John Daysh might be Chris Bowen !

ttbn,

Net Zero is the topic of this thread, so tossing in a laundry list of unrelated grievances just makes it look like you're trying to inspire outrage and create a sense of chaos where there isn't any.

You’ve lumped climate action together with childcare, aged care, health, housing, and even the NDIS - as if all government spending is part of a single conspiracy. What exactly does the NDIS have to do with Net Zero? Nothing. It's a social safety net for people with disabilities, not a climate policy. Throwing it into a rant about energy reform is an obvious attempt to distract rather than inform.

Both major parties still support Net Zero because it's not just about emissions - it's about future-proofing the economy. Global markets are shifting, industries are decarbonising, and countries that fall behind will miss out on investment, trade, and tech opportunities. Pretending we can just stick with coal and hope the world doesn’t notice isn’t a plan.

Yes, debt is high. But blaming it all on clean energy is lazy. The $120 billion you mentioned includes things like aged care, health, and housing - essential services, not green folly. Cost-of-living pressures are real, but they’re being driven largely by global factors: fossil fuel price shocks, supply chain issues, inflationary hangovers from the pandemic. You can criticise handouts, but let’s not pretend they caused the problem they’re trying to offset.

And if your solution is to vote Coalition instead of Labor - that’s your call. But dressing up every problem in the country as the fault of Net Zero or renewable energy is just misdirection.

Net Zero is the topic of this thread,
John Daysh,
Net Zero is the title, the topic is everything that affects society & particularly when it is as negative & destructive as Net Zero as it crosses all boundaries from incompetent Government to the choice of a less incompetent one being available. Apart from the environmental side there are the shortcomings to playing Russian Roulette with our economy by throwing billions into the wind literally !
A thread has to have a topic to get started but to strictly stick to it in the purest form gets it nowhere !
We need ideas for solutions, just pushing an agenda which does nothing more than syphon millions into undeserving pockets is what many of us are trying to stop. This might not suit you but that's how it has to go !

Indyvidual,

Saying that the “topic is everything that affects society” is just a way to excuse derailing the conversation. The thread isn’t titled “everything wrong with the government” - it’s specifically about Net Zero, the viability of climate targets, and the political debate around clean energy policy. That’s what mhaze’s original post focused on. It’s what most of us have been discussing.

You’re right that no policy exists in a vacuum, and sure - some economic or social effects can be linked back to energy decisions. But ttbn’s post wasn’t a thoughtful exploration of that. It was a grab-bag of mostly unrelated grievances - childcare, aged care, NDIS, wage growth in the public sector, housing taxes - barely tied to Net Zero, if at all. That’s not building on the topic. That’s hijacking it.

It’s completely fair to expect a thread to mostly stick to its theme, especially when the original post makes its focus crystal clear. Otherwise, every thread becomes a free-for-all where anyone can toss in whatever bugbear they like and call it “connected.”

You say we need “ideas for solutions.” Great, I agree. But calling for solutions requires sticking to the actual problem being discussed. If we’re talking about climate policy and Net Zero, let’s debate that. Throwing in a rant about the NDIS or housing taxes as if they’re proof that Net Zero is destructive isn’t insightful - it’s just muddying the waters.

To clarify, though, my intention wasn't to police the thread or play gatekeeper. It was to shine a light on the irrelevance of the unrelated topics ttbn introduced.

AGED WELFARE accounted for $51.1 billion (41%) of total welfare spending in Australia 2023/24. Hook these Old Farts up to a treadmill 12 hours a day, sun up, to sun down, producing green energy, lights out at 8pm. I hear you say; How much will this Seniors National Service Green Energy cost? A can of beans per day, per old fart. AND when not on the treadmill, fart gas (beans are a great source of gas) powered generators will take over the electricity supply when the human producers are sleeping! My estimated saving from this is $51 billion (99%) pa. Who needs windmills when you've got beans!

John I do believe the above is on topic, as my battalions of Old Farts, will well and truly have reached their net zero by 2050!

John daysh,
Try as much as you will but there's no denying that there's only one very long term renewable & that's Nature. Nothing mankind created is renewable at Net Zero ! That is one of my points. Another point is that renewables are much, much more costly in every which way than coal. Oil should not actually be in the equation as even renewables are heavily oil dependent ! There's no battling renewables because there aren't any at this stage & the only factor that keeps the renewable bandwagon rolling is dumb as dog crap bureaudroids handing over billions of our Tax Dollars to con merchants !