On energy, primum non nocere

Diverting our governments from these policies will probably not occur until there is a crisis: during a summer heatwave or a mid-winter freeze when demand is highest, very likely after the next coal-fired generator closes.

It will involve brownouts and blackouts. Businesses will be told to cease operations to reduce electricity consumption, there will be people trapped in lifts and, perhaps most significantly, millions will be unable to charge their phones or electric cars.

At that point public opinion will change. The many voters who repeatedly elected governments based on their promise to save the world from climate change will insist they never agreed to make sacrifices while doing so.

International opinion will also play a part - Australia is not the only country in which governments are inflicting this harm on their populations and economies. Germany and the UK, for example, have both signed up to the same policies and are experiencing similar decline.

Reality is beginning to overtake the fantasy. Oil and coal consumption continue to increase, and numerous countries are turning or returning to nuclear energy. In the US, the Trump administration is withdrawing subsidies for wind and solar generation, while everywhere (including in Australia) offshore wind projects are being cancelled. Given Australia's propensity to follow the rest of the world, these events will be influential.

The problem is, by the time there is a change of direction, even more damage will have been done to the economy, business and jobs. Not only will existing businesses have suffered, but new businesses and opportunities will have never been created.

If a doctor went about breaking the legs of patients on the basis that it might prevent people in other countries from being injured while crossing the road against the lights, it couldn't be much more stupid. Hippocrates would be rolling in his grave.