New report shows renewables is a drag on our national productivity

By Jo Nova

For some reason the pursuit of global teenage-girly weather-control has meant Australian workers are less productive. Who could have guessed that attempts to stop storms, floods and droughts in a hundred years would not make us richer today? I mean, apart from everyone?

“Australians are working harder for less”

In the last 25 years we’ve spent 126% more on capital costs but only improved output by 14%.

Now even the Productivity Commission is warning that renewable green investment is holding back the nation.

Australian productivity was rising until it suddenly fell off a cliff around May 2022 (see the graph below). Coincidentally this was the moment the moment the Albanese Labor Party first got elected and went gangbusters with renewable energy. It seemed to be worthy of an annotated arrow, so I added that in…

Productivity Commission: Quarterly productivity bulletin June 26

From The Australian:

Renewables and green spending drag down productivity, PC warns

By Matthew Cranston, The Australian

Australia’s falling productivity levels have been driven down by the replacement of coal-fired power plants with billions of dollars in renewable energy projects, the Productivity Commission has declared, as it warns governments to make only the most efficient, cost-effective investments.

After Energy Minister Chris Bowen made a push alongside the UN’s top climate official this week for further investment in renewable energy, Productivity Commission deputy chair Alex Robson released a study showing that such investment had “contributed to a productivity decline” and Australians were working harder for less...

The warnings follow Jim Chalmers and Anthony Albanese nominating improved productivity as a cornerstone of the Labor government’s second term, and Mr Bowen in his role as COP31 president of negotiations encouraging a push for a new global electrification target.

Estimates have placed the government’s annual spending commitments to climate and renewable energy at more than $9bn a year.

In other news this week, families are in shock at the cost of electricity:

‘It’s not sustainable’: families reveal their desperate struggle as ‘insane’ power bills soar

While the 17 solar panels on her roof used to cut her electricity bill down to almost nothing, now even that is not enough. “We used to only ever get a bill in the winter months,” she says. “It was always very low, sometimes even $100 a quarter. Over the last 12 months, the bills have just gone up by hundreds and hundreds of dollars.”

In September 2022, Ms Killorn paid $412 for a quarterly electricity bill. In 2025, her September bill came to an eye-watering $1506. Her most recent bill in March this year was $893.

And the government has to prop up our smelters or they would go out of business because they can’t afford the electricity either:

Ayres open to more Nyrstar funding as taxpayer aid tops $240m

On Wednesday, the Albanese government announced a further $105m support package…

This is a Singaporean company we’re paying to dig up our minerals using our green expensive electrons. Go figure…