When the LNP last lost Government in 2007, the Nationals party was reduced to a party room of just 10 members. A subsequent by-election loss reduced our representation to single digits. The outlook was dire. There had been a global surge in concern about climate change following the Stern review and a documentary by Al Gore. The Nationals' traditional defence of farming, mining and manufacturing looked out of date for the coming new world order. Anyone remember Rudd's "toolbox of the 21st century" or his "Green new car plan"? Read more

As Paul Keating once said “when the government changes, the country changes.” The Labor party came to government last weekend and the country will change as a result. Read more

At last week’s election the major parties recorded their lowest ever vote. There is great disenchantment with our political system. Read more

When I stated the obvious to the ABC recently, I didn’t think there would be much reaction. It had been clear for months that net zero was as dead as disco. Boris Johnson had asked for a ‘leave pass’ from his climate commitments, the German Chancellor had told the Bundestag that they needed to invest in ‘coal and gas infrastructure’ and Italy was reopening coal plants. None of this was news. From the moment that Russian special forces landed at the Hostomel Airport, it was clear that Glasgow had been the most ineffectual global summit since the Conference for the Reduction and Limitation of Armaments in Geneva in 1932. After Mariupol any further limitation on fossil fuel production would only help Russia and their allies like China. Read more

As I was driving home on Saturday after a busy day, I realised that everything I had done that day, the Greens want to ban. I had not had this much fun campaigning since Bob Brown came to town. I had started the day at RockyNats. A worthy successor to SummerNats, the annual car festival of burnouts, drag races and drifting that comes to Canberra once a year. The SummerNats organisers have squeezed in a second event in Rockhampton to be held over Easter. They’re perhaps getting in more festivals before the Greens want to ban the sale of petrol cars by 2030. Read more

This week the Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk finally removed vaccine mandates from pubs, hotels, cafes and related venues. This is great relief to thousands of Queenslanders who have lost their jobs because of these mandates. Many people in Central Queensland attended rallies and protests against them. I was with them from the get go, fighting against these cruel and ineffective laws. The removal of the mandates is a win, albeit a belated one, for all of those who lawfully expressed their opposition. Read more

Labor’s Pat Conroy argued last week that the Australian government’s attitude to climate change had led the Solomon Islands to negotiate a deal with the Chinese government. Right. So because the Solomons don’t think we are doing enough to cool the planet, they are becoming friends with the world’s largest coal producer. This makes perfect sense if you believe in Labor’s defence policy. Read more

Australia is lucky to have a strong economy, but despite that so many Australian families are doing it tough after petrol price rises and inflation rising. This week the LNP Government delivered a budget that will provide sensible support while still seeking to manage our budget in the face of rising inflationary pressures. Prices are rising for two main reasons. Read more

Less than six months ago the world apparently united at the Glasgow climate conference to end fossil fuels. UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, told the conference that "what we want to do is move beyond hydrocarbons completely in the UK and do it as fast as possible." Now the world is cutting taxes on petrol. Over the past few months the UK, France, Italy, Sweden, Japan, two US states and now Australia have slashed fuel excise. Net zero emissions did not make it from one Christmas to the next. A recent poll found that 9 in 10 Australians would pay no more than just a cup of coffee a fortnight to reach net zero emissions. The scary thing for Australians is that the Labor party has plans to make you pay a lot more than that to meet their mythical goals. Read more

This week Australia gifted 70,000 tonnes of coal to Ukraine to help their war effort. We are a long way from this conflict and so cannot provide much direct assistance to Ukraine's brave fight against Russia's barbaric invasion. The best thing we can do to hurt Russia is to produce more coal, oil and gas so that Putin does not make as much money off the inflated commodity prices that are helping to fund his war. Read more