JoNova

From Renewables Superpower to Stupid-Power:

History books will be written about how the world’s largest coal exporter placed a trillion dollar bet that it could lead the world away from coal, and how most of the world ignored it. Australia spent billions to close one lone coal plant while China built 50 new ones — partly so it could power the factories that Australia used to have.

Just when things were starting to go horribly wrong, the AI revolution arrived to make it worse.

Suddenly the world found itself in a race it could not afford to lose. The winner would have a force-multipler for every field of research, science, weapons, drugs, medicine, and encryption. But information is energy, and the AI need for reliable gigawatts is insatiable. Microsoft is so hungry for electricity, in one year it switched from building “the biggest renewable plant”, to reactivating the infamous Three Mile Island nuclear plant.

Australia is the last major coal producer on Earth on a suicidal mission to kill coal, which fits right in with being a uranium powerhouse in an anti-nuclear zone.

RSL Hall, 22 Leake Street, Belmont, WA 6104

Wednesday 25 February 2026, […]

Perth on Wednesday | Australia: The Road Ahead

“We are more divided as a nation than ever and are feeling increasingly disillusioned and disempowered.”

Hon. John Anderson | Brendan O’Neill (Spiked Magazine) | Tony Seabrook (PGA) | Janet Albrechtsen (The Australian) | Jennifer Grossman (CEO of the Atlas Society) | Scott Hargreaves (IPA) | Professor Stephen Wilson | Professor Simon Haines (Ramsay Centre for Western Civilization) | Dr. Bella D’abrera | Russell Delroy | Steve Whybrow Sc | Professor Gary Banks | Gemma Tognini | Dan Ryan | Brianna Mckee | Freya Leach | Ron Manners (Mannkal)

Sydney, April 23rd | An evening with Brendan O’Neill (CIS)

Sydney, April 30th | Australia’s Nuclear Future (CIS)

10 out of 10 based on 21 ratings

By Jo Nova

A rare opportunity: the wonderful Matt Ridley will be in Perth to speak on Tuesday. One of the few great science commentators across economics, biology, genes, climate and politics. Author of The Rational Optimist, Viral: The search for the origin of Covid-19 and for years a writer for The Times, WSJ, and also elected as a hereditary peer to membership in the House of Lords, UK.

Get tickets from the CIS.

Cures vs Consequences: How does Government navigate the science?

Matt Ridley

Join Matt Ridley in PERTH, Novotel Murray Street on Tuesday, November 21 or a thought-provoking discussion on the critical role of Government in shaping climate, health, and energy policies.

Scientists aren’t infallible authorities who universally override political disagreements, nor are they unscrupulous fraudsters with hidden political agendas. Somewhere between the two lies the truth: Science is a flawed and all too human affair, but it can generate timeless truths, and reliable practical guidance, in a way that other approaches cannot.

How can the average person make sense of the often-conflicting scientific opinions that have arisen during the COVID pandemic and in the discussions about climate and […]