By David Spratt

A shorter version of this article was first published at Pearls and Irritations.

The US–Israel war on Iran and another oil crisis has again highlighted the need for Australia to accelerate the transition to renewable energy and electric transport and sustainable industrial processes, and to phase-out the coal and gas export industries. At the same time, anti-renewable-energy and climate-change-scepticism dis-information campaigns have made inroads in Australia. 

In the face of a barrage of climate dis-information, silence from those who should be countering it constitutes an own goal: a boost to the dis-information campaign. 

As the Senate Select Committee inquiry on Information Integrity on Climate Change and Energy approaches its final report, questions must be asked about the Australian Government’s response to climate dis-information.  Is it using its unparalleled media power to educate Australians about accelerating climate change and the urgent need for a complete renewable energy transition? 

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A former Chief of the Australian Defence Force, Admiral Chris Barrie Retd, has called for legislation to regulate, and if necessary break up, the digital-tech monopolies that are now enabling an information war threatening Australia’s future and undermining its ability to respond to escalating climate disruption.

Monopolies and duopolies can exercise dangerous market power and political power, including in technology, in the media and social media, and in communications. Anti-trust laws were first enacted in the USA in 1890, and resulted in companies like AT&T and Standard oil being broken up. 

Adm Barrie, a member of the Australian Security Leaders Climate Group, was launching a new report, “The climate disinformation war: How to fight back for Australia’s democracy and security”.

This comes as the Federal Parliament’s Select Committee on Information Integrity on Climate Change and Energy is due to release its final report this week, reflecting increasing attention on the role of disinformation in shaping Australia’s climate and energy policy.

By Ian Dunlop and David Spratt, first published at Pearls&Irritations  

View the Open Letter

In full-page statements in the national media today, nineteen Australian security practitioners and former Defence leaders have published an Open Letter on why Australia’s dependence on fossil fuels is a critical economic and security vulnerability.  

Published in the Australian Financial Review and the Sydney Morning Herald, the letter’s signatories include Admiral Chris Barrie, the former Chief, Australian Defence Force, Air Vice-Marshal John Blackburn AO, Deputy Chief, Royal Australian Air Force (Retd), Cherl Durrant, the former Defence Director of Preparedness & Mobilisation, and Brigadier Michael Bond CSC & Bar, Australian Army (Retd). 

 They say that protecting Australians by accelerating the renewable energy rollout is now a security priority: 

 “We call on the Australian Government to accelerate the transition to clean, domestic energy. Rapidly expanding renewable energy — including wind, solar, batteries, hydro and renewable fuels produced in Australia — and electrifying our transport system with home-grown energy will strengthen Australia’s security, reduce exposure to global energy shocks and help limit the escalating risks driven by climate change.”

Major conflicts in Ukraine and in the Middle East — including the Suez crisis, two Arab-Israeli wars, the Iran-Iraq war, the Gulf war of 1991 and the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the USA  — have all caused energy supply and economic shocks. The consequences are rising food prices, higher transport costs and potentially severe economic disruption. Today, with the Israel/US/Iran conflict, we face another oil shock, possibly far worse than its predecessors.