Kevin Rudd has warned that Australians will conclude the clean energy transition is 'bullshit' if it does not deliver tangible benefits to their daily lives, such as lower prices, reliable energy supply, and new job opportunities. The former prime minister made the remarks at the Melbourne launch of Power, Prosperity and Planet, a book by former diplomat Thom Woodroofe.
Rudd Criticises Trump's Green Energy Cuts
Rudd described Donald Trump's cuts to support for green industries as 'unfortunate', but noted that climate policies would have staying power if they delivered concrete outcomes. 'Policy continuity will be supported if we continue not just good messaging about this, but actually deliver price outcomes, security of supply, electricity supply outcomes, new industries and new jobs, which people touch, see, feel, hear and have in their daily experience,' he said.
'Otherwise, they conclude it's all bullshit and therefore it doesn't work,' Rudd added.
EVs Shield Australians from 'Terror' of High Fuel Prices
Rudd, now leading the New York-based Asia Society thinktank, said Australia should 'seize the opportunity presented by what is now unfolding in Iran and the Strait of Hormuz – and frankly the shock which working people across the world are now experiencing in terms of continued hydrocarbon dependency'. He argued that electric vehicle owners are protected from the 'physical terror' of fuel price spikes.
'If you've got an EV at the moment, or frankly, if you've got a hybrid, you are much less dependent on what comes out of the geopolitics of the Gulf at present,' Rudd said.
Australia's Comparative Advantage in Green Industry
Rudd highlighted Australia's 'enormous comparative advantage' in green iron, steel, and renewable energy due to its 'vast slabs of real estate, vast amounts of sunshine' and proximity to export markets in Southeast Asia.
Speaking at the same event, former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull said 'we're in a position now where we can say to the people, you can have cheaper power, affordable power, reliable power with renewables. And that's why nobody is building new coal power stations in Australia.' Turnbull criticised the Liberal Party's decision to preference One Nation in the Farrer byelection as 'a retrograde move', describing One Nation as 'right out there in the climate change denial business'.
Lessons from the US Inflation Reduction Act
Rudd said the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act was an example of trying to 'thread the needle' between building green industries, delivering green energy to working families, and creating new green jobs. He noted that despite Trump's rollbacks, state-level attachment to IRA investments has persisted. 'It hasn't been a complete flipback under President Trump, because the states have fought back,' Rudd said.
The message for Australian governments, he concluded, is to ensure policies deliver for 'the good folks in communities right across Australia' in 'their head, in their hearts and in their pocketbook'.
