Listen to the Full Show podcast of Overnighs with Luke Grant on August 17

Listen to the Full Show podcast of Overnight with Michael McLaren on August 16

Some members of the Coalition backbench are reportedly in a continued state of revolt, as they charge ahead with a counter-campaign to delegitimise the National Energy Guarantee.   

In a sure sign a potential floor-cross is worrying those in high places, the Prime Minister yesterday conducted a second round of crisis talks with four of the ten MP’s who have reserved a right to cross the floor.

Cory Bernardi finds this hardly surprising, arguing the Coalition’s signature energy policy, which vows to reduce emissions by 26%, is renewable energy ideology on steroids.

It’s more tantamount to Green energy policy, then a conservative document set on creating downward power bill pressure.

“Mother Nature will not notice the difference. Even if Australia said we aren’t going to emit anymore carbon dioxide for the rest of existence, it wouldn’t change the temperature. Not one jot.”

“What this is a legislated attempt to ingratiate Australian leaders with the UN. It’s not a National Energy Guarantee as much as it’s a National Emission Guarantee. The only ones who are going to benefit are those who want to strut the international stage and be applauded for their contribution to a global dilemma.”

“Meanwhile, we’re making to more expensive for every family, business and pensioner to turn on their lights.”

“It is virtue-signalling. It is not technology agonistic or neutral.”

“It’s all about legislating for the appeasement of the Paris Climate Accord.”

To extrapolate on the news of the week, Michael McLaren is joined by writer for The Spectator Australia and contributor to Sky News, Terry Barnes.

Michael McLaren chats with Troy Lennon from the Daily Telegraph for the weekly history segment.

Professor David Flint chats to Michael McLaren on the weeks political news.

Listen to the Full Show podcast of Overnight with Michael McLaren on August 15

Though often swept to the periphery of the news cycle, the fact remains that Australia is currently heading towards a $600 billion debt.

With any deficit placing us in a precarious position should economic downturn come knocking, it’s thought Australia’s 27 years of uninterrupted economic growth has made our politicians quick to forget the crippling realities of recession.

Instead, politicians are caught in a naive and costly political experiment based  on the fiction of unlimited debt and taxes, according to Maurice Newman.

“I just see the situation deteriorating,” says Maurice.

“Because all I get out of Canberra is there is only going to be an expansion , there is never going to be a downturn.”

“The politicians go along as if there is never going to be any correction, but the underlying economic activity is slowing and we are unprepared.”

“They just keep on spending money.”

It looks as though the debt has permeated beyond the confines of Canberra, with Australia now bearing the second highest household debt-to-income ratio in the world.  

A recent study even suggested that a quarter of households have less than $1,000 in the bank.

“We’ve had the highest population growth of any country in the OECD. With this and the competition for jobs there has been virtually no real increase in household income. Yet power prices, petrol prices, everything is going through the rood.

“This is why households don’t have anything in the reserve.”

Reports are emerging that some unscrupulous operators are exploiting the plight of our drought-ridden farmers, hoarding desperately needed livestock feed to artificially inflate prices.

And the worst part is, the stockpiling is not illegal and the competition watchdog say there is little they can do to stop it.

The competition and Consumer Commission cannot regulate to preclude businesses from hiking up prices for commodities that are in high demand and short supply.

The temptation looks to have been to good to resist for some opportunistic .

Hay that was worth $185 a tonne in March is now selling for $500 and cottonseed has soared from $350 a tonne to more than $650.

“ We’re not going to tolerate anyone who wants to game the system or take advantage of our famers in their time of need,” says Niall Blair, NSW Minister for Primary Industries.

“ The ACC have said there is little they can do. So we’ll step in and try and fill the void ourselves.”

“ I’m quite prepared to call out anybody not doing the right thing.”

To mitigate things. Blair has appointed Derek Schoen as Drought Transport Subsidy Integrity Adviser. He’ll investigate reports of grain being stockpiled to artificially hike up prices, as well as look into transport companies jacking up prices to cash in on the recently-annouced farming freight subsidies.

“ I we find evidence that things are of concern, then we’ll make decisions about what to do with that information,” Blair says.

Listen to the full show podcast for Overnights with Michael Mclaren