An Open Letter to All Australians

It Is Time For Energy Reality

Dear Fellow Australians,

Australia stands at a crossroads—how we power our future will define the kind of nation we leave for our children and grandchildren.

We, the undersigned, contend that expensive and irreversible decisions are being made—driven by ideology, quick profits, and political spin—not long-term thinking, scientific rigour, or transparency.

We are being pushed into a reckless, multi-trillion-dollar energy experiment without proper planning, honest debate, or engineering oversight.

We are a group of leading energy experts, engineers, scientists, economists, conservationists, industrial energy users and community leaders who are deeply concerned by the direction of Australia’s energy policy and the growing gap between government promises and hard realities.

The current energy plan is expensive, environmentally destructive and incapable of powering a modern and secure Australian economy.

The consequences of this misguided energy policy are financially and strategically enormous and will be paid for by many generations of Australians, as energy costs flow into every aspect of the economy and daily life. Bad energy policy drives up the costs of everything we produce and consume.

What Every Australian Should Know

  • In the past, reliable and affordable baseload energy has powered Australia’s prosperity for many generations.

  • The current energy policies of state and federal governments are setting us up for failure with unstable energy supply and higher prices.

  • Renewable energy is highly variable, unreliable, and costly when considering total system costs, even with the inclusion of batteries.

  • A modern industrial economy, such as Australia's, can only be satisfied with always available and reliable low-cost electricity.

  • Despite our vast natural resources, Australia now has some of the highest electricity prices in the world. In 2022 the government promised $275 in savings. Instead, families are paying up to $1,000 more on their bills.

  • The Net Zero Australia report — prepared by the University of Melbourne, University of Queensland, and Princeton University, advised by the Australian Conservation Foundation and Climate Council, and sponsored by the Minderoo Foundation — estimates a full renewables-only transition would cost between $7 and $9 trillion over the next 35 years, including the government’s “green hydrogen superpower” plans.

  • This is the equivalent of up to $850,000 per household—a figure quietly buried by its own supporters as it would bankrupt the nation.[https://www.netzeroaustralia.net.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Net-Zero-Australia-Modelling-Summary-Report.pdf]

  • The repeated false claim that nuclear would cost $600 billion was created by a renewable energy lobby group that donates to the Labor Party and is far from independent.

  • Their figure is five times the real cost estimate of Nuclear which based on CSIRO data is approximately $120 billion and would deliver decades of secure, zero-emissions, reliable power.

  • Under current policies the risk of blackouts is real and rising. [AEMO warns of blackouts in 10-year energy forecast | news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site]

  • Large-scale wind and solar projects are destroying habitats, displacing wildlife, and degrading farmland. [Impacts of large-scale renewables — Rainforest Reserves Australia]

  • New transmission lines are carving a swath through regional Australia. Thousands of kilometres of high-voltage towers and wind turbine pylons are being built on the high country and disrupting farms and communities.

  • The government’s plan is based on discredited analysis. The modelling for the current government plan for the renewable transition has been rejected and discredited even by the government’s own frontbenchers. Despite this, policymakers and politicians are pushing ahead with these policies without a replacement model and one that reveals the total system costs.

  • Billions of dollars in public money are being funnelled into subsidies and guaranteed profits for mostly overseas renewable investors—without delivering energy certainty or providing cost transparency.

  • If renewables are the cheapest option, why won’t the government reveal the total system costs, including costs of backup, storage, transmission and distribution, maintenance, replacement and recycling. And why do they still require massive subsidies if they are so cheap?

  • We're paying three times for higher energy:

    1. Through inflated energy bills;

    2. When those costs raise prices for other goods and services; and again

    3. Through taxes and debt to fund billions in inflationary energy subsidies for those same taxpayers that are not delivering lower underlying costs.

  • Current policy makes energy cheap for the most well-off, and more expensive for everyone else. Even with taxpayer subsidies, home batteries still cost $8,000 to $10,000, which are well out of reach for most families.

  • Higher energy costs are driving manufacturing offshore, costing local jobs and leaving Australia unprepared for crises. Most renewable jobs are short-term, low-skilled, or disappear after initial construction.

  • Offshore manufacturing of wind turbines, solar panels and batteries requires considerable energy which is largely provided by coal. Their short lifespan results in considerable ‘whole of life’ emissions as they must be regularly replaced.

  • Australia should be self-sufficient in resources and energy, but importing renewables risks our national security by putting us at the mercy of foreign powers and exposing us to supply chain disruption and regional conflicts.

  • The renewable supply chain relies on human suffering. The vast majority of solar panels, wind turbines, and batteries are manufactured in countries with cheap labour and poor human rights records—including some linked to forced or slave labour.

  • Most importantly, powerful interests are influencing energy policy in Australia. Many energy and environmental organisations in Australia are funded by foreign investors, foreign renewable manufacturers, and billionaire donors without sufficient transparency.

We Can Still Lead the World—If We Choose To

Australia has the resources, the know-how, and the people to create a balanced and responsible energy future. We can better protect our environment, lower costs, and ensure energy sovereignty—without bankrupting households or sacrificing our communities.

We can have all of this — if we bring back truth, transparency, and honest debate.

We’re the only G20 country that bans zero emission nuclear energy. Every other advanced economy includes nuclear in its net-zero energy mix. If nuclear power is so uneconomic, why does it need to be banned?

We’re calling for the lifting of the outdated and unscientific ban on nuclear energy and full transparency on funding and influence.

All advocacy groups shaping energy policy must declare their funding from foreign groups, renewable suppliers, or other vested interests.

We call for an end to market bodies declaring a politically determined policy pathway to be ‘optimal’ or ‘least cost’ when they have not compared the pathway to a credible baseline or alternative, and have failed to assess the full system costs.

We must protect our farmland, our forests and oceans from reckless destruction and corporate welfare for renewable energy projects.

If You Profit From the Outcome, You're not an Expert, You're a Stakeholder. Australians Deserve to Know the Difference.

Let’s Reclaim the Australian Way.

We don’t bulldoze the environment to “save” it.

We don’t ignore slave labour to meet a climate target.

We can rise to the challenge —but only if we take politics and self-interest out of the energy debate.

Energy policy and planning are long term issues. If we don’t steer our energy policy away from the rocks now, Australia will face a worsening cost of living crisis for decades to come.

Australia deserves better - an honest bipartisan energy policy in the national interest; one that’s grounded in concern for our environment, guided by independent engineers and scientists and able to withstand changes in government.

Signed,

Dick Smith, AC Inventor and Business Leader, Australian of the Year 1986

Trevor St Baker AO, AO HonDEng (UQ) BE (NSW) BA(SYD) FIEA FAIMM, Founder at St Baker Energy Innovation Fund and ERM Power

Steven Nowakowski, Former FNQ Greens Candidate and lifelong Conservationist, AssocDip Cartography

Dr Sarah Lawley, PhD, Nuclear Physics (UniAdel), MAIP, MARPS, FAIE Director, RPD Insights

Jasmin Diab, CSC, BSc(Physics), MA (Military and Defence), MEngSci (Nuc Eng), CPEng, FIEAust, CNSsP, GAICD Managing Director - Global Nuclear Security Partners President Women in Nuclear Australia

Dr Robert Barr AM, BE(Hons),ME,PhD,FIE(Aust), CPEng Director Electric Power Consulting, Past National President of the Electric Energy Society of Australia

Dr Adi Paterson, BSc, PhD (Cape Town), Hon DSc(Wollongong), FTSE, Hon FIEAust, FRSN, Former CEO of ANSTO

Martin Thomas AM, MA(Cantab) FTSE HonFIEAust, HonFAIE, Past President Engineers Australia, Past Vice-President Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering, Former Chairman Electricity Council of NSW

Jennie George AO, Former President ACTU

Professor Tina Soliman-Hunter, Professor of Energy and Natural Resources Law, Macquarie University BA (HONS); G Dip A (LIS); M App SC(DIST); JD (HONS); PhD (Bergen)

Keith Orchison AM, Former Executive Director, Australian Petroleum Exploration Association Former Managing Director, Electricity Supply Association of Australia

Steve Baxter, Founder Beaten Zone Venture Partners, TEN13 co-founder and chairman, Investor and advocate for entrepreneurs

Patricia Mitchell, Jirrbal Traditional Owner Elder

Craig Scroggie, Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director NEXT DC

Tom Gertz, Ngadjon-Jii Traditional Owner Elder, Chairman Ngyangabarra Traditional Aboriginal Corporation

Carolyn Emms, President Rainforest Reserves Australia, Nature Refuge Holder and member of Cairns and Far North Environment Centre

Ken Muir, MBA, MEngSc, BSc, BE(Elec) FIEA, FAIE, CPEng, APEC Engineer, IntPE(Aus) Power generation and transmission project development, construction, operations and maintenance

Robert Parker, BE (Civil), Master Nuclear Science (ANU), MEngSc (UNSW) Founder, Nuclear for Climate Australia

Rob Millner AO, Chairman of Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Brickworks

Tony Irwin, Honorary Associate Professor, ANU, Technical Director, SMR Nuclear Technology Pty Ltd, Australia Chartered Engineer MIET FIEAust FAIE CPEng, Former Reactor Manager ANSTO

Dr Tim Stone, CBE MA, DPhil, CBE, FICE, MBCS, CEng, CITP. HonFNucI Chair of Nuclear Risk Insurers, Former Senior Adviser to the Secretary of State for Department of Energy and Climate Change, Former Chair of the Office for Nuclear Development, Former Chair of the UK’s Nuclear Industry Association

Dr Dave Collins, BE (Hons) Mech (UNSW), MBA (Melb), PhD (Melb), (Civil and Env), FIEAust, CPEng, NER, FAIE, CIH, MAIOH, RPEQld, RPEVic

Stephen Wilson, Adjunct Professor, BE Mech (Melb) MIAEE energy systems and markets expert University of Queensland

Jim Bain, BASc (Melb), MBA (LBS) Former Director, Regulation, Energy Networks Australia

Aidan Morrison, Director Energy Program - Centre for Independent Studies

Jim Pinkerton, BE (Elec) Former President of the Electricity Supply Engineers Association of NSW and former Manager System Control at Integral Energy

Richard Elkington OAM, Former Chair, RDA Gippsland, former Executive General Manager, Loy Yang Power, Life Member, Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry former Chairman, Gippsland Water

Peter Angelico, President of South East Melbourne Manufacturing Alliance (SEMMA) Founder/Managing Director ABECK Group, Dandenong Corporate Citizen of the Year 2023 

Dale Holliss, Director of Bundaberg Regional Irrigators Group, Member of the Energy Queensland Customer Council

Ken Brook, Former Director Land surface sciences, Queensland Department of Environment and Science

Kirsty Braybon, LLB/LP, LLM, HDR, Grad Dip INL, PhD Candidate, Adjunct Nuclear Law Lecturer at University of Adelaide, Principal at Braybon Advisory

Alan Key, Assoc Dip (Agriculture), Dip (Financial Planning), MAICD. Managing Director Earthtrade Group. Specialists in Environmental Markets

Pamela Jones, BSc (hons), AANA International Environmental Scientist

Professor Aynsley Kellow, Professor Emeritus of Government at University of Tasmania, BA(Hons) PhD, Author, Transforming Power: The Politics of Electricity Planning (Cambridge)

Zoe Hilton, Senior Policy Analyst - Energy Program, Centre for Independent Studies

Adam Creighton, Chief Economist and Senior Fellow, Institute of Public Affairs

Peter Spies, CAg, B. App.Sci Rur. Tech (Hons)Director and Chair North Australia Carbon Services Pty Ltd, Principal Consultant (Agronomy and Soil Science), Pinnacle Pocket Consulting

Barrie Hill, BE(Mech) MIPENZ(Life) MIMechE FIEAust CPEng, Engineers Australia Nuclear Engineering Panel, Former Director of Engineering ANSTO, Former Head of Engineering Jacobs Australia

Dr Geoff Bongers, PhD, CPChem GACID Adjunct Professor University of Qld, Director, Gamma Energy Technology P/L

Ben Beattie, Electrical Engineer, Author & Producer of The Baseload Podcast, BE (elec) CPEng RPEQ

Col Poulter, BE (Hons) Civil, Grad Dip Mngmt, Director Exsight International

Liz Penfold, Former State Member for Flinders, South Australia

Dr Alan Moran, B.Sc (Econ), M.Sc, PhD, Principal at Regulation Economics, Former Victorian Deputy Secretary Energy

Logan Smith, MEngSc, Nuclear Infrastructure Delivery, Going Fission Podcast

Dr James Taylor, MSc, B. Electrical Engineering P.Eng FCASI Independent systems engineer and author of multiple submissions assessing the ISP and GenCost documents

Nick Rees, BE (Hons Mining), BAppSc (Geology), GradDip AppFin MAusIMM F Fin, Managing Director, Bridgend Capital Advisory, Former Global Head of Natural Resources, National Australia Bank

Dr Tim Nevard OAM, Adjunct Professor, The Cairns Institute, James Cook University

Paul Espie AO, BSc MBA Past Chair, Menzies Research Centre, Empire Energy, founder Pacific Road Resources Fund, former MD Bank of America Australia

Philip R Wood, B.A. (Syd), Ll. B. (Syd), A.S.I.A., Dip. LCF. (Sorbonne)

Warren Mundine AO, Australian Aboriginal leader and the former National President of the Australian Labor Party (ALP)

Dr Tim Florin, FRACP FRSM Emeritus Professor, University of Queensland

Dick White, B. Econ. (UQ) Former Ministerial Chief-of-Staff and government policy, planning and budget officer

Dr Massey de los Reyes,  BSc(AppSc), BSc(Hons), PhD(Eng) Principal Scientist entX Limited

Rick Scott-Murphy, F.I.E.Aust. ENGEXEC. E.F. ANZSOG. Former First Assistant Secretary, Commonwealth Department of Finance