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> The Greens and Labour party are both actively hostile to coal ... That's not true. The Labor (note spelling) party in AU is actively pro-coal. Sadly most s

• roenxi 5y ago
  > Labor drops hostility to coal That one seems to be dated April of this year. I see I'm not alone in perceiving Labor (thanks, forgot) to be anti-coal. They're in a tricky position, trying to placate the nearly-Greens voters on one flank and the CFMEU on the other. Which is why the Liberals are pulling political stunts like waving coal around - it is very hard for Labor to respond to. They have a nasty split in ideology there that they have to manage and it makes political sense to pressure it. None of that represents ideological commitment to coal by Morrison. The Liberals don't especially care where the power comes from as long as it is cheap. Coal, gas, solar, nuclear. Mice in wheels fed a steady diet of sugar. They aren't going to subside environmentalists though, but that is a pro-market ideology, not pro-coal.
  • Jedd 5y ago
    'drops hostility to coal' is perhaps not the embrace of green energy that you may hope. {sigh} From March 2021 [0] "The Australian Labor Party will support an expansion of Australia’s gas industry" , From April 2021 [1] "abandon any carbon emissions reduction target for 2030" , "recommit any Labor government to continuing to support the mining giants based on the lucrative extraction of the main fossil fuels—coal, gas and oil." From June 2021 [2] "The Labor leader will use a speech to the Minerals Council of Australia to reassure mining companies that the opposition supports the continuing export of fossil fuels." , And so on > They're in a tricky position, trying to placate the nearly-Greens voters on one flank and the CFMEU on the other. Which is why the Liberals are pulling political stunts like waving coal around - it is very hard for Labor to respond to. They have a nasty split in ideology there that they have to manage and it makes political sense to pressure it. They're not 'in a tricky position' so much as 'they are a collective of people with substantively differentiating viewpoints but a common interest in power and money' - hence the friction. I envy your idealistic take on Scott Morrison's impartiality towards his largest donors. [0] https://reneweconomy.com.au/labor-to-support-gas-and-ccs-alongside-zero-carbon-target-in-new-policy-platform/ https://reneweconomy.com.au/labor-to-support-gas-and-ccs-alo... [1] https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/04/02/labo-a02.html https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/04/02/labo-a02.html [2] https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jun/02/coalition-putting-jobs-and-exports-at-risk-by-opposing-renewables-and-antagonising-china-anthony-albanese-says https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jun/02/coali...
    • roenxi 5y ago
      > I envy your idealistic take on Scott Morrison's impartiality towards his largest donors. What, are solar farms banned from making political donations? Bankers can do sums, the price of electricity is common across the market. If solar is honestly cheaper then they can move fairly quickly to make more profit and afford a better class of political influence than the coal mines. That is how the game is played. I was talking to a friend the other day about how to invest in coal mines, because I think the survivors might be in a pretty good position. But if someone has an idea for a solar plant with better margins than a coal mine then I'll invest there instead. The idea that anyone is pro-coal because they have a thing for carbon is absurd. The last 50 years have proven conclusively that not that many people care about where the electricity is coming from. Everyone cares about profit margins.
      • TheSpiceIsLife 5y ago
        Solar is a tiny industry compared with coal and brings in approximately zero export dollars. For most of the past decade, coal has been Australia's second largest resource export, after iron ore, and since 2015 has averaged around one-quarter of annual resource export values and 14 per cent of total export values (Graph 2). In 2018, the value of coal exports was $67 billion, equivalent to 3½ per cent of nominal GDP. Australia's coal exports consist of different grades of black coal: metallurgical coal, which has a relatively high energy content and is used for industrial purposes (primarily steel making); and lower-energy content thermal coal used for electricity generation. https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/bulletin/2019/sep/the-changing-global-market-for-australian-coal.html https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/bulletin/2019/sep/the-ch...