It was always a gamble to see how long Victoria’s proposed ban on gas cooktops would last. After all, beautiful, high-end gas stovetops are a big favourite among the rich and trendy inner-city voters. They’re also considered essential for migrant communities and the diverse restaurant strip. Not to mention the lowest rung on Labor’s voting hierarchy – old-fashioned Aussie families and their BBQs. Labor doesn’t really count their opinion when it comes to eco-fascism, but they exist and they are angry.
With over 80 per cent of all Victorian homes enjoying gas, Labor was playing with electoral fire.
In the same way that left-leaning voters want to go ‘Net Zero’ with wind turbines and solar farms, but still keep flying to their regular European holidays – there was no chance they would rip out their gas stoves to help the government tick a box on a UN spreadsheet. Labor has finally realised this and withdrawn part of the policy.
The Greens are cooking over the backflip.
‘This is a cowardly, political decision that denies basic climate science,’ scowled Victorian Greens Leader, Ellen Sandell. ‘We’re in the middle of a climate crisis caused by burning fossil fuels, yet Labor wants to pour more fuel on the fire and encourage more offshore gas projects in Victoria.’
‘Gas cooktops are not only terrible for the climate, they’re expensive and they lead to complex health issues, including childhood asthma.’
What is it the Left say online? Oh yes… ‘Citation needed.’
One wonders how many Green elected officials and party members across Australia have gas stovetops in their homes? Probably the same number who drive cars and fly on planes.
Greens MP Tim Read added, ‘I’m worried that [Labor] is afraid of fossil fuel industry propaganda and they’re concerned with what the Liberal Party thinks.’
To be fair, I’m not sure anyone is concerned with what the Victorian Liberal Party think. They are the dormice of politics – only ever seen out of the corner of one’s eye or detected via scratch marks on the floorboards.
Understandably, the gas cooktop industry is rather unhappy with the chopping and changing of policy from the Labor government – a government that causally makes decisions that destroy entire workforces and businesses and then shrugs its shoulders and changes its mind.
‘Today’s announcement … is a cynical political exercise, an attempt to defuse widespread community discontent with their illogical anti-gas policies without making any substantive concessions. Half the energy used by Victorian homes is gas for cooking, heating, and hot water, which creates less emissions than switching to coal-fired electricity. Of the common household uses of gas, cooking would be the smallest and also the most emotive for many community groups. Telling taxpayers ‘keep cooking with gas’ but ignoring the fundamental flaw in … pushing households to electrify everything makes no sense except from a political perspective,’ said Jon Seeley, of Seeley International.
In comments early in the year, Jon Seeley added:
‘We should all be doing what we can for renewables, but the idea that in the short-term we’re switching gas appliances out, with no consideration for the environmental impact of throwing out perfectly good appliances to replace them with brand new ones, fully imported from China, is ridiculous.’
The industry had originally asked for some detail and modelling on the outrageous gas ban but mostly all they received was rambling nonsense from the Gas Substitution Roadmap. Modelling organised by Frontier Economics and Gas Energy Australia to offer Victorians a more realistic estimate for what they’d be out of pocket for found that the average household cost would sit between $21,000 and $41,000 (roughly) with costs not expected to be returned for 40 years.
The government said it was more like $15,000.
No wonder Victorians have been raging.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan doesn’t have quite the same grunt authority as Daniel Andrews, and so she has (sensibly) backed down from the war on gas. This also means a handful of those struggling offshore gas projects will be rescued.
It’s not a complete victory for common sense.
Labor aren’t capable of that.
New homes are still banned from installing gas. The Premier said:
‘We know that gas is a diminishing resource which is why we will always help those households and businesses who can to go all electric. I’m going to be really clear today … Victorians can continue to keep cooking with gas.’
Why is gas rare?
Aside from political bans artificially reducing supply, gas is now being used to prop up the disastrous and unstable green energy roll-out.
When the wind stops blowing and the sun goes down, the gas power stations have to surge into life like a pilot light next to a freshly struck match.
Victorians could have all the gas cooktops their little hearts desire if the Premier was to do something sensible, like open a few more coal-fired power stations and commission a nuclear plant to take over in the future.
The Premier finished with some woefully patronising comments about ‘having a conversation’ with the community.
‘It also gives us the opportunity to have a conversation with the Victorian community about our future energy mix and our future energy needs.’
An honest conversation would include mentioning the failures, cost blow-outs, and major energy holes in the Net Zero utopia.
Even more honesty would involve Labor breaking up with the Greens, explaining that reality has hit Climate Change dogma and squashed it.
Why not leave the Greens holding the poisoned chalice of Net Zero? They seem keen.
