Irreconcilable differences

In Puccini’s famous opera, Tosca, there is a tenor aria titled Recondita Armonia which used to be sometimes translated as Strange Harmony of Contrasts. Even allowing for some artistic licence this seems a somewhat absurd proposition.

Nevertheless, some differences are, in the scheme of things, trivial and should easily be reconciled. Such inherent differences that are defined by race, gender, nationality and culture are rather superficial differences and should be easily accommodated. Unfortunately, this is not the case and the politics of diversity largely seeks to magnify such differences, rather than reconcile them. This has contributed to much of the malaise infecting modern society. When such beliefs morph into ideologies then facts are not allowed to get in the way!

Economics

One current example of this phenomenon of trying to reconcile irreconcilable differences is the current tension between the Albanese Government and the Reserve Bank.

In Economics 101 we learnt that increased spending causes increased demand and when the supply of goods and services remains relatively constant, the inevitable result is higher prices, that is, inflation. State and Federal Governments have all been spending wildly and have been supporting wage increases (quite a few, I think, are justified to help our low earning cohort) and providing subsidies as well as tax relief. They also attempt to justify these on humanitarian grounds, which unfortunately stimulates demand. Most of this, is of course, election bribery and adds to demand whilst there are no concomitant productivity increases, thus contributing to rising inflation.

The Reserve Bank Governor said she was concerned the level of public spending was compromising the Bank’s attempts to rein in inflation. The Labor Government however, would have none of this, complaining and insisting that their efforts to reduce taxation, and provide subsidies are to off-set such things as rising electricity prices. They insist these things were having a positive effect in reducing the cost of living.

Add to this, the fact that the Government’s revised charter for the Reserve Bank, requires it to take action to curtail inflation as well as tempering its activities, having due consideration for maintaining employment levels. As a result, the Reserve Bank has refrained from raising interest rates in a way that would have more drastically reduced inflation because of the undue impact on unemployment. We are faced with a good approximation of Dr Doolittle’s famous push-me-pull-you animal where one half is pulling in one direction and the other half is pulling the opposite way.

Climate policy

There are so many contradictory elements to the Government’s climate policy. Starting with the principle that Government policy should be about enhancing human welfare, some obvious contradictions immediately emerge. To begin with, it is underpinned by the notion propagated by the Albanese Government, that Australia, which only emits 1% of the world’s CO2, can somehow have an impact on the world’s climate. The major emitters, that is, China and India however, are doing virtually nothing to rein in their emissions.

I worked in power stations all my adult working life, rising to become the inaugural CEO of Stanwell Corporation. Although some of my critics have maintained my knowledge of generation, is dated, I still know enough to point out some of the misinformation the Federal Government is distributing, in order to support its unseemly rush to renewable energy.

Chris Bowen maintains that renewable energy is the cheapest form of energy but he is only telling you half the story. Once a wind turbine or a solar array is installed, its marginal cost of generation is indeed zero because there are no fuel costs. But these renewable generating facilities attract other costs that the government avoids telling you about. Unfortunately most renewable generating facilities are in remote locations from load centres and from the major transmission network. Consequently, they often require extensive investments in powerlines and substations to connect them to the grid. These costs are passed on to the consumer by the distribution companies. (Bear in mind the distribution cost of electricity already greatly exceeds the generating cost on a per unit basis.)

In addition, because renewable energy is by its nature intermittent, there must be back-up generation or energy storage (batteries, pumped storage Hydro) to fill the gap when the renewable generators are not generating or running at low levels of generation. Ideally this gap should be filled by gas generation, which can run up quickly to fill this demand. The government’s reluctance to allow any new fossil-fuelled generation online is exacerbating this problem.

As Nobel Prize winning economist Bjorn Lomborg points out:

“when we factor in the cost of just four hours of storage, wind and solar energy solutions become uncompetitive with fossil fuels.”

Other costs of renewables that are often hidden, include the cost of disposal (remember they have relatively short lives compared with other generating assets), site remediation and the opportunity cost of loss of production, when they are located on prime agricultural land.

The reckless rush to renewables by the Albanese Government will inevitably continue to raise electricity prices. Anthony Albanese preaches his ambition to restore Australia to a country that ‘makes things’ but most manufacturing industries are both energy and labour intensive. He will therefore, never realise this ambition whilst pursuing energy policies that will inevitably increase electricity costs as well as industrial policies that reduce flexibility in the workplace, and lift labour costs. As a result therefore, we are confronted with some irreconcilable differences.

Multiculturalism

Australian politicians often assert that Australia is the most successful multicultural nation in the world. In recent times, it has been harder to make that case. One of the reasons for this, is the overall cultural decline of the West, including Australia. The political left have successfully denigrated our cultural foundations for decades. Despite the huge success of Western culture since the Renaissance, the left would have us believe that we should somehow feel guilty for that success.

This dilemma was highlighted in Douglas Murray’s fine book, ‘The Strange Death of Europe‘, first published in 2017. The left seek out every possible example of racism, misogyny, and exploitation that can be uncovered in European history and magnify it. They judge our ancestors by today’s mores without consideration of the standards that prevailed in historical times. To them, despite the undeniable benefits it brought to many, colonialism was an unmitigated disaster.

The left pursue the rights of minorities often at the expense of the majority. They bend over backwards to ensure that the causes of minorities like transgender activists, the LGBTQI community, indigenous people and Palestinian sympathisers are promoted at whatever cost to the majority interest. Whereas once upon a time, human rights were championed to ensure citizens were protected from the excesses of the state, they now seem to have morphed into a process that seeks to ensure minorities are given more power than the majority. And this magnification of the rights of minorities has inevitably impacted on our ideal of multiculturalism.

In the past, Australians were rightly proud of their history, their culture and their place in the world. After the Second World War, most of our migrants came from Western Europe. Whilst their cultures were somewhat different, they tended to assimilate easily once they learnt the language. They were law-abiding, productive contributors to our society and they added cultural nuances that enhanced our own. Coming from largely Christian countries, they contributed little to religious intolerance and respected our major institutions.

In later years, we received more migrants from Asian countries including India, Malaysia, Ceylon and China. Even though many of these new arrivals were adherents to faiths other than Christianity, they integrated well and were readily accepted by the tolerant Australian society.

In the last few decades however, we have seen growing conflict in Muslim populations in the Middle East, Syria, Afghanistan and so on. This has generated a huge flow of Muslim refugees to Australia and even more so to Europe. Most of these refugees have been as benign as the Buddhists and Hindus and other non-Christian believers that have preceded them, but a small, significant cohort has not.

These displaced people, have fled to countries that are far more tolerant than the societies they once inhabited and unfortunately, they play on our tolerance to try and reconstitute the very intolerance they have fled from. The cohort I’m referring to of course, are the radical Islamists. Not only is the culture they’re trying to force upon us radically different from our own traditional culture, their beliefs are antithetical to the West.

These Islamists do not respect our laws, since they believe people should live according to the dictates of Allah, as laid down in the Quran and the Hadith. The Quran is the medieval text purportedly dictated to an illiterate seventh century camel herder, Muhammad, as the literal revealed truth. The Hadith, which was compiled, some considerable time after his death, is a compendium of the sayings and practices attributed to Muhammad. Sharia Law, which guides the lives of fundamentalist Muslims, is derived from these sources.

In Arabic, Sharia literally means ‘the clear, well-trodden path to water’. Sharia acts as a code for living, that all Muslims should adhere to, including prayers, fasting and donations to the poor. It aims to help Muslims understand how they should lead every aspect of their lives according to Allah’s wishes. Sharia Law is a very illiberal set of principles. It is punitive and abhors women and homosexuals, and teaches that apostates should be killed. There is no path for adherents to investigate alternative belief systems. This is, of course, the sort of intellectual cowardice that we often confront in fundamentalist belief systems.

In Europe, there are now enclaves that have been permitted to pursue Sharia Law. This runs counter to the Western ideal of liberalism and religious freedom. Throughout the UK and continental Europe, traditional Western values and traditions are under threat because of the growing encroachment of fundamentalist Islam. “Woke” governments have been afraid to challenge Islamist extremists. Radical Muslims carrying out acts of violence and terror, are treated with kid gloves, whilst Christians and those protesting in support of more conservative concerns are vigorously prosecuted.

In Australia we have witnessed the same ‘two tier’ policing.  After the Hamas October 7 atrocity was committed, we had radical Muslims demonstrating in support of Hamas and celebrating the slaughter and rape of the 1200 Jews that were cowardly attacked. Police have taken virtually no action against these people. Radical Islamist Imams have been publicly urging Muslims to eradicate the State of Israel in the most egregious way, and again there has been virtually no response from the police.

Contrast this with the police response during Covid, when people were arrested for protesting against government policies (now proven to be ineffective), and committing minor violations of government edicts. Our liberal democracy is beginning to falter just when we need it most.

The irreconcilable differences that have been uncovered by this fiasco are undeniable:

• Radical Islam cannot be reconciled with democracy.

Peter Dutton is absolutely correct to advocate a ban on providing visas for those attempting to flee Gaza, until such time that the refugees can be appropriately vetted. Every refugee that enters Australia who supports Hamas, is a threat to our democracy.

• When Labor attempts to portray support for Israel.

Anthony Albanese has a long history of supporting Palestine over Israel. As a leftist student activist he supported Palestine and it is hard to believe that his underlying beliefs have changed since then. Sadly. the Labor party seems concerned about retaining seats in Western Sydney, where there is a large Muslim constituency. Pandering to the Muslim minority shows a willingness to prejudice our democracy for base political ends, rather than fulfilling one of its most important duties, which is securing the safety of Australians.

Ted Scott AM was awarded an Order of Australia in 2004 for his contribution to industry, and was named one of Australia's top thirty business leaders in 2001 by AFR's BOSS Magazine. He holds degrees in Electrical Engineering and Economics and had a successful career in management in the electricity generation industry in Queensland, managing many power stations. Ted is a writer and the author of several books.