Australia’s headlong rush to Net Zero by 2050 is not just misguided policy, it is a deliberate economic wrecking ball swung by ideologues in Canberra.

Under the Albanese Labor government, we are witnessing the systematic dismantling of our resource-rich economy, all in pursuit of a Utopian fantasy that ignores basic arithmetic, energy realities, and the livelihoods of millions.

This is not incompetence; it is sabotage, subsidised by taxpayers. How much longer can we afford this madness before the lights go out and the jobs vanish for good?

The Devastation in Plain Sight

Let us start with the numbers the Net Zero cheerleaders hate. Australia’s energy sector, powered historically by reliable coal and gas, has been the backbone of our export economy.

We are the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and a top coal supplier, contributing over $100 billion annually to exports in recent years. Yet the government’s Renewable Energy Target and aggressive phase-out of fossil fuels are gutting this foundation.

Take AGL Energy’s early closure of the Liddell coal plant in 2023 and the planned shutdown of others: wholesale electricity prices spiked to record highs, with spot prices in NSW hitting $15,000 per megawatt-hour during peaks. Households are now paying 30-50 per cent more for power since mid-2022, according to the Australian Energy Regulator and ABS CPI data (electricity up ~45 per cent cumulatively to Q3 2025, with rebates now expired).

Businesses are suffering too. Manufacturing giants, including some of the world’s largest explosives makers and major fertiliser producers, have slashed production or mothballed plants entirely. A Brisbane plant shut indefinitely in 2023, axing 400 jobs, and another faces the same fate unless energy costs plummet. CEO after CEO has blamed the lethal cocktail of sky-high gas prices and carbon penalties under the Safeguard Mechanism.

It is widely held that achieving Net Zero could cost $1.5 trillion by 2050, or about 5 per cent of GDP annually. That is money diverted from schools, hospitals, and infrastructure into wind turbines that produce power only when the wind blows at a pathetic 30-35 per cent capacity factor and solar farms that blanket productive farmland. In Victoria alone, the offshore wind push is set to industrialise coastlines, driving up costs for fishermen and tourists while delivering intermittent energy that requires massive battery backups. Think South Australia’s $1 billion-plus spend on batteries that still failed during blackouts.

Our mining sector, employing over 270,000 directly, faces extinction-level threats. Mining giants have warned of reduced investment and the deferral of new coal projects. The result? Lost royalties: Queensland alone collects $5-7 billion yearly from coal, which funds essential services. Instead, we are importing more manufactured goods from coal-powered China, offshoring emissions and jobs.

Intentional Destruction: Paris to Belém

Is this sabotage deliberate? Absolutely, and it starts with the Paris Accord, the rotten root of the entire scam. Australia signed away its sovereignty in 2015, locking us into emissions targets that serve no environmental purpose while shackling our economy. Our 1.2 per cent of global emissions could vanish tomorrow, and the climate would not notice; yet we are forced to beggar ourselves while China commissions two new coal plants per week. The hypocrisy reached peak absurdity at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, private jets ferrying delegates to a rainforest city, preaching austerity to nations that power the world.

Brazil’s own emissions rose 4 per cent in 2024 from Amazon deforestation and cattle farming, yet President Lula lectures us on morality. India expands coal capacity by 50 gigawatts while demanding trillions in climate reparations. The EU burns Russian gas rebranded as LNG and calls it green. This is not climate action; it is a wealth transfer scheme dressed in virtue, with developing nations laughing all the way to the bank and Australia playing the useful idiot.

Thankfully, the Coalition has finally stirred. After the 2025 election bloodbath that ousted Peter Dutton, the Nationals dragged a reluctant Liberal Party, kicking and screaming, into a unified, full-throated anti-Net Zero stance under Sussan Ley. Just this week, the Coalition formally abandoned the 2050 target, Labor’s 43 per cent cuts by 2030, and the 82 per cent renewables fantasy. No more timid technology-not-taxes platitudes; Ley’s Liberals, finally aligned with David Littleproud’s hardline Nationals, have embraced coal continuity and economic realism.

But this is still half a loaf. The Coalition must go further, demand Australia withdraw from the Paris Accord entirely and make nuclear power the centrepiece of a real energy revival. Every dollar spent complying with this toothless treaty is a dollar stolen from pensioners facing $500 quarterly power bills. Every megawatt of reliable baseload sacrificed to Paris is a job lost in the Hunter Valley or Bowen Basin.

Nuclear and Gas: The Real Bridge

France generates 70 per cent of its electricity from nuclear, at half the cost per kWh of South Australia’s wind-and-solar circus. Ontario, Canada: 60 per cent nuclear, blackouts a distant memory. Sweden: 40 per cent nuclear, emissions plummeting while industry thrives. Even the UAE built four reactors in a decade, on time, on budget, while we dither over bird-chopping wind farms.

Small Modular Reactors are factory-built, safer than coal plants, and can be rolled out in regional Australia within five years. One 300 MW SMR replaces 1,000 wind turbines and their sprawling transmission lines. No weather dependency. No $15,000/MWh price spikes. Zero emissions. And the waste? A single plant’s annual output fits in a shoebox and is safely stored for centuries.

Australia has the world’s largest uranium reserves, 33 per cent of global supply, yet we export it raw and import finished fuel rods at a markup. Under Labor’s ban, we are the only G20 nation prohibiting the cleanest, most reliable baseload technology on Earth. Lift the ban. Build SMRs in the Latrobe Valley, Hunter, and Bowen Basin. Power aluminium smelters, data centres, and hydrogen exports, without a single subsidy.

Labor screams waste and cost, but France’s nuclear fleet has operated safely for 50 years with lower lifecycle costs than wind or solar. The CSIRO’s own GenCost report, when stripped of renewables’ hidden transmission and backup costs, shows nuclear is competitive today. Add in the $1 trillion we would save avoiding blackouts and industrial flight, and it is a no-brainer.

Gas is the backbone. We sit on 135 years of reserves yet export 80 per cent while domestic users pay world prices. Unlock the Narrabri, Beetaloo, and Surat basins. Build gas-fired plants in every state to back renewables and nuclear. Cut household bills 20 per cent overnight. Power AI data centres. Earn $60 billion yearly in LNG exports, tax-free under Paris exit.

Who Profits?

The winners are obvious: renewable energy barons and international financiers who pick up domestic subsidies while collecting profits for exports and operations in Asia. Hypocrisy much?

Then there are the global players profiting from green bonds and carbon markets.

Then there is China: dominating solar panel (80 per cent market share) and battery supply chains, built on coal power and rare earths mined with minimal environmental scrutiny. Our subsidies enrich Beijing while we deindustrialise.

Path Back to Sanity

Conservatives must fight back:

• Withdraw from the Paris Accord immediately
• Lift the nuclear ban and fast-track SMRs
• Open gas taps by 2027
• Scrap all renewables subsidies
• Keep coal online until nuclear is scaled
• Export resources without apology

Under Sussan Ley, the Coalition has a historic opportunity, not just to oppose Net Zero, but to dismantle the globalist framework and rebuild with nuclear, gas, and coal-powered prosperity. Roar, do not whisper. Promise Paris exit on day one, first SMR by 2032, gas flowing freely by 2027, and power bills cut 30 per cent by 2035. Watch manufacturing return, regions thrive, and Australia lead the world in clean, reliable, sovereign energy.

Net Zero is not salvation; it is suicide. The Paris Accord is not a treaty; it is a suicide pact. Australia’s strength lies in resources, uranium, gas, and engineering, not rainbow unicorns powered by Brazilian hot air. It is time to put people, prosperity, and pragmatism first, before the government destroys what is left.

Logan Lamont, A Conservative Voice