Merry Christmas and a happy New Year

Dear ,

On behalf of the Australian Institute for Progress I'd like to wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

Of course, how happy the New Year proves to be is partly within our hands - the mission of a think tank is to shape the future, not just sit back and let the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come take us by the arm and dictate terms.

Freedom of speech is the greatest challenge that we face at the moment, and we'll be working on that over two fronts. The Ruddock Expert Panel inquiring into Religious Freedom is looking for submissions by January 31, 2018. So that's my first month of the New Year spoken for.

Michael Sexton had a superb essay in The Australian yesterday proposing that the argument is really about freedom of speech, not religious freedom. It is well worth a read.

At the same time I will also be working on the outrageous curbs on the political rights of those working in the property industry (15% of our state economy) proposed by the new state government. It will be difficult to have a win here, but not impossible.

The other issue high on my agenda is power generation. No doubt you have the latest fibre optic Christmas tree (imported from south east Asia because amongst other things power is too expensive for manufacturing here), so while the consumption of electricity by blinking lights will be minimal, it will still be powered by good old-fashioned coal-fired power generators puffing out odourless, transparent, virtually undetectable CO2.

While renewables have their place, in the absence of nuclear generation, most reliable electricity will be coming from fossil fuels, as far as the ghost can see (and he's right on this one). And that includes the diesel generators being used to back up intermittent wind and solar power in states like South Australia.

That CO2 is a greenhouse gas says nothing about what, if anything, you should do about increased concentrations in the atmosphere. There is certainly no imperative for Australia to try to turn itself into the power generation test tube of the world. There is a risk reward trade-off, and at the moment we're far too close to the riskier end.

The Australian carried an interesting story yesterday about the latest study from Henrik Svensmark implicating cosmic rays as a key driver of climate. Worth reading the actual media release and something to think about when someone tells you the "science is settled".

Thanks for your support during the year, and I look forward to advancing the cause of progress just a little more next year.

Feel free to contact me at any time on graham.young@aip.asn.au. We will be using social media over the break and you can follow us on Facebook, or Twitter. Should you feel generous you might send us a Christmas present - our donate button is here.

Regards,

GRAHAM YOUNG
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR