Politics with Michelle Grattan
News:Politics
This month Alan Finkel ends his term as Australia's Chief Scientist.
An entrepreneur, engineer, neuroscientist, and educator in his former life, Finkel describes the role he's held since 2016 as consisting of two activities.
There's "reviewing" – briefing government on all matters scientific, including energy and climate change. And then there's "making things up" – developing programs to support the communication of science, technology, innovation, and research across the community.
Writing for The Conversation, Finkel expresses confidence Australia will achieve the "dramatic reduction in emissions" that is "necessary".
However the road has not been easy, with many political setbacks.
"I was certainly somewhat personally disappointed, and disappointed for the country, that the Clean Energy Target wasn't adopted," Finkel tells the podcast.
"On the other hand, I took a lot of comfort from the fact that the other 49 out of 50 recommendations [in his report] were accepted and adopted and most of them have been implemented."
"Those recommendations – a lot of them have been part of the reason that we've been able to introduce solar and wind electricity at extraordinary rates in the last three years."
The debate currently is whether Australia will sign up for zero net emissions by 2050. While Finkel says "that's a question for politicians, not for me", he adds that "we're taking the right measures already consistent with a drive towards zero or low emissions".
These measures, he says, involve cheaper batteries, solar, wind, pumped hydro, and gas as a "backstop", as we transition out of coal fire electricity.
Asked if a new coal-fired power station project could ever be started, Finkel said that to comply with carbon capture and storage, the cost of electricity from the plant would be "five or six times higher" than electricity produced by solar and wind.
"I would never predict anything...but I can say with some degree of confidence that that economics would be challenging". His message was clear.
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Michael Cooney on an Australian republic
Peter Jennings on the home affairs department
Graeme Samuel on data governance
Anna Krien on the climate wars
Alan Finkel on the future of Australia’s energy market
Gladys Berejiklian on the need to reform federal-state partnerships
Josh Frydenberg, George Christensen and Mark Butler on the Finkel review
John Blaxland on handling Islamist terrorism
Matt Canavan on Adani
Dennis Richardson on telling it like it is
Chris Bowen on Labor’s budget responses
Budget reaction: Mathias Cormann and Anna Bligh on the new bank tax
John Daley on the budget
Andrew Giles on schools funding
Simon Birmingham on the government’s education reforms
John Hewson on the Budget climate
Jane Halton on how to make a federal budget
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