The Nationals leader and Member for Murray Plains, Peter Walsh, says the full reality of the failure of the Allan Labor government’s ridiculous reliance on its renewable energy fantasy is coming home to roost where it hurts most – in people’s hip pockets.
Mr Walsh says the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has put in black and white what he and The Nationals have been saying for years – renewable energy leads to higher costs and cannot supply the grid.
He says AEMO’s latest quarterly report “chillingly spells out the problem with this unfounded and insane belief” that the wind and sun can replace the coal and the gas.
“This latest report says we have not had enough sun, enough rain, too many cold days and the worst wind records in seven years,” Mr Walsh explains.
“Anyone can look at the winter skies – grey, overcast, occasionally rainy – and realise there’s not enough sun for solar. Even a five-year-old can work that out. Just not Jacinta Allan and her greenie besieged government hoping dreams can be made reality just because they don’t have the courage to admit they’ve got it wrong,” he says.
“AEMO says the average cost of wholesale electricity in Victoria between April and June reached $127/MWh – up $39 compared to the same quarter in 2023.
“AEMO also says wholesale gas prices have risen more than $2 up to $13.66 a gigajoule compared with the first quarter of 2024, after it last month issued a warning there was the potential for gas supply shortfalls amid depleted storage in Victoria.
“You would have to be either blind or the most naïve individual in the world to see how this could turn out any other way.”
Mr Walsh also condemned a recent visit by Minister Lily D’Ambrosio to Kerang, in his electorate, to announce the delivery of 100 Tesla Megapacks to the Koorangie Energy Storage System.
He says “only a member of the Allan government would have the arrogance to trot out more of its renewable rubbish on the same day the latest Australian Energy Market Operator quarterly report showed how stupid its renewable strategy is”.
“Ms D’Ambrosio’s claims the Kerang-located battery system ‘will help accelerate the transition to renewables and help lower power bills’ is as big a lie as the Allan Labor government’s denial it knew nothing about the extent of CFMEU corruption in adding billions to the Big Build cost overruns,” Mr Walsh adds.
“There is enough hot air in her announcement to power a significant wind farm.
“AEMO’s announcement naughty Mother Nature isn’t falling in line with Jacinta Allan’s renewable farce stresses ‘these market conditions highlight the important role batteries, pumped hydro and flexible gas generation will play as renewable generation becomes more dominant in Australia’s electricity grids’,” he says.
“Even that is corporate spin to say the renewables dream is fast becoming the nightmare The Nationals have been predicting for years.
“If these results, on top of our soaring prices in recent years, can’t convince people the corrupt Allan government and its Greens allies aren’t living in la la land – and wanting the rest of us to take up residence with them – I don’t know what will,” Mr Walsh says.
“Renewables might well be part of the future mix, they will never be the solution in our time – we need guaranteed power for business, for homes, for progress and Jacinta Allan’s fantasies will never deliver that.”