Why 43%? Why not 40%? 45%?

Because it looks more precise, more scientific, and might fool morons, which it probably does. But we are not all morons, and we know that it is all bullshite.

The situation remains the way it has always been: no fossil fuels or uranium, no electricity when it is needed, no manufacturing, no jobs, no Western civilisation - which is what the Marxists and carpet-baggers want.

"The Energy Minister correctly says…" we need even more unreliables: solve the problem with more of the problem itself.

The Energy Minister is an idiot.

The only way to solve this self-inflicted problem is to admit that we are NOT responsible for climate change; nor is carbon dioxide; and we have to do what Europe has found it has to do - get back to plentiful, reliable, cheap coal and gas.

While the climate change fear-mongering has replaced Covid as the the 'big thing' to keep us inline, and take more money off us via unreliable power, the latest Lowy Institute survey shows that climate change scrapes in at number 5 as a concern for Australians. Climate change lags behind Russia, China, cyber attacks, and Taiwan in that order, with Covid, still being clung to by the 'elites', rated number 11.

The average pleb knows what is important to him or her, despite what the political class thinks.

Germany shows us where blind belief in 100% renewables will lead us. Strangely the public wants nuclear but the political inner circle in several countries won't allow it. There are a number of additional costs to high penetration renewables. These include unsightly new transmission lines, frequency correction (costing one solar farm 25% of its revenue), expensive and limited storage or backup by gas, a fossil fuel. Then there's the side payments like STCs and LGCs which are still generous despite being predicted to have dwindled by now.

I agree with the coal phaseout to show other countries we're doing our bit. However billions of dollars worth of lithium ion batteries won't run smelters and sewage pumps at 2 am. Nuclear is the only realistic replacement for coal and some gas but will take years to implement. Hopefully this penny will drop for the elites before we've painted ourselves into a corner.

An accurate and timely review! Of course renewables aren't the answer! If one had a thousand acres of solar panels? the lowest at cost price for daylight power would come in a 6cents PKWH And would need gas backup when the sun don't shine to maintain that cost of generation price.

Then there is the transmission and distribution losses of around 75% that means, when the power hits you home the cost has already quadrupled plus, whatever margins the wholesaler and retailer impose! Plus the guarantee of supply imposition!

Currently ROM coal-fired power averages out at 3 cents PKWH and we pay a retail of not less than 24cents PKWH now with some others in the privatized market paying not less than 30 cents.

MSR thorium technology can be re-tasked with burning nuclear waste, which is in MSR tech, just 90%+ unspent fuel! And waste we'd be paid annual millions to store as the world's premier nuclear waste repository.

And we would store it, but only after we'd burnt and re-burnt it dozens of times to exhaust the available energy component! And in that process, reduce the half life from thousands of years to just 300!

The money earned as a repository and from the subsequent energy profits, would pay for all outlays and a new transmission facility. Which would be under road, cling wrap thin graphene. That would supply micro grids.

This in turn would mostly remove all the referred to transmission and distribution losses. If we start now? And building mass produced SMRs in a purpose built government funded and facilitated factory/co-op.

In twenty years we'd have massive energy exports from reliable 24/7 power and an income vastly more than what we get for coal today! Plus we'd have 100% carbon emission reduction! And a win/win/win/win all round with no downsides at all!

All that prevents any of the above are the airheads in power and the airhead (brainwashed from birth) greens who go ballistic, whenever the word nuclear is mentioned!
Alan B.

Some facts! The longer the half life the less radioactive the material. Bananas are radioactive as are brazil nuts and milk!

In some communities where background radiation is double the average, cancer rates are halved!

Thorium is less radioactive than a banana, is fertile not fissile and needs to spend around a fortnight in the blanket of a nuclear reactor to become fissile U233. And then used in MSR Molten salt reactor so more than 90% of the energy component of the most energy dense material in the world is produced for resale at around 1 cent PKWH!

Thorium is at least four times more abundant than uranium! Conventional reactors need continuous power to power the electromagnets that lift and lower the fuel rods to main safe power output and need continual monitoring to ensure no meltdown!

In MSR technology the fuel and the salt are already molten and therefore no meltdown is possible and if power stops for any reason the system simply self drains into purpose built holding tanks where it solidifies.

Moreover, the reaction is self regulating and is walkaway safe. As the medium heats it expands thus slowing the reaction. And as it cools and contracts the neutron exchange thereby increases as does the self regulating reaction! You could weld the thing shut and leave it for thirty or more years without any worry.

Just 8 grams of thorium would power your house and car for 100 years. the cost of mining and refining 8 grams of the metal? Around 100 dollars. And that my friends is just one dollar a year.

In a conventional solid fuel reactor only around 5-10% of the available energy component is released with the rest 95-90% becoming problematic nuclear waste. In MSR thorium it is exactly the opposite!
Alan B.

Written as an elite profiteer of the renewable industry, if only as an on the side bit player. You can bet your house there is money to be made by Geoff Carmody & Associates from renewables &/or a carbon tax.

It is typical these people to play up the scam of CO2 caused global warming when there is millions in it for them, & they obviously don't give a damn what it does to the nation or the majority of it's people.