After a cool wet spring and cool start to the summer, Sydney had a hot day yesterday.

Immediately the warning went out for people to turn up the temperature of their air conditioners and avoid using appliances like dishwashers and washing machines.

After decades of taxpayer money being poured into windmills and solar panels and the closure of cheap and reliable coal-fired power stations, Australia’s electricity grid can’t cope.

In trying to fix a perceived “climate crisis”, the Liberal/Labor/Green/Teal quad of politicians have created an affordability and reliability crisis.

We pay amongst the most expensive prices (we once had amongst the cheapest electricity in the OECD) for the reliability of a third world nation.

Liberal and Labor governments at state and federal level put Australia on the path to net zero and started closing coal-fired power stations like the giant Liddell plant which was shuttered in April.

A heat wave that lasted barely one day put Australia’s most populous state at risk of blackouts.

Imagine what might happen if we have a typical Australian summer?

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has been sounding warnings for years and did so again yesterday.

We simply can’t keep closing coal generation and expect the lights to stay on.

Our politicians’ solution is to build more windmills and solar panels but these require thousands of kilometres of new transmission lines across pristine wilderness and farmland.

With more coal-fired power stations to close, The Australian reports:

“AEMO says meeting Anthony Albanese’s 82 per cent renewable energy target by 2030 requires urgent infrastructure investment, or the National Electricity Market will not be ready for the early exit of coal.”

After last night’s warning against using electricity, clearly we are not ready now.

We’ve never paid more for electricity and yet we are now told we shouldn’t use it on hot days when we need it most.

How did a once great nation come to this?

Our “global boiling” evangelist “energy minister” Chris Bowen has spent the week at the UN’s COP 28 in Dubai prophesying the end of fossil fuels while rejecting nuclear, the only viable alternative.

Australia’s electricity mess, epitomised by yesterday’s blackout warning in Sydney, is the creation of the political class which has embraced climate religion and prioritised this over engineering and economics.

Family First has long called for a pause on net zero policies while engineering and economic studies into its feasibility and cost verses benefit is conducted.

This must include putting nuclear energy on the table.

Family and business prosperity depend upon affordable and reliabile electricity. Australia’s competitive advantage in energy has been squandered by a political class which has placed ideology above reality.

An urgent re-think is required. Next time it may not be a warning to turn of the air con. It’s likely to be the lights going out.