NSW and Vic residents to face ‘power shortages’ over summer

look AO the country's official energy Market operator has given its update today the upshot is residents of Victoria New South Wales and South Australia in particular face power shortages over summer let's get into that I'm joined now Sky News political reporter cam R camera a news cor senior reporter Patrick Carline from Melbourne jents welcome Patrick to you first the instability in the grid caused by Renewables is part of the problem here but it's exacerbated by delays in Key Energy project and yet despite all of this we've got the teals and the greens today continuing their Crusade against new gas projects put it all together the out looks pretty Grim oh look it's Dreadful Peter I mean we need gas uh we're we're putting coal down coal will not be with us there's going to be a big gap it's not going to be filled by Renewables obviously the promises are not going to be fulfilled in terms of timelines uh and in terms of you know t uh there's going to be a big hole when coal disappears what what's it going to be filled with if not gas I mean Anthony alanes has talked about the need for gas for decades to come and we can't even talk about nuclear at the moment because it's not even part of the debate I mean the idea that we we don't have more gas come online is just what does it mean for people who literally just want to turn on the lights whenever they feel like it I mean that sort of talk from the teals and the greens really is irresponsible and totally at odds with reality and I'll make the point too the people that can least afford are the ones that can't put the heater on and the lights on if you're rich you're fine right and it's also those industry jobs those workingclass blue collar jobs are the ones that are hit hardest because Big Industry requires big energy so they lose you know at both points the ordinary low- income Australian um cam just on the inflation data route yesterday government quick to Pat themselves on the back you know and there was absolutely a more floor uh less than was expected but certainly a drop the economists are making the point the analysis today they think that might be temporary that's because those Energy rebates are now being rolled out of the by the states and it's feeding in and if you dig a little bit deeper in the numbers the ABS data shows that underlying price pressures remain retails suffering and all of that's feding into the rba's decision- making I I have to say the treasurer got back to his bloody day job at his Des desk focused on the economy and left Peter Dutton alone I might have a bit more confidence yeah well look the personal character assessments aren't going to beat the Coalition that's the thing Peter to do that labor has to beat inflation and we've been saying for most of this year that even though it bounces around down a little bit this month it's been up in other months it more or less has hit that floor at around 3 a half% which it's been at basically since Christmas and the fact is that's just too high The Reserve Bank says that treasury says that so something has to happen to get it below 3 and a half% the reserve bank's made that point too around rebates and subsidies yes sure they can take some of the edge off today but it's a bit like putting your hand down on the mattress as soon as you take it off it Springs back up to its natural level and it's the underlying Trend That Remains the issue still a long way from that Target band in terms of the financial stress people are feeling too we got another insight into that today the big four banks are all appearing at a parliamentary committee here over the course of the next day or so the Commonwealth Bank revealing today that 132,000 of its customers have been placed essentially on hardship payment plans over the course of the past 12 months and many of those are young people people under 35 that's where the real political potency is going to be too Peter you look at the votes of younger Australians not just in the labor Coalition battles but the labor greens contests as well where labor is bleeding votes to the greens on issues like rent on housing and above all on cost of living that's going to be such a big factor come election time spot on we'll stay with energy you could have sold tickets to this today I me I watched it it was extraordinary this debate between the Nationals leader former Nationals Leader Bar Barnaby Joyce and of course the former liberal New South Wales Treasurer now chair of Labor's climate change Authority M Kean trading barbs at the bush Summit in Orange have a listen the cheapest way of delivering reliable energy is firmed Renewables what is the wizard of o I mean honestly I tell you where the truth lies ladies and gentlemen when you get that little thing in the mail with a box in it called the power bill there lies the truth power bills are going up for two very clear reasons one there's a war in the Ukraine that has pushed the wholesale price that has pushed the wholesale price of coal up we used to have the cheapest power in the world and now we've got some of the dearest power in the world it can't be the common sense argument from barnab on this and and they don't wash with regional people cuz not only are they seeing the bills we're all seeing every time they say Renewables are cheap you get a bill and it goes up and up and up so people don't believe them kean's obviously taking the government's coin here so he's completely conflicted um but for people in Regional Australia Patrick this is being rolled out across their padic this is in their communities they're not like the people in the leafy suburbs who might sort of vote green and never see any impact from a wind farm or a solar panel this is in their towns and I think the government's got a real fight in its hands I think absolutely Peter I mean these things these projects are being imposed on people in the regions uh I think baramy Joyce is channeling that deep resentment that they are feeling uh certainly here in Victoria the right to object to a solar plant or transmission lines running through your Farmland has sort of been cailed uh in this crusade to try and get the Renewables you know targets online um it's being imposed on them it's intrusive a lot of people don't like it and they haven't been consulted it doesn't feel fair when their way of life in some cases is being challenged by this Crusade uh I politically I think it's a big problem for labor and it will get worse as as these projects keep going deeper and deeper across Australia Victorian Premier just into Allan got herself in a bit of strive she's come out very strongly in relation to visas for Palestinians to come to Australia from Gaza she basically told a group in jalong she's not even concerned necessarily about lots of checks and things like that she made points uh Point scoring remarks in relation to to Peter Dutton there was a response today pretty sharp response from the shadow home affairs minister James Patterson have a listen the only person we would be less likely to take advice from on National Security and Community safety than Tony Burke is just interent I mean this is a premier who has presided over a youth crime crisis in Melbourne she was outlining in that speech is a proposal that we should effectively do no security screening at all or checks at all for anyone who claims to be a refugee and wants to come to this country well it is a great thing for our country that Jinder Allen is only in the Victorian Parliament and not the federal Parliament because that is a dangerously naive attitude to take towards national security cam this issue is not going away almost every day labor come out there and add to it I know it's cutting through I talk to the pollsters and it'll still be there when Parliament returns and I think this is dangerous for labor yeah and what we're really waiting for now Peter is to learn exactly what's going to happen to the roughly 1300 people that are already here we know the government has been teasing this idea of staying here permanently they're still yet to lay out though what that Visa would look like what the exact terms would be and what that pathway would look like as well it's quick to point out that at the moment it is a bit of a stalemate in terms of new arrivals coming in because no one's leaving Gaza with the Rafa border crossing closed but it remains an unresolved loose end and look the closer we get to an election you'd need to see that resolved before people go to the polls we know that roughly you know several thousand more visas have been approved people are trying to get here how's that going to look what's going to happen here as well those are the sort of loose ends that need to be tied up otherwise as you say it is political Dynamite for the Coalition they'll continue to chip away at this because it is the sort of issue that resonates in communities regardless of whether it's Victoria or anywhere else spot on and it's an area of great historical weakness for labor I'll leave it there Jens have a lovely weekend