Virtue signaling is to empathise with victims while doing nothing about their persecution. The trick of it, though, is it must be consequence-free. You can’t virtue signal successfully or sustainably if your inaction explicitly causes the very harm at issue.
This is a lesson in sophistry that Treasurer Jim “Chicken” Chalmers is yet to learn. His Mr Nice Guy act is fine so far as it goes. But, he is also the most powerful economic individual in the country and if his inaction costs everybody dearly then empathising over it will not save him:
“I’m not going to pretend that we’re not worried about these electricity price forecasts. I think any responsible government facing these kinds of price hikes for electricity and for gas needs to consider a broader suite of regulatory interventions than they might have considered in years gone by.”
Riiiight. So where is it? The energy shock was underway on day one of the Albanese Government. The ACCC report on its causes was delivered two months ago. Any government with the slightest sense of urgency would have acted long ago.
Indeed, even a cautious government would have composed a response in time for the Budget, the natural platform for announcing energy market reforms.
It’s not like the urgency is not still there. Gas prices are back to $20Gj and power prices are flying:
Futures are downright terrifying for 2023:
What action have we had? Following the damning ACCC report into the gas cartel, Resources Minister Mad King signed up to a domestic reservation mechanism that entitled the cartel to triple prices!
Then she took off on an industry-paid junket so that nobody could ask her questions about it.
Now, we’re supposed to be reassured by a new nothing in the Budget:
Resources Minister Madeleine King will now receive expert advice every three months – rather than annually – and will be able to start the process of activating the mechanism if she concludes a risk of domestic gas supply shortages is expected.
It was among measures announced in the budget with Treasury allocating the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission $40m for the increased oversight of gas markets.
Treasury also flagged it was “exploring options for further reforms that may be required to ensure Australian customers have access to energy at reasonable prices”, amid persistent speculation a price reform could be introduced to ease pressures on high tariffs for manufacturers.
The move, which will involve consultation with the LNG producers – represents a fresh threat to the industry just weeks after it struck a heads of agreement with the Albanese government amid the threat of the gas trigger being pulled for the first time.
That is more complete guff. Quarterly inaction is just as bad as annual inaction. Save the $40m. Stop consulting with the Evil Gas Cartel and get on with regulating it to death.
And, by the way, it is also very clear that NSW and QLD power prices are going to require a similar intervention for coal prices or they will not fall.
We all know the real problem:
A Labor source said Dr Chalmers was still “scarred” from the failed “super profits” mining tax in 2010 when he was a senior adviser to then treasurer Wayne Swan, and that he did not want to revisit the idea.
The Albanese Government is utterly terrified of mining, even as it gouges the living daylights out of everybody else. Bizarrely, this is being cheered on by the allegedly “leftie” press:
The Albanese government has an unofficial mantra. No sudden movements. Don’t surprise the voters.
You can think of this as a special bequest from the artist formerly known as the prime minister of Great Britain, Liz Truss. In scary times (and the budget papers confirm scary are the times we live in) being crazy brave, or in the Truss case just plain crazy, can get you killed.
Or, you can waste a crisis and let it eat you alive.
