That’s us, that’s Geelong. And where they plan to put it, you can see it from our waterfront. You can see it from our tourist major destination. You can see what they are terming a ‘gas hub’. But that’s by the by, we’ll be talking about that later on.
And what I will say is that Jim Chalmers, the Federal Treasurer, announced this week that natural disasters has caused a hit to the Australian economy of more than $2 billion in the first half of this year. That’s according to his Treasury analysers.
Now, the events include cyclone Alfred and floods in New South Wales and Queensland – all of those slowed retail trade to Australia and household spending. And they cost the economy $2.2 billion in the first six months. That’s according to the Treasury modelling.
Jim Chalmers said that the human impacts matter to us most, but the economic cost is very significant too. So we’re talking now about events that are credited with climate change, not natural disasters, which is what the previous government always liked to call them. These are all credited with climate change, cyclone Alfred and the floods in New South Wales. The analysis shows that nominal retail trade in Queensland fell by 0.3 per cent in February and 0.4 per cent in March, and household spending dropped by 0.2 per cent.
‘The government will be there for people in disaster-hit regions just like they’ve always been there for each other,’ said Jim Chalmers. Crossbenchers were late last year given a briefing at the Office of National Intelligence’s Climate Risk Assessment Report, which independent Senator David Pocock described as frankly terrifying. And if there’s one person you can believe in that report, it’s independent Senator Pocock.
He’s a bloke who speaks the truth. Now, I have got some good news at the end of all that, and this is a new book out, and I’d like to plug it. It’s called ‘Plug In’. It’s the electrification handbook, and it’s written by Saul Griffith. Saul Griffith, and you know him, he’s the man who advised President Biden on his climate change policies, and is also a futurist, I think you can say.
And this new book comes out next week on the 17th of June. It contains all you need to know about how to electrify your life. Now we all know that renewable energy is the future, but how do we ditch coal and gas in our own lives and homes? ‘Plug In’, this book, is full of pro tips and essential information for any Australian’s electrification journey. So it’s aimed squarely at us, it’s not a global thing at all.
It covers the five big decisions of 1) Where you get your electricity from, 2) How you heat your hot water, 3) Home heating and cooling, 4) Cooking, and 5) Transport.
There are tips for renters and strata properties, advice for choosing the most efficient, cost-effective electrical appliances, and real-world examples of how Australians from all walks of life are saving money and fighting climate change by going all electric. Whether you’re considering an electric car or a bike, wondering how to finance your solar panels, or just want to be prepared for when your old gas water heater dies.
This book has got all of the answers. And next week it will be available online as well as at bookshops and distributors. And that piece of good news, it fits in very nicely with the gas shelf, with the government’s pro-gas policies because our answer, wouldn’t it be wonderful if everybody gets the book and everybody gets off of gas and they, the whole area of politicians and gas, looks like absolute fools. But that’s my roundup for the week.
Jingle:
Listen to our Sustainable Hour – for the future.
Tony:
Our guest today is Colin Long. Colin is the Just Transitions Officer for the Victorian Trades Hall Council. Colin, thanks for coming on, and welcome again to The Sustainable Hour. What’s up front at the moment? What’s happening in coming across your desk?
Colin Long:
Thanks, Tony. Well, there’s quite a lot happening. Some of it good, some of it not so good. I think we’re all pretty pleased in the Trade Union movement with the destruction of the Coalition in the federal election. I think that tells us something very important that it is going to be very hard for any political party to go to an election in future without a credible climate and energy policy, which of course the coalition did not have their nuclear policy was.
I suspect what the nuclear policy was effectively about was just stopping renewables more than anything. I’m not even sure they were serious about nuclear energy, but mostly about stopping renewables. So there’s been a pretty resounding rejection of the coalition’s approach to the climate emergency, which is really their approach has always been to ignore it, to denigrate those who are concerned about the climate emergency and to have no serious policy to deal with it. So that seems to have been rejected.
The government’s been given a very substantial mandate to take better action on climate change, but they’ve already disappointed us, of course, with the decision around the Northwest Shelf gas extension, which is a very, very disappointing decision.
I think extending the life of that project out to 2070, which is well beyond when the government is committed to net zero emissions in Australia. It is one of the biggest carbon bombs in the world, very significant source of carbon pollution. I think it’s cynical to say, most of the emissions will be released when the gas is burnt overseas, so it doesn’t count in Australia’s carbon emissions. I just think that is cynical because we all share the same atmosphere wherever the emissions, wherever the gas is burnt.
And it’s also another kick in the face for Australia’s First Nations people, where the gas, the operations for the processing of gas from the North West Shelf is having very serious effects on rock art which is the oldest in the world in the Barat Peninsula up in that region.
So it’s a very very disappointing decision but in some ways not surprising. The government would appear in the lap of the gas industry as much as the coalition parties were. we can also note that only earlier today, the Victorian government seems to have approved the LNG importation terminal for the Viva terminal in Geelong.
Another very disappointing decision, which shows just how powerful the gas industry is in this country and that governments continue to be fooled by this suggestion that gas is a useful bridging fuel between the old energy system and the new energy system.
Gas is very much a part of the old energy system that we need to be moving away from. It’s not a transition fuel at all. And in fact, you know, there’s around 22,500 workers involved in the oil and gas industry in Australia. And those workers could be much put to much better use if they were building renewable energy infrastructure. We actually look to be, well, I think we’re experiencing now, and certainly will be in the immediate future, a shortage of qualified workers to roll out their renewable energy infrastructure.
And if we keep opening and extending fossil fuel projects, that labor is going to be absorbed in those fossil fuel projects, not going to be available for renewable energy. So rather than being a transition, it’s a blocker for action on renewable energy installations. So, very, very disappointing decisions around, gas in general. And we know that gas is, despite what the coalition was saying, gas is a major source, it’s a major cause of expensive electricity prices in Australia because gas is often the fuel that sets the marginal price in the national electricity market.
So in the evening when solar farms are not operating and there’s a bit of a peak in demand, say after six o’clock, maybe a little bit earlier in winter, that’s when the price spikes in the national electricity market, because that’s when gas peaker plants come on and gas is the most expensive fuel.
So what a lot of people don’t realise is that because of the nature of our electricity market, whichever is the most expensive fuel at the time, is the price that all generators get paid. So say at seven o’clock in the evening, gas peak plants, are operating. Then the price that they are bidding into the, into the grid, which is usually the most expensive is also extended to all other power suppliers, including coal fire power plants, wind plants, and so on. So it’s that’s when I, that’s what I mean when I say they set the marginal price in the evening peaks and that price drives the price across all of generation capacity at that time.
So gas is an expensive fuel and it drives much of the high prices in the electricity grid. It’s only during the day when solar, especially rooftop solar is going gangbusters that the spot price or the wholesale price in the electricity market is driven very low because the marginal cost of renewables is close to zero because the fuel doesn’t cost anything. That keeps the price of energy overall down. Then in the evening you get at times of low solar availability, then the price gets driven up by things like gas.
The other thing to note is that the gas industry has been promoting the idea for probably at least 10 years now that there is an East Coast gas shortage just around the corner. They say this every year, every year it’s wrong. They continue to say it and they say it because they want more gas wells, more gas projects to be opened up so that they can sell more gas, mostly sell it overseas, course. Noting that Australian gas is priced at the, certainly in the East Coast market, is priced at the international market rate, even though we produce it ourselves. So the lies that the gas industry talks about shortages every year are proven false every year.
But they do it every year again and then governments tend to believe the lies every year and keep talking about opening up a new gas supply or in the case of Geelong, of course, bringing new gas in. So it’s we still got a big struggles ahead of us to deal with the the gas industry and it’s it’s capture of the Australian political system.
Mik:
It would seem, Colin, to me that it’s irresponsible, in a way, because for instance here in Geelong now, we’re seeing investments in infrastructure that we know is going to go obsolete, honestly. We know that in 10-20 years, it’s just going to be a big white elephant that somebody will have to dismantle again and maybe won’t. And the second aspect of it is, of course, the destruction of our climate and with the consequences on all of us, as we’re seeing in South Australia, in New South Wales, it’s either flooding and drought and so on. Irresponsible is the word that comes to me.
Colin Long:
Yes, it’s irresponsible. The stranded assets issue is a very, it’s a very real issue, but also the stranded assets issue means that, so, you know, if in 20 years, we can see in 20 years, there’s this likely, if we’re to deal with climate change, then this infrastructure for gas and coal is going, we can’t use it. It’ll have to be abandoned.
But because they’ve invested in it, just keeps this pressure to keep using the infrastructure longer and longer and longer. And it just makes the transition so much harder. And my primary interest as a unionist is in workers. And it’s very difficult to transition workers in the existing fossil fuel industry into new jobs keep people, keep communities alive and to keep people well paid and in good jobs.
That’s difficult enough as it is with the existing fossil fuel workplace without creating another load of fossil fuel jobs that we have to transition in another 10 years or 20 years or whatever it is when it just becomes harder and harder to do that transition, then so the workers there’s more pressure to just cast those workers aside.
So short-termism is such a problem in our political and economic system. And that is never clearer than when we’re dealing with climate change. know, as you said, we’re seeing these incredible floods in New South Wales. We’ve seen them earlier in Queensland and other places at the same time as we’ve got drought in South Australia, creeping over the border into Western Victoria. And these events cost a fortune. They cost a fortune. But the thing is the fossil fuel companies don’t have to pay for any of the damage they cause. So they get away with it and it just continues to encourage this short term thinking. It’s such a…
Mik:
So Colin, we are at this point now where two weeks ago, we had Michael Haupt, a systems thinker, in our Sustainable Hour, and he was basically seeing, first of all, an inevitable collapse ahead of us. And what he was then saying is that we should not be afraid of collapse. Collapse might be actually almost – in quotation marks – a “solution”, a way to move forward. It doesn’t sound good and there will be a lot of people, for instance, unemployed and forced to look for new ways of getting ahead. Are you taking that into consideration? – that we could be facing a collapse?
Colin Long:
Yes, I think there’s a… Every day, the likelihood of very serious economic, political and social dislocation is approaching us some form of collapse. I don’t know that I’m… I’m more worried about collapse than thinking it’s a necessary, even a ‘necessary evil’. I just think politically on a global scale at this moment, the rise of the far right is so worrying that any collapse would probably play into their hands, and we would end up with… I mean, the US is effectively a fascist state now. There are fascist parties close to power in most of Europe, large, large parts of Europe. I just think collapse is likely to lead to them to power. And I just can’t see that that is in the long term benefit of people or the climate because none of these far right parties in Europe, or the U.S., or Australia, have any commitment to dealing with climate change.
Yeah, I mean, one of the things many of us in the climate and environment and union movement have been saying for years, in fact, is there are really two choices: ‘Either we have a managed transition to a sustainable economy – or we have a collapse. Which would you prefer?’
Wouldn’t we be better to have a managed transition?
And we’ve been largely ignored. So they’re going to, you know, they’re going to end up with the experiment of a collapse, I think. And I don’t think that’s going to be good for for many of us. But that’s why some of the things, other things that I’ve been involved in like trying to develop worker cooperatives in the form particularly Earthworker where we make solar hot water systems, make, we do draft proofing, all sorts of things like that. Very small scale, but what we’re trying to experiment with is new systems of economic organisation that empower ordinary people and are democratic that might be able to step up in the event of a collapse. That we have new forms of economic organisation that can push back against the rise of the far right in the event of serious economic dislocation and can provide alternative ways of us organising our economies that would be better than the existing ways and better than anything that would come after a collapse. So it’s a sort of a pre-figurative experiment with trying to develop things that might be useful in the event of a collapse.
Mik Aidt:
And how is that going then? Is it successful? Are you growing?
Colin Long:
Yes, it’s always a challenge and our scale is a very big challenge and worker cooperatives are not well understood in Australia. So it’s difficult to raise capital, it’s difficult to get finance, but we’ve been going for quite a number of years now. In fact, it’s the cooperative model and the engagement of our people that keeps us going. Ordinary small businesses would have collapsed a long time ago, but we continue to keep going just because of people’s commitment and their desire to be, and it’s that sense of everyone has a stake in it. So, you know, there’s a worker co-ops, they make decisions about what they do and how they operate. So that is our strength.
And we’ve also chosen really important things like we manufacture heat pump hot water systems, solar hot water systems, we do energy efficiency upgrades for housing and these things are vitally important so we’re not making stupid plastic things that no one wants.
Tony:
Colin, how does community energy fit into that? Your version of that?
Colin Long:
Yeah, well, Earth Worker is also a co-owner of cooperative power, and I’m on… – full disclosure – I’m on the board of that, which is a cooperative electricity or energy retailer. We we’re now, retailing gas. and there’s an interesting story about the retailing of gas to be, which I’ll tell you, that’s, that’s going okay.
And the interesting story around gas. So we started off as an electricity retailer and, um, because we didn’t want to sell fossil gas. then a lot of our customer members who we run a very much as a democratic organisation. our customers get a, a, a say in how they, the co-op operates and how we spend our surpluses. A lot of our customer members said, well, we would like to buy electricity from you, but we don’t want a separate gas retailer as well. And we have gas, whether we like it or not, we’ve got it. So, we had a vote of our customer members who said, well, let’s sell, sell gas.
But we said: We’ll sell gas on the proviso that any surplus we make from the selling of gas, will put back into helping households get off gas, helping to electrify.
So we’ve been doing that and that Copower has been using surplus from the gas sales to provide discounted solar hot water systems from Earth Worker Energy and to help people do their up to electrify their homes as well. So we’re trying to use the gas industry to undermine the gas industry as much.
Tony:
Yeah. The irony of that isn’t missed.
Colin Long:
Yeah. Well, you know, you have to do some guerrilla tactics to deal with the big players in these industries. And that’s what we’re going to do.
Tony:
Yeah. Yeah. And that’s just on that again, as this could easily be a model that could be rolled out. Like the process that you go through in forming a cooperative, et cetera, doesn’t there’s no reason why it needs to be restricted just tthe worker co-op model is, you know, there’s, there’s a number of worker co-ops now operating in Australia in different fields, but we model ourselves on the Mondragon network of co-ops in, in Spain, in the Basque country in Spain, which has been going since the 1950s and now has, I think over 80, quite large worker co-ops and the turnover of around 20 billion euros. It’s a very big operation and they they run everything from supermarkets to Architectural design firms. They did a lot of work on the engineering design of the Bilbao Guggenheim for instance.
So then these are not they are not small we are we are a fraction of what they are able to do but there’s no there’s no reason why in the long term we couldn’t be building towards that, and doing all sorts of… There are some really interesting work at co-ops out there doing all sorts of interesting things.
Tony:
Yeah, and it’s not, there’s a fairly rich history of them in Australia in the past as well. Going back a little bit for earlier than the 1950’s.
Colin Long:
There’s an interesting history of co-ops in Australia. Not always, not so many worker co-ops, but a lot of can farmer co-ops and consumer co-ops. Most farmers know what a co-op is. They might’ve forgotten some of them, but most of them have been involved in co-ops around primary produce, purchasing and sale.
A lot of country towns have had cooperative stores and shops. There are an increasing number of country towns where the local pub has been co-operativised because it’s failing in private ownership and it’s been co-operativised as community pubs, things like that, which is really good.
Mik:
So that sounds really encouraging, Colin. In the beginning, you were saying you were both worried and also optimistic. This is really powerful stuff. The only problem is that it’s not scaled, as you say, that it’s a small corner of the industry. What’s going to make it run faster and get bigger?
Colin Long:
In terms of cooperatives, we need a lot more national policy to encourage, well, not only cooperatives, but employee owned enterprises. They’re very, they’re growing in size in other countries, UK in particular. So there are very, the laws are different in UK that allow for the development of employee ownership and cooperative. So we need some changes and some of the stuff is very technical so I won’t go into it but we do need serious legislative change in Australia to facilitate the development of those sorts of businesses. We need much more availability of capital for those sorts of businesses. It’s still very easy for big gas companies to get banks to invest in them but if you’re trying to do something useful to sell more solar hot water systems, very hard to get any money out of banks and the return they want is very often very difficult.
So those sorts of things are a big challenge. On the bigger scale though, have a sense of, mean, the Commonwealth government is doing some good stuff, especially around the transition of the Australian electricity system. Quite a bit is happening there, although a lot needs to happen and needs to happen differently. But there is a couple of areas where I’m bit worried. The promise of offshore wind is way too slow at the moment in Australia. And some of the companies that are promising to do offshore wind are very worried. They’re about delays. So we still need to push back against the lies being told by the anti-renewables people.
And we need to be encouraging governments to step up and facilitate the development of renewable energy in a responsible way and not in a way that destroys the environment at the same time. you know, there are big delays. I’ll just give you an example. The company proposing the offshore wind farm, an offshore wind farm off Gippsland. The original one was Star of the South, now called Southerly 10. They first came to Australia in 2017. At the same time, they’re from Denmark. At the same time, they went to Taiwan. And since 2017, they’ve built two offshore wind farms off Taiwan that are operating, and they still haven’t got a contract in Australia.
So that just shows you how slow the processes have been here. And I think it’s partly to do with poor, I mean, the state of the undermining of the public service in Australia over a long period of time. Obviously from 2017 to 2022, the coalition was not interested in facilitating renewables. So that was a big delay. But there’s just, are… We’re quite good at facilitating fossil fuels, not so good at facilitating renewables, which is, you know, it’s a tragedy. those sorts of things we need to do a lot better. There is a lot of capital in Australia that is being mobilised for fossil fuels still. We’ve got to stop that and we’ve got to get it mobilised for renewable energy.
But there has been quite good investment in renewable energy over the last year or so. I still think in the long term there needs to be far more public investment in renewables and there is some of that taking place in Victoria which is good because we really can’t just rely on subsidising of private investment. We need to have serious public planning and public long-term investment in renewables if we’re really going to turn things around in this country and and reap the benefits actually of renewable transition. We shouldn’t see it as a cost, we should see it as an investment in the future.
SONG (at 36:00)
“Builders of the Future”
[Verse 1]
They sell us lies, they sell us gas
Say it’s the future — we know it’s the past
White elephants rising in our town
While the planet burns, they double down
[Chorus]
We’re the builders of the future
From heat pumps to rooftop light
Co-ops rising, member-lead
We make the change — we got this right
Now the just transition is going ahead
[Verse 2]
We build the wind, the sun, the grid
We’ve got the skills, we’ve got the tools
to power the world, protect our kids
Abolish their dirty fossil rules
[Bridge]
CALL: Who’s gonna build it?
RESPONSE: We, We The People!
CALL: Who’s gonna own it?
RESPONSE: We, We The People!
CALL: Who’s going to stop the gas?
RESPONSE: We, We The People!
[Chorus]
We’re the builders of the future
From heat pumps to rooftop light
Co-ops rising, member-lead
We make the change — we got this right
Now the green transition is going ahead
Audio clips in the song:
Colin Long:
Short-termism is such a problem in our political and economic system. That is never clearer than when we’re dealing with climate change.
Colin Long:
Don’t see it as a cost, we should see it as an investment in the future.
. . .
Colin Mockett (at 38:34)
‘They sell us lies, they sell us gas.’ That couldn’t be more on the message, could it? Because we know we have in Geelong gone through a year-long process where the people said without doubt to Royal Commissions, to the State Government, to all of the legislative hurdles they put in our way, we all said NO to the gas terminal.
And at the finish of it, they left it for a year and then they said… the government itself said, ‘Yeah, we’ll have one of them.’
And it’s quite ridiculous that we should be in this situation. They’re all telling us lies. All 18 months of getting past the hurdles, and now it’s approved by our government.
Mik:
Sarah Mansfield, who lives here in Geelong and is our representative from the Greens in the state parliament, she said it, I think, with pretty strong words: ‘Labor’s decision has shown complete contempt for the Geelong community. And of course, for climate experts and environmentalists, everyone who overwhelmingly oppose a gas import terminal in Corio Bay.’
Colin:
And she’s right: contempt it is. And look, it’s not only us, people. Maritime safety experts and even rival gas companies, they’ve all raised red flags about Corio Bay being too narrow and too shallow for most LNG tankers, because that’s how they transport the gas. And without a doubt, the gas will be sourced in Western Australia, probably coming from the new drills in the Northwest shelf. They’re going to need to significantly dredge Corio Bay to allow the tankers to get in and feed what is an unnecessary industry and a 19th century industry too. Let’s face it, gas. We thought it had gone out with Victorian area where all the gas lights were replaced in our streets.
We replaced things 100 years ago with electricity. But no, the gas companies have still got a hold over our politicians and our politicians are still approving of more gas to be drilled and used. Gas is dangerous. It can blow up. It can kill you overnight because of bad ventilations. Gas is a dangerous product. We should not even be considering it.
We should be replacing it with electricity because that’s the way of the future and our governments are allowing it. I’ve had my say, go on, your turn.
Mik:
Which, Colin, brings us in a way back to last week’s Sustainable Hour, where the headline for what we talked about almost the full hour was ‘Starve the demand’. Starve the demand. That’s the next step that we need to talk about. You cannot, for instance, say: ‘I don’t like the view of this gas terminal’ while you’re still heating your house with gas. You can’t. You need to be part of that movement, starving the demand. And the next thing in your business. The next thing, what about your school? And so on.
Someone has done the research looking into all the refineries and all the fossil fuel projects in the world and looking at the land that they own. And it turns out the fossil fuel companies own so much land that if we put renewables on that land, solar and wind, that would be sufficient to power the entire world.
We don’t need to go out in agriculture or in pristine nature reserves and put up wind turbines there. We could do it right where the fossil fuels are now.
Colin:
Could we tell them that? That they don’t need to keep digging up the Earth and burning it? They can sell us just as much power by putting panels and wind turbines on it.
Tony:
The thing is they wouldn’t make as much money out of that. That’s why they want business, or they think they need to stay selling their toxins.
Mik:
This is true, Tony. The news came from Denmark once again, but again with exclamation points that the Danes are shocked how cheap electricity was in May. So the report was that it was close to free, not just for a day, but for a month because they run on wind and solar.
Colin:
Yeah, and instead of approving products that are going to make the situation worse, like the Northwest Shelf in WA and the Viva project, the government can do a lot to lessen demand by giving people subsidies to make the changes that Saul Griffith and others are recommending.
Tony:
There’s no wheels that have to get reinvented. No. All the techniques, the products, yeah, they’re all there.
Colin:
There are huge advantages to electrification of your life. It’s safer for you. It’s safer for your children. It’s progress. It’s what the rest of the world is doing. It’s us with our heads in the sand. And it all started with our parliamentarians. We had something like 25 years of Liberal National party politicians who all denied that there was climate change, ‘No problem at all, just keep on going!’ – while they were being nicely subsidised by the fossil fuel industry. You know, they’re saying things like, ‘We’d like a new oil well drilled because we haven’t got enough yet. So if you approve it, we’ll give you a hand with the next election. How much money do you need?’ And that’s the sort of deal that it’s not really corruption. It’s donating to a political party, and then saying, ‘Yeah, you can’, and then giving permission to keep on destroying the planet. We’ve allowed it to go on because we think it’s part of the political process, but it’s not. That’s the point. If we just had more people in Canberra who were like David Pocock or Saul Griffiths, people with a bit of vision, we would be living much cleaner, safer and richer lives, richer in both senses.
Mik:
Which I think also, you know… if the listener is frustrated right now with labor, because, you know, before the election, they were promising us swimming halls and bike paths and what have I. And now just weeks after the election, bang, we’re getting all these fossil fuel projects approved, which shows, I think, really, really bad moral. What I think everyone who is frustrated right now needs to do is to get engaged with the, you could say, the grassroots movement that is still growing of, for instance, supporting independents who are going to run in the coming elections. I know that the Voices of Corangamite are having a meeting where they’re going to become a incorporated organisation on the 6th of August. So there’s a date to put in the calendar in the evening on the 6th of August. You better be there. If you are frustrated with the way politics are going, be part of supporting an independent candidate at the next federal election in almost three years who will deal with these matters. Like you say: like Pocock has been doing it. And there will be, I’m sure there will be a Voices of Corio just as well.
And the other thing that we can do as individuals, we saw an inspirational clip on ABC last week and it was from Denmark, but not that Denmark that I come from the country on the other side of the planet, but Denmark, the small community in… I think it’s in Western Australia, where the community has raised two wind turbines. And these two wind turbines already now power 40 per cent of all the energy that this little community needs. And the good news is they’re now trying to expand it so that they can actually export renewable energy. And they are making money in the process.
. . .
ABC News reader:
Ten years after it was built, of Australia’s first community-owned wind farms plans to expand to meet growing demand. It comes as hundreds of communities look to participate in the renewable energy market, but energy analysts say some government support is not getting where it’s most needed.
ABC News report from Denmark:
On the state’s south coast, two turbines generating kilowatts of power. The community-owned Denmark Wind Farm is one of the first of its kind in Australia.
For us it was climate change and the desire to actually model and scale up renewable energy not just at the household level.
Ten years ago these turbines produced more than half the town’s power. But as the population has increased, so has demand for electricity.
We have approval for four turbines there, so there’s no reason why we couldn’t produce much more than 100 per cent of the town’s energy.
But attempts to diversify the town’s energy infrastructure have been stifled. The town missed out on federal funding in a recent bid.
We’ve investigated and made an application for support to get five large-scale batteries embedded into the local network. So we should have got supported.
The WA government is investing more than five point seven billion dollars into the state’s energy transition, while the federal government says it’s installing 400 community batteries to support the energy transition. But there was no direct funding for community led projects like the Denmark wind farm. Despite the delays, many communities remain interested in generating their own energy. hundred and twenty five groups across the country in every state and territory. And together they’ve delivered over seven hundred and thirty different projects.
Communities are really keen to be on the front foot of this shift to renewable energy, to reduce their bills, to increase energy resilience, to bring local economic benefit. A community solution to a global problem. Andrew Chounding, ABC News, Albany.
SONG:
“The Green Transition”
[Intro]
The world is turning, faster than before
Between lightness and love, and power and lies
[Verse 1]
I’ve seen the floods, I’ve felt the storms
Watched the news as cities drowned
Want to shut off, can’t watch this breakdown
It’s hard to see we can turn this ship around
[Bridge]
They say it’s too late, they say ‘just wait’
But I won’t watch it wash away
I choose the truth, I change my ways
I’ve signed up and, I’m ready to join
[Chorus]
The Green Transition is inevitable
From home to work, from town to town
Solar’s shining, wind is strong
The air is clean, life is fun
[Verse 2]
They call them ‘natural’ — disasters untamed
But I know better, I know who’s to blame
Coal, gas, oil — the damage they do
But I’m the one to choose, I know what’s true
[Bridge]
They said ‘just go slow, don’t shake the ground’
But I refuse to back down
Not someday, no, right here, right now
I make it right, I make it count
[Chorus]
The Green Transition is inevitable
From land to sea, around the world
I speak the shift, I share the news
A great renewal, a bold decision
[Bridge]
I build, I vote, I call out the lies
We shape the rules, we change the tide
It’s not impossible, it’s on the rise
A world reborn before our eyes
[Final Chorus]
Welcome to the Green Transition
It’s in our hands, it’s underway
No more waiting, the time is now
We rise together — this is the way
. . .
Audio clips:
Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forest:
Australia has called for a phase out of fossil fuels
Arnold Swartzenegger:
Hey!
Mo Gawdat:
You should be leading this revolution
. . .
Colin:
Mik is very strong on his Scandinavian origins and the fact that virtually all of the Scandinavian countries are so far advanced on where we are at changing for the future. But I wanted to point out that I come from the United Kingdom. I was born in England. And that’s where the Industrial Revolution started in the late 17th century, or late 18th century before the 19th century, when they harnessed steam to create factories. To get that steam they burned coal and they burned coal then for a century and three quarters and all of that put a huge amount of carbon into the atmosphere. It started with steam factories, it wound up with diesel cars if you like.
But what I can say now is that I’m quite proud to say that the country that once had all coal-fired electric fuel generation, well, that’s not strictly true. There were two nuclear power plants in the UK. They’re now on path for, well, they don’t have any coal generation at all. There’s a couple of gases, a couple of nucleus but the vast majority now is offshore wind with a little bit of solar and that shows what sort of weather they’ve got over there. We have got this wonderful advantage of having all of the sunshine that hits part of our nation year round and if we were sensible we would be putting solar there and we will be putting offshore wind where we get the large, well what used to be called the trade winds, the westerlies.
Our winds are so predictable we play the cricket according to it. We say, you know, the Fremantle doctor will be here in a minute when you’re watching a test match. Our winds are much more predictable than they are in the UK. But the UK is able to harvest their winds and they don’t need coal anymore. So if we were sensible, that’s what we should be doing. We’ve got the people like Saul Griffiths who would tell us how to do it.
We’ve got the scientists who are saying, this is what you’ve got to do. And we’ve got the politicians who are looking at the gas industry and saying, what are we going to do? It’s a ridiculous situation to find ourselves in.
. . .
Jingle:
Scott Morrison:
This is coal, don’t be afraid
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse:
At the heart of this conflict is a battle between truth and science and power and life.
. . .
Tony:
That transition is happening, but we’re not hearing about it. And the government isn’t, well, it is helping it. I think the government is really schizophrenic in its approach, that it’s subsidising, it’s trying to have an each way bet – and people are dying as a result of that and trillions of dollars of property infrastructure are being destroyed. So if they did the math, the same as they did for tobacco in the past, it would stop tomorrow. But like you say, we keep saying that there’s this incredible hold that the fossil fuel industry has on the people we elected to represent our interests.
Mik:
It’s like smokers: it’s difficult to give it up, isn’t it?
Tony:
The people that are upset about the Viva project, that it has been given approval, it hasn’t gone ahead and it won’t necessarily go ahead. There’s a meeting on tonight and we’ll put details on that in the show notes. (See: Geelong Renewables Not Gas). There’s still a lot that’s going to happen to try and stop it actually being built. So come along to that and just show that it’s all about numbers as we continually say. Quiet concern on this just doesn’t exist.
Colin:
The Greens have put a proforma letter that they want people to write their own versions and send them to every politician. Well, yeah, you can send them with a stamped envelope, but they’re basically looking for you to send emails and electronic letters to every politician so that they’re swamped with the number of people who are protesting. They don’t just want the protesters to make messages, they want the people in the streets to send emails.
Mik:
And Colin, as we mentioned also last week, the Letition website – not petition, but Letition, so: www.letition.org – similarly has a letter that you can send to actually to whoever you like to send it to. It works the way that you first you generate the letter, it’s then sent to your mailbox and then you forward it from there together with a personal message from your own mailbox. So that’s I think also a powerful way to contact the politicians and let them know.
Tony:
Yeah, it is. And the big thing about that is that keeps metrics on it. So politicians know, we all know exactly how many politicians have gone to how many politicians. So that’s a big advantage over the petition situation.
Jingle
Mik: (at 58:03)
That’s all we could fit in this particular very gas-influenced Sustainable Hour. I think that we should continue saying ‘Be the demand’.
Tony:
Yes, no quiet demand. It’s via politicians or via showing up at meetings. But yeah, just reduce that demand and the only thing that’ll reduce are numbers.
Mik:
Exactly. Starve the demand.
. . .
SONG
“Demand the Shift”
[Verse 1]
They’ve ruled our world for two centuries
Black gold was the lifeblood of our economy
They paid their way to block any regulation
But the tide is turning and now power is free!
[Chorus]
Demand the shift! And then you shift the demand
The world is changing ’cause you take a stand
We set the course, we draw the line
The real power to change is yours and mine
[Verse 2]
When we don’t need CDs, those factories close
Coal and gas is in an even worse collapse
No need to ban it, we won’t have to fight it
When the market starts moving, it will be killed overnight
[Chorus]
Demand the shift! And then you shift the demand
The world is changing ’cause you take a stand
We set the course, we draw the line
The real power to change is yours and mine
[Bridge]
We plug into sun, we harness the breeze
We drive electric, we’re planting trees
We choose the brands that play it fair
Demand a future without despair
[Chorus]
Demand the shift! And then you shift the demand
The world is changing ’cause you take a stand
We set the course, we draw the line
The real power to change is yours and mine
[Outro]
The real power to change the system
lies with us when we move together
We shift the gear and we are changing the story
The world is safer now because we starved the demand
. . .
Gareth Kane:
It’s an old cliché that we should be the change we want to see in the world. Well the most effective way to do that is to increase demand for the components of a sustainable economy. Every pound, euro or dollar you spend makes a difference and you should use it to demand a different world.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Events we have talked about in The Sustainable Hour
Events in Victoria
The following is a collation of Victorian climate change events, activities, seminars, exhibitions, meetings and protests. Most are free, many ask for RSVP (which lets the organising group know how many to expect), some ask for donations to cover expenses, and a few require registration and fees. This calendar is provided as a free service by volunteers of the Victorian Climate Action Network. Information is as accurate as possible, but changes may occur.
Petitions
→ List of running petitions where we encourage you to add your name
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Live-streaming on Wednesdays
The Sustainable Hour is streamed live on the Internet and broadcasted on FM airwaves in the Geelong region every Wednesday from 11am to 12pm (Melbourne time).
→ To listen to the program on your computer or phone, click here – or go to www.947thepulse.com where you then click on ‘Listen Live’ on the right.
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