"Mugged by Reality"

Yesterday was the 3rd year of the Climate Investor Forum 2025 , another insightful event where I joined my colleagues and leaders of our nation's businesses, institutions and investment funds;

The fundamentals of the Australian economy are set.

The laws, national institutions and funding mechanisms cannot be unwound without control of the Senate and the Lower House, irrespective of whatever a political leader may claim.

This has been the case for several election cycles, and we are most likely heading towards a minority government for the foreseeable future.

When we talk about energy and powering our cities, coal-fired power stations are being retired across the nation, and the cheapest form of electricity is wind and solar, something we lead the world in.

Not only is there no legal ability for the federal government to build a nuclear power station, it being a state issue, and no state premier yet being willing to say to their electorate they want to build a nuclear power station, building one is a 40 year proposition.

Add to that the only countries with the expertise to build Australia a nuclear power station are China, Russia and potentially India.

So what happens if enough gullible people get sucked into voting for Peter Dutton based on his marketing team's ability to make enough Facebook memes that voters believe Australia could pull this off?

At best, this will create noise and uncertainty for long-term investors, continuing to see Australia as a global destination as we continue our economically inevitable transition to a renewable energy superpower.

Thus we find ourselves staring into the yellow mire of Clive Palmer buying up every billboard he can around independent electorates, spruiking his TRUMPET OF PATRIOTS moniker, and hoping he can funnel whatever votes he gets back to the Liberal party in exchange for backroom deals to continue digging up coal.

Don't turn to your phone though, he spent $500k in 10 days on YouTube adverts in recent weeks, and then we have Peter Dutton doing his level best to stoke the fear and ire of everyone that’s ever had a grievance or been afraid in this country, walking lock-step with every announcement of the US that gets the base behind him, such as deporting dual citizens.

I continue to shake my head as the Australian entertainment (news?) press use the latest version of ChatGPT to feed us incendiary and unquestioning clickbait headlines in support of all this, instead of the journalism I grew up with.

Whilst these days it’s The Juice Media Honest Government Ads, FriendlyJordies, and Punters Politics aka Konrad Benjamin filling a gap, I can’t help wishing for some Clarke and Dawe, Shaun Micallef, or Media Watch.

Whilst vibrant political commentary might be a bit obtuse these days, no matter what anyone says, whoever gets elected will find themselves on day 1, and to quote my favourite line of the Climate Investor Forum, getting "mugged by reality".

Enough Talk

Did you know over half of Australia's population lives in the red areas?

Enough with incentives and policy settings.

Enough sitting around in well insulated, air conditioned homes with majestic views, pretending we're doing enough to solve the affordable and social housing crisis.

I'll be presenting an answer with?Wayne Hughes?next week at the?Impact Investment Summit Asia Pacific?in Sydney and taking you into detail on?5North.com.au, the Government, investor and stakeholder support we have, and how we're going to fix things at a national scale.

Don't miss it!