Australia’s Incoming Climate Change Authority Chair Lashes Out at “Deniers” – Watts Up With That?

Essay by Eric Worrall

So much ignorance in one package.

Matt Kean’s first speech since appointment as Climate Change chair

Incoming climate change tsar Matt Kean has called on the clean energy industry to take up the fight to the ‘climate change denialists’.

Jessica Wang
July 16, 2024 – 4:29PM

Former NSW Liberal minister Matt Kean has lashed climate change denialists and pro-coal “propaganda”, calling on the industry to “put your mouth where your money is” in his first public speech as the next climate change tsar. 

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“While many here in this room and in this industry remain silent and hopeful, the opponents of the transition are loud and determined,” he told the audience in Sydney. 

“It is time for many of you in this room to put your mouth where your money is. The facts, the benefits and the positive outcomes are roaring outside. 

“It’s time for you to enter the debate and argue for Australia’s interests, argue for Australia.”

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“We try and muscle our way into the forefront of global competition … but we will quickly lose our position in the queue if the capital is sitting idle, waiting endlessly for decision by planning authorities,” he said.

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Read more: https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/climate-change/matt-keans-first-speech-since-appointment-as-climate-change-chair/news-story/5f275d86ff6508d52b6b307bac19c53d

From The Guardian;

Matt Kean tells clean energy industry to speak out against vested interests ‘undermining the transition’

Former NSW Liberal minister calls on renewables sector to ‘put your mouth where your money is’ in first speech as incoming Climate Change Authority chair

Peter Hannam Economics correspondentTue 16 Jul 2024 14.11 AEST

The incoming Climate Change Authority chair Matt Kean has issued a call to arms for the clean energy industry to “enter the arena” and push back against vested interests seeking to erode public confidence in renewable energy.

Kean, a former energy minister in New South Wales and Liberal MP for another three weeks, told the Australian Clean Energy Summit 2024 in Sydney the industry had the science and the financial heft to counter the “propaganda” of vested fossil fuel interests.

“Those whose interest is maintaining the status quo and their own super profits and self-interest at the expense of Australian families and the national interest are hard at work undermining the transition,” Kean told the event in his first major speech since being appointed authority head by the Albanese government last month.

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“While many here remain silent and hopeful, they are loud and determined,” Kean said, according to a copy of speech. “It is time for many of you in this room to put your mouth where your money is.”

“The facts, the benefits, and the positive outcomes are on your side,” he said. “It’s time for you to enter the debate and argue for Australia.”

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“Too many projects are being forced to run a tortuous path to approval, bouncing between federal and state and sometimes local approval regimes … dragging on for years, when time is of the essence,” Kean said.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/jul/16/matt-kean-clean-energy-climate-change-authority-renewable-energy?CMP=twt_a-environment_b-gdneco

Someone should explain “social license” to the new Climate Change Authority chairman Matt Kean.

From the AEMO Appendix to the 2024 Integrated System Plan for the National Electricity Market

… As part of the development of this infrastructure, the energy industry will need to establish and maintain social licence in local communities that are being asked to host new generation, storage, and transmission.

Establishing social licence for infrastructure development requires intentional and ongoing relationship building between organisations and communities to foster acceptance and trust. Communities also have their own intrinsic social licence ‘commitments’ to and with each other (for example, the right for farmers to farm, rural communities to function harmoniously, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to practice culture) which must be considered. Community acceptance of projects is fostered when organisations prioritise trust and deliver overall positive impact and is granted or withdrawn by the community in line with their social, cultural, and economic conditions …

Read more: https://aemo.com.au/-/media/files/major-publications/isp/2024/appendices/a8-social-licence.pdf?la=en

The AEMO does a good job of explaining what social license is, but perhaps they should have made more effort to explain why social license is so important.

The reason social license is important is the only thing preventing metal thieves from ravaging Australia’s electricity infrastructure like they do in South Africa, is rural people in Australia feel enough sense of community to pick up the phone and call the police when they see metal thieves attacking power pylons.

No affordable regime of patrols or security systems can possibly keep hundreds of miles of power lines and other sensitive energy infrastructure safe from thieves, without the wholehearted cooperation of locals.

If Matt Keen rams through his fast track planning approvals, brushing aside objections from locals, rural folk in Australia might switch from calling the police to offering metal thieves coffee and refreshments as they work.

But I doubt Matt Kean will listen to anyone offering this kind of advice. Kean seems like the kind of climate change authority chairman who is destined to learn things the hard way.

MP Keith Pitt’s response to Matt Kean’s speech: “Matt Kean is one of the problems, not the solution”.

WUWT does not advocate metal theft or lawbreaking, our preferred resolution to standoffs like this is to promote public support for the cancellation of all Net Zero and climate policies, and the abolition of all climate change ministries, departments and authorities.