From the National Press Club: I love the National Gallery of Australia (NGA), even if it’s gone so Woke that I can’t bring myself to be a member anymore. Today, the NGA was the battlefield for Speccie favourite, Chris ‘$275 cheaper’ Bowen, and Ted ‘too polished with little substance’ O’Brien for the National Press Club debate series. Clearly, the titles of Minister and Shadow Minister ‘for Climate Change and Energy’ indicate the level of importance your power bill matters to politicians.
The highlight was when some idiot protester – I picked this bloke as dodgy at the get-go – jumped up when Ted O’Brien began to speak and started shouting about ending coal and gas. The numerous AFP officers had the leftie protester out the door before I could get my phone out for a photo.
As the debate began to warm up, I was having trouble with my hearing aids (ex-artillery, so I have gunner-ear in my old age) but then realised that old mate protester was on the footpath outside the venue with a big sign and a megaphone. Nobody could hear what he was saying but he had me struggling to hear anyone else. Thirty minutes later he was gone – no doubt some leftie public servant on lunch break with too much cash and too little brains.
But I digress.
I’ve heard Ted O’Brien speak on energy policy numerous times. In the past, I’ve found him to be like those annoying silvertail kids at school who had their parents help them over-polish their speaking performance but with too little substance to get more than a bare credit grade.
Not today.
Ted O’Brien was all over Chris Bowen like a wind turbine on an endangered bird species.
I am surprised that Bowen turned up at all. He had to, of course, but he had nothing to stand on.
Two years ago (almost to the day), I asked Chris Bowen what his Plan B was if his policy failed. Two years on, offshore wind and green hydrogen projects are failing, and the promised $275 cheaper power prices are a cruel joke. Bowen’s Plan B has been confirmed as using more gas (der…). But what is his Plan C? The man has zero credibility.
Any wonder we haven’t seen him until now. (And don’t bother looking for him on X.)
What about Ted O’Brien?
Don’t judge a footballer on their pre-season performance is all I can say.
O’Brien was all over it. He had the facts and figures and mongrel enough to keep Bowen on the ropes. Bowen has clearly had training in public speaking. He routinely performs the patently obvious heel-raises and arm sweeps to emphasise his points. Although it is difficult to see how he can front Australian voters with an energy policy that continues to fail, and it is difficult not to admire how clever he is in getting away with it for so long.
The key question for Mr Bowen now is, what is his Plan C? I daresay he doesn’t have one.
But does Mr O’Brien have all the answers?
He at least has nuclear as a plausible solution to reducing carbon emissions through our energy system without destroying the economy completely. But as the years roll on, I am sceptical that energy prices will ever come down. They won’t unless the Coalition pulls out of Paris and the Net-Zero madness.
If you think Australia makes a lick of difference in this global race to Net-Aero’s bottom, I’d be surprised you are even reading this article. For the rest of us, it is right to ask Mr O’Brien how his policy will avoid Mr Bowen’s failures if the entire premise of the policy is based on woke trends instead of empirical evidence that is falsifiable rather than censored from proper public debate.
As far as debates go, this one was the best I have seen so far. Chris Bowen didn’t give an inch, and Ted O’Brien has improved by a country mile. I was truly impressed by Mr O’Brien’s performance. But make no mistake, Mr Bowen’s dogged chutzpah demonstrates why I would never be a convincing politician.
But the public servant protester was the standout today. How I managed to hold back my full belly-laugh guffaw as the AFP sent him packing is as magical an outcome as Chris Bowen’s energy policy. And that’s a fact.
