The Institute of Public Affairs’ Daniel Wild appeared on The Bolt Report – Sky News Australia to discuss the IPA’s research into net zero.
All media appearances posted onto the IPA website are directly related to the promotion and dissemination of IPA research.
Below is a transcript of the interview:
Andrew Bolt:
Joining me are Daniel Wild, Deputy Executive Director of the Institute of Public Affairs, and Garth Hamilton, a federal Liberal MP from Queensland.
Daniel Wild, how good was that little dose of reality?
Daniel Wild:
Well, it was very enjoyable, Andrew. And look, the President of Azerbaijan makes an important point, which is that nations are demanding fossil fuels, and developing nations need fossil fuels in order to grow their economies and to get out of poverty. So I think it’s a valuable insight that is offered. And I think the other point, Andrew, is it is another example of how net-zero is dead.
You make the point about the global warming scare is now running out of gas, to use an analogy. But I think as we look around the world, you judge by actions and not just words. And we’ve seen all across Europe, we’ve got countries that are cranking up their gas and their coal-fired power because they were dependent upon Russian gas. But that of course, when reality meets fantasy, reality always wins. And you have to have energy sovereignty and you’ve got to have 24/7 baseload power that runs 365 days a year, rain, hail, or shine. You can’t get that from wind, you can’t get that from solar. You can only get it from coal or gas or nuclear and in some cases a hydro.
So look, I think we are at a turning point into net-zero and the broader global warming policies that underpin that.
Andrew Bolt:
Hey, Garth Hamilton, Donald Trump is taking America out of the Paris Agreement to cut their emissions. That means the top three emitters, that’s China, the US and India, they pump out more than half the world’s emissions just between the three of them. They won’t be bound by that agreement anymore to cut their emissions. Indonesia isn’t either, but we are. Now, does that make sense? Who are we trying to impress? Should we also pull out of the Paris Agreement?
Garth Hamilton:
Well, firstly, who are we trying to impress? I’m not sure we’re impressing the average Australian who’s going through a cost of living crisis, I can assure you, Andrew. That’s the number one issue that people are raising with me. Look, I think we should be looking very closely and watching very closely at what our most closest and most trusted ally, the United States, is going to do in the short future. When we made that commitment, Andrew, a lot has changed since, and I want to raise with you four very important things that have changed that underwrote our commitment at the time.
Firstly, the Great Artesian Basin Project through carbon capture. This was going to solve a lot of our problems. That project has fallen away. The Burdekin Pumped Hydro Project. Anyone watching the Queensland political scene will have seen that that project’s fallen away and was a complete farce when we looked into it. The green hydrogen fever dream that struck us for a while there, that’s moved on as well. People are walking away from that as quickly as they can. And when we made that commitment, Snowy 2.0 looked like it was actually going to be completed.
We shouldn’t be afraid of change. We should always, every government should be putting the concerns of the Australian people first, and that’s how we should judge any policy position. I’ll point out policy positions aren’t set in stone. Look at nuclear. We’re trying to change that right now. And I think we’re doing that because we think it’s in the best interests of the Australian people. That’s what should guide every government’s decisions.
Andrew Bolt:
Well, you’re right to point out a lot of the alternative green energy schemes the government has been backing have fallen over or gone way over budget. If you want a lesson about being blind to the economies of green solutions, look at the German government. It’s just collapsed, heading to a snap election in February. It’s collapsed after Germany’s finance minister was sacked last week after declaring Germany’s economy was in such a mess that it had to dump its own emissions targets. Green policies were killing jobs, like they’re doing here.
Daniel, what does all this tell you?
Daniel Wild:
Well, Andrew, Germany is not a boutique Nordic nation that the climate zealots like to point to. It’s a serious industrial manufacturing powerhouse and sophisticated advanced manufacturing, and they’re seeing the writing on the wall here. They’re seeing the economic reality, which is they cannot maintain their economic base. They cannot maintain their leverage throughout Europe and the broader world under these green energy policies. I mentioned before the geopolitical component that Germany has had to face, which is its dependency on Russian gas. And that’s a lesson to us not to be dependent upon the infrastructure coming in from China for solar panels and wind turbines, because we can face a very similar issue in the not-too-distant future.
So as I said before, Andrew, net-zero is dead. When we look around the world and the policy actions being taken by governments, it shows that they no longer believe in what they were saying only three or four years ago, exactly as Garth was pointing out. So much has changed in the world, and I really do think that Donald Trump’s decision to remove America from the Paris Climate Agreement is going to be a catalyst for more global leaders to come out and say, “Hey, enough is enough. We’ve got to put our citizens ahead of this global climate zealotry that’s running our economies and our societies into the ground.”
Andrew Bolt:
Just quickly, one of Israel’s top TV channels, The Centre, reported at Gaza who found Palestinians there saying something I don’t hear from any of our pro-Palestinian protesters, and I think they don’t even want to know it. Stuff that should be broadcast everywhere, that the Hamas terrorist group which has run Gaza is poison, it must be destroyed. Listen to Palestinians themselves saying it.
Various Palestinians:
[foreign language].
Andrew Bolt:
There’s much more of that. Garth Hamilton, why don’t protestors here say the same?
Garth Hamilton:
I think they’re not connected, Andrew. During the long time that I spent working and living in the Middle East, I heard these comments regularly. This is the true voice of the Arab people in the Middle East. Be it with ISIS, Hamas, Hezbollah, the impact of Iran directly, they know the poison that is playing out. They know who is causing the harm over there. They have for a long time. It’s very, very sad that those here in Australia trying to bring that discord to our nation refuse to speak with the same voice of those who are being impacted by it on the ground.
Andrew Bolt:
Very well put. Garth Hamilton, Daniel Wild, thank you both for your time.
This transcript with Daniel Wild talking on The Bolt Report – Sky News Australia from 13 November 2024 has been edited for clarity.
