Whether emperor Nero really fiddled as Rome burned as legend has it, the parallels in Australia with our emerging full-blown energy crisis amid political paralysis are becoming disturbingly real.
After a heatwave that smashed records in many parts of eastern Australia, electricity supplies in coal-rich NSW and Queensland were strained to the maximum with only Friday's forced load-shedding by the nation's biggest aluminum smelter preventing rolling blackouts similar to those in South Australia last Wednesday.
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| Any takers? Treasurer Scott Morrison brandishing a lump of coal during question time last week. Photo: Andrew Meares |
Monday's menace follows near-record demand in Queensland on Sunday, when most residents were off work and seeking to enjoy the weekend, albeit a swelteringly hot one.
And all these events come as the National Electricity Market prepares to lose one of its biggest power stations, when Victoria' s Hazelwood shuts down at the end of next month.
And what do we hear from Canberra? An acceptance that we have long-standing energy issues coming to a simultaneous boil, and the rousing declaration we need to dial down the political heat to ensure a calm but rapid response from governments to ensure lives aren't lost or factories closed because we couldn't keep the lights or air-conditioners on?
Instead, we get but yet more railing by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Josh Frydenberg, his Environment and Energy Minister, against the "complacent, negligent energy policy" by state Labor governments because they want targets for renewables beyond 2020.
Minister: Power surplus, but please don't use it.
NSW Energy and Utilities Minister Don Harwin has requested the public to make restrictions to their power usage between peak times, in order to prevent potential rolling blackouts, despite claiming we have a power surplus.
Yes, Victoria wants 40 per cent renewables by 2025 and Queensland 50 per cent by 2030 – the latter goal shared by federal and NSW Labor.
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| Energy and Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg gets his turn with the lump of coal. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen |
Not that Monday's blame deflection effort was particularly novel. Last week, we had the spectacle of Treasurer Scott Morrison brandishing a lump of coal in question time, accusing his opponents of "coalaphobia".
That fossil fetish came even though the generators' own lobby, the Australian Energy Council, has concluded new coal-fired power plants are "uninvestable".
While it may suit the PM in his internal battle to halt more MPs in his party's climate change-denying right from following the defection of South Australian senator Cory Bernardi, the posturing does nothing to help bring the many and varied stakeholders to the table to resolve the energy morass.
Turnbull could do worse than take a lead from Don Harwin. The new Liberal NSW Energy Minister emerged from a tense few hours on Friday monitoring the market to thank residents
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| Kelly O'Dwyer, Minister for Revenue and Financial Services, was apparently less keen to hold the lump of coal proffered by Minister for Social Services Christian Porter. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen |
Turnbull could also ease off his criticism of South Australia's reliance on wind farms when it is the federal Renewable Energy Target that's driven investment into that state thanks in no small part to the low population and excellent resource.
And he should be wary of stoking the coals of the anti-renewables section of his Coalition and parts of the media.
As reported this weekend, investment in new solar and wind energy is not only bringing $5.2 billion into mostly regional Australia this year alone, the funds are providing the only large-scale capacity being added to the network.
Talk now of cutting the RET – itself a steep goal to reach after years of investor dismay during Tony Abbott's time as prime minister – only serves to undermine already fragile investor sentiment and diminish future appeal.
Certainly, many of the issues are arcane yet important.
How much should the NEM market rules be revised to reflect the climate objects of cutting emissions and absorbing renewables? How much should market manipulation by major gas and electricity suppliers be investigated to ensure they aren't making constraints worse and profiteering in the process? And how much extra work is needed to ensure the grid can absorb ever more renewable energy and storage that the global economics of the industry would seem to dictate?
Consumers expect that electricity and gas supplies will be available when they flick the switch or twist the knob, and they won't forget or forgive those in charge when either source fails.
Yes, they might entertain political and gas industry calls for NSW and Victoria to loosen or reverse curbs on unconventional gas production in their states. But they'd be right to doubt such moves would make any difference to prices or supplies in the near future.
Instead, they would rather see their leaders recognise we have a problem. Our energy policies aren't working and they are certainly not aligned to any coherent plan to tackle climate change – an urgency felt by many people experiencing extreme conditions that scientists say will only become more frequent.
So, without any real effort to drop the talking points, our politicians – led by Turnbull – should just spare us the tease and don the togas, laurel headgear and sandals, and be done with it.
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