Strangely, making electricity affordable makes it harder to employ people. Who knew?
The IPA shows that nearly 650,000 Australian jobs are at risk from Net Zero policies, and most of those jobs will be lost in the regions and thus in National Party electorates. Seats predicted to escape that pain are in inner city areas.
Thus and verily, the price of Net Zero will be largely paid by the deplorables.
As we saw in Britain, Spain, Italy, and California, more Green jobs always means less real ones. For every “green job” artificially created, between 2 and 5 actual jobs were lost. Green jobs are the vandals of civilizations.
The Liberal Party (theoretically, conservative) holds many inner city seats. So we can explain the schism tearing the Coalition of the Liberals and Nationals apart on energy policy. The Coalition holds 17 of the top 20 electorates with jobs at risk, but also holds 12 of the 20 lowest risk electorates.
The IPA issued a report on likely job losses in February this year, and a report on the electoral landscape yesterday:
Net Zero Hits Regional Workers Three Times As Hard: IPA Report
“A worker in an electorate represented by the National Party is threes times as likely to lose their job than a worker in an electorate represented by the Liberal Party under a net zero emissions target” according to the IPA.
An analysis of the employment impact of a net zero emissions target in Australia, estimated that up to 653,600 jobs could be put at direct risk as a result of a net zero emissions target and that potential job losses would be concentrated in the agricultural (306,200 jobs), heavy manufacturing (74,100 jobs), and coal mining (62,000 jobs) industries.
17 of the top 20 electorates with the highest proportion of jobs at risk from a net zero emissions target are held by the Coalition. Six of the top 10 electorates with jobs at risk are held by the members of the National Party Room.
73% of the seats in federal parliament held by the Nationals are ‘at risk’ seats, compared with just 10% of seats held by the Liberals, and 3% of seats held by the Labor Party.
With an election coming, it’s time to make sure The Deplorables and their MP’s know what the price is for trying to perfect the global climate.
“A net zero emissions target would be a carbon tax by stealth.”
Hat tip to Alan Moran.
REFERENCES
Cian Hussey, and Daniel Wild (2021) Net Zero Emissions Will Divide Australia, IPA, October 6th 2021.
Daniel Wild and Cian Hussey (2021) Net Zero Jobs: An analysis of the employment impact of a net zero emissions target in Australia, IPA, Feb 2021.