By JENNIFER MAROHASY
For sure, there are cycles in politics just as there are cycles in life. Recovery, if it is to occur, will perhaps require some reconnecting with core values that once upon a time placed a premium on evidence developed with reference to the traditional scientific method while encouraging debate, all the while protecting the environment that includes wildlife.
Given the importance of energy and that the energy transition is being forced on us here in Australia by a much-acclaimed climate emergency, there is a need for a new approach that could perhaps include a new theory of climate change that begins with an understanding of natural cycles.
Saturday’s Australian federal election did deliver a landslide victory for Anthony Albanese’s Labor Party, leaving the conservative Liberal-National Coalition (LNP) and the Australian Greens reeling.
Labor secured 34.7% of the primary vote and is projected to hold 85-86 seats, a historic gain, while the LNP dropped to 31.7% and 36-40 seats. The Greens, despite a slight increase to 12.2% of the vote, lost key Queensland seats like Griffith and Brisbane, possibly retaining only one or perhaps none, maybe Adam Bandt’s Melbourne.
For conservatives, this defeat—marked by Opposition Leader Peter Dutton losing his seat of Dickson—signals a need to reconnect with core values: evidence-based policy, robust debate, and the traditional scientific method. Yet, the LNP’s campaign leaned heavily on nuclear energy as a climate solution, seemingly accepting the narrative of a “climate crisis” without offering a deeper critique.
The Greens, meanwhile, drifted from their environmental roots, prioritizing housing, cost-of-living, and international issues like Palestine over local ecological concerns.
The real tragedy is the environment, ignored by all major parties. Labor’s commitment to renewables, reiterated by Albanese on election night, fuels projects like the Lotus Creek and Clarke Creek Wind Turbines in Queensland’s Clarke-Connors Range.
These developments, exempt from the Queensland Vegetation Management Act (1999) and Nature Conservation Act (1992), threaten pristine habitats and wildlife, including white-bellied sea eagles. A farmer disturbing this land would face hefty fines, yet billionaire-backed wind farms operate with impunity.
- Jennifer Marohasy (born 1963) is an Australian biologist, columnist and blogger. She was a senior fellow at the free-market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs between 2004 and 2009 and director of the Australian Environment Foundation until 2008. She holds a PhD in biology from the University of Queensland and is a leading critic of anthropogenic global warming theory. She co-authored a peer-reviewed paper in GeoResJ suggesting that most recent warming is attributable to natural variations
