A bald headed big man wearing a blue shirt and suit coat walked up the steps of the Brisbane convention and entertainment centre. From the rear, he looked surprisingly like the alternative prime minister Peter Dutton. Someone yelled from the crowd: “Dutton sucks!” Peter Ong, Secretary of ETU Queensland, took up the chant, knowing full well that it was the chief security officer from ASM Global and not Dutton. ASM Global has the security contract from Soutbank Inc. that runs the Brisbane Convention Centre.
ETU picket LNP energy plan
Electrical Trade Union (ETU) members came out in numbers to a lunchtime rally at a Liberal National Party (LNP) conference on Saturday, 6 July 2024. The LNP lacks an energy plan. According to the union, the state LNP supports privatisation and job cuts. The ETU says the LNP is the power we can’t afford! The union is following an electoralist strategy on behalf of its members. However, the bulk of workers in the energy sector are not union members and are politically disengaged.
No political party has been able to make a convincing plan for sustainable energy in the lead up to state or federal elections. The LNP is opportunistic and divided, the ALP has put too much store in gas and the Greens are unable to come to grips with the union members that have a big role in the energy sector. No one knows how to phase out hydrocarbons effectively after 175 years of the carbon dominance.
The Queensland Liberal National party leader, David Crisafulli, says he opposes nuclear power. Meanwhile his federal party wants to go nuclear despite great cost, long timelines and environmental risks.
Labor has been in power in Queensland for ages and is opposed to nuclear power because Queensland has so much coal, they have fallen victim to the coal lobby while hedging their bets on solar. The LNP in Queensland is adopting a small target strategy by agreeing with Labor on energy policy. Put another way, Crisafulli is relying upon the election cycle to win power in Queensland.
In ‘democratic’ ‘elections, this cycle effect is where an incumbent government becomes unpopular over time, and voters want to try someone new, tweedle-dee instead of tweedle-dum. In this scenario, both mainstream political parties in Queensland have pretty much the same policy on energy. The transnational companies put up with election cycles because they feel that they can manipulate either party when it’s in power. Foreign policy that supports Israel is a current example, where Labor has been suborned by zionists.
Of course , unions feel greater affiliation to the Labor Party because they have had historical input into social democracy and because there is no other game in town, no socialist organisation. The Greens and environmentalist groups have shown very little interest in the plight of the worker, but they are concerned about energy. RenewEngery posted this recent report about a coalmine fire still raging in central Queensland:
“The scenes of billowing smoke that have been burning for over a week serve as a stark reminder of the inherent dangers Australian coal miners face every day.”
Present state and federal governments persist with dangerous emissions while failing to regulate coal owners … see Unreported methane emissions .
Ian Curr
7 July 2024
The coalitions nuclear push, Duttons plans for a domestic nuclear energy industry, faces Commonwealth and State and Territory legal bans. These bans prohibit the building of nuclear reactors or producing nuclear energy.
WHY THE LEGAL BANS?
In 1999 environment law acknowledged the dangers to people, contamination of water and soil and expense of nuclear energy – following years of public campaigning against uranium mining. First Nation Peoples have been affected severely.
Dutton’s nuclear nightmare is a blatant attempt to keep burning coal and gas.National environmental justice group Friends of the Earth Australia (FoE) has slammed opposition leader Peter Dutton’s release of the Coalition nuclear policy, describing it as a nuclear nightmare and a cynical ploy to keep burning coal and gas.
Nuclear is simply too expensive and will take far too long to build to do anything useful for Australia’s energy transition, and is little more than a political tool in the Coalition’s strategy to delay renewables and maintain the profits of fossil fuel companies.
The nuclear energy industry has long been rejected in Australia and is banned because it presents significant risks to front line workers, communities and the environment.
Most Australians agree we don’t need nuclear and this is a cynical ploy to divide the community.
“The Coalition is dumping its radioactive energy failures on to communities who deserve a safe and renewable future” said Dr. Jim Green, FoE’s national nuclear campaigner
Importantly, the nuclear chain needed to make nuclear power happen (uranium mining, enrichment, transportation and waste management) disproportionately affects First Nations Peoples on this continent and beyond.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Will you write to your Coalition representatives about Peter Dutton’s policy explaining how you’d like the country to produce our electricity?
In solidarity,
Rosemarie Severin,
Member: Friends of the Earth, Brisbane, Just Peace QLD
Friends of the Earth Pace Collective