Twenty years ago, on this day, August 25th, 2006,
By August [2006] Vestas closed Australia’s first wind turbine nacelle factory in Wynard, Tasmania, just two-and-a-half years after it had opened
(Prest, 2007: 253)
AND
Prime Minister John Howard yesterday blamed market forces for the news.
He has indicated a rescue fund is not yet on the agenda.
“We are looking at that situation, and we continue to talk to the company,” he said.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/tas-factory-closure-not-feds-fault-pm-20060826-gdo98c.html
Oh, and look, here’s Anthony Albanese making all the right noises.
https://anthonyalbanese.com.au/one-hundred-jobs-lost-because-howard-doesnt-support-clean-energy
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 382ppm. As of 2026, when this post was published, it is 430ppm. This matters because the more carbon dioxide in the air, the more heat gets trapped. The more heat, the more extreme weather events. You can make it more complicated than that if you want, but really, it’s not. Fwiw, I have a tattoo of the Keeling Curve on my left forearm.
The broader context was that despite Australia having enormous potential as a creator of renewable energy technologies (especially wind and solar), successive governments (Liberal and Labor, state and federal) had not been particularly interested, and sometimes actively hostile (as was the CSIRO) from the 1970s onwards.
The specific context was that John Howard had convened a meeting of his “Low Emissions Technology Advisory Group” to get its members to help him… slow the growth of renewables.
What I think we can learn from this is that the actions and inactions of politicians matters for the pace at which a new technology enters the fray. And Howard belongs at the Hague.
What happened next – Howard lost the 2007 election, and some support for renewables was then introduced. Lost decades though, and entirely unnecessary carbon dioxide is in the atmosphere now, trapping heat.
References
http://www.abc.net.au/cgi-bin/common/printfriendly.pl?/news/australia/tas/northtas/200608/s1724891.htm
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2006-08-26/business-fears-for-future-after-vesta-shutdown/1248224
You can see the chronological list of All Our Yesterdays “on this day” posts here.
What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Please do comment on this post, unless you are a denialist, obvs.
If you want to get involved, let me know.
If you want to invite me on your podcast, that would boost my ego and probably improve the currently pitiful hit-rate on this site (the two are not-unrelated).
Also on this day:
August 25, 1933 – South Coast Bulletin reports “Carbon dioxide: climatic influence”
August 25, 1969- “Global Circulation in the Atmosphere” Conference in London
August 25, 1970 – Margaret Mead and James Baldwin rap on race…
August 25, 2013 – The IPA loses support, for being stupid climate deniers.
