A climate reckoning is coming to our political hothouse

When Tony Abbott was prime minister, he ordered more Australian strike aircraft and troops into Iraq. Not because Australia was big enough to turn the tide of battle against the barbarians of Daesh, so-called Islamic State or ISIL. But because he believed in the fight.

Climate is no longer a lefty concern. Illustration: Jim Pavlidis

"It's absolutely vital that the world sees and sees quickly that the ISIL death cult can be beaten," he said in 2014. Australia's commitment ultimately made up less than 1 per cent of the combined effort against the terrorist thugs but it was early and firm. Abbott described it as "an important global concern" and he was right. And, with more than 60 countries co-operating, it was a success.

When it came to another important global concern, Abbott argued a very different case. He and like-minded Coalition conservatives have long maintained that Australian action against climate change was futile: "Even if carbon dioxide, a naturally occurring trace gas that’s necessary for life, really is the main climate change villain, Australia’s contribution to mankind’s emissions is scarcely more than 1 per cent," Abbott said last year.

Read the opinion piece from The Age by Peter Hartcher - “A climate reckoning is coming to our political hothouse.”

Snowy Hydro's federal takeover refuels debate over 2.0's viability

Snowy 2.0 is a big enough venture to create its own watershed of cheers and jeers.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's pet project to expand
 the Snowy Hydro scheme is going to cost billions more.

The federal buyout of $6.221 billion - split two-thirds for NSW, one-third for Victoria - to acquire the 87 per cent of Snowy Hydro shares not held by the Commonwealth was cheered by the respective state governments. With virtually no strings attached, they are naturally gleeful.

No doubt the engineering firms eyeing the construction of a 27-kilometre tunnel linking two existing dams are among those excited by the overnight news of the federal takeover.

By drilling a tunnel connection between an upper and a lower reservoir, water can be pumped higher when electricity is cheap and plentiful, and released to run through hydro generators when it is not. The tunnel's diameter will need to be as large as 12 meters to reduce friction loss and keep overall energy loss to about 20 per cent.

Read Peter Hannam’s story in The Age - “Snowy Hydro's federal takeover refuels debate over 2.0's viability.”

(Snowy 2.0 is about the centralization of energy when what an Australia able to endure the rigours of climate sensitive 21st Century need is quite the reverse - a decentralised power structure to be found in wind and solar and other renewable sources. Snowy 2.0 is rooted in hydro power (a renewable source) and that is to be applauded, but economically is compares badly to the other forms of energy that can be secured in more diversified forms.

Also, as climate change worsens and the weather, and the water upon which Snowy 2.0 depends becomes less predictable and reliable, the enthusiastic whopping and hollering of Malcolm Turnbull and his acolytes maybe drowned out by a chorus of complaints.

The $billions being spent to Snowy 2.0 should be applied to creating truly decentralized power system through which the “power” is handed back to the people - Robert McLean)