The Queensland election's renewables versus coal debate isn't about jobs. It's a culture war | John Quiggin

Since environmentalists support renewable energy, conservatives must oppose it. But they are delaying the inevitable

Of the issues in the Queensland election campaign, proposals for new investment in electricity generation stand out among the sharpest division. Labor and the Greens want more renewables, while the LNP and One Nation are pushing for a new coal-fired power station.

The disputes are not over the desirability of public ownership (both sides support it). Nor are they, in any serious sense, about electricity prices (no one can reduce them by much). They aren't even about jobs, or rather, they are more about what kinds of jobs we want to create than about the number that will be created.