An apocalypse is considered to be a number of events that cause widespread destruction on a catastrophic scale.

You may question my claim that Australia is facing such a scenario.

I would prefer to be confident that we were not in any national peril, but I believe we are and that peril is imminent…

There are five ingredients required for all productive enterprises: power, water, fuel, raw materials, and man’s enterprise.

These basic inputs have been in abundance since shortly after the second world war, however, we are likely facing productivity-curtailing shortages of these essential ingredients to our future prosperity. While we have Balderdash Bowen trying to change the Earth’s temperature by shutting down our coal-fired power stations and replacing them with ‘renewable power sources’, we are going to experience periods without power and extended periods with insufficient power.

Worse, Australia has not built any significant dams for over 40 years, and our southern dams are frequently sitting at a rather low 35 per cent capacity. This is happening as we appear to approach another dry period or what could develop into a drought.

It is easily conceivable that we have insufficient water to ensure normal food production next Spring and Summer. With Eucumbene Dam in the Snowy Scheme already down to 40 per cent, if the present dry period does develop into a drought, we have to consider what this could mean for its role as an energy back-up. This is not the time for energy fragility as our coal plants continue to retire.

Water and energy … two of the basic requirements for production are hindered at the same time fuel, now majority-sourced from the Middle East via Asia, comes under strain.

If we were to experience a sudden fuel shortage corresponding with a power and water shortage, Australia would stare down an apocalypse.

Such events would plunge us into recession and national bankruptcy.

To this Old Bushy, who has weathered many droughts and hard times, I see present policy as implemented by both sides of politics at the national level making an Australian apocalypse more likely than it should be.

We have invested our money, much of it borrowed, in non-income-earning housing and public transport. While this made us feel prosperous and secure, we were selling our children’s future. A future that now must be fought for and earned. A future that is not reliant on imported fuel. A future that has to be won in competition with economies like Indonesia and China.

It is a fight that present Australian policy is not honed to win.

But win it we must, and we have to start the war today.

We must begin by producing all of our diesel from the abundant brown coal resources in Victoria. We should aim to have at least five times the reserves of diesel presently held in Australia. At the same time we, must develop and refine our own crude and shale oil.

Second, we must build numerous dams across Australia all equipped with Hydro Power plants. These water conservation structures will foster big increases in our food production industries and give us very cheap and reliable power for the foreseeable future.

As a starting point, we must leave the Paris Agreement and admit and accept that the whole ‘global warming-climate change scare’ was a scam and unworthy of attention.

We should then build as needed state of the art coal fired power stations and use this power to fire up manufacturing industries. One of the first should be producing all of our own Urea.

We must develop and refine our own crude oil for our own use and build up reserves.

We should then use our now abundant water, power and fuel to turn our resources into finished product, instead of shipping it offshore for others to value add. The workers and staff to do this should come from the 50 per cent reduction in the present Public Service.

If we do this Australia’s approaching apocalypse will prove to be a mirage.