Coal

Australia’s new citizenship test: swear allegiance to Queen and Coal

Published by

The Coalition government’s new citizenship test appears to include talking points that might have been prepared by the coal industry in defending their role in climate change.

Details of the extraordinarily complex reading material that new citizens are being asked to comprehend, in preparation for their citizenship tests, have been revealed in The Australian newspaper, which was concerned by the level of complexity in the language.

What struck us at RenewEconomy from the examples used by The Australian was the nature of the content. It looked like marketing spiel from the coal industry, so we checked it out further.

Take this, for example:

“The worldwide coal industry allocates extensive resources to researching and developing new technologies and ways of capturing greenhouse gases. Efficiencies are likely to be improved dramatically, and hence CO2 emissions reduced, through combustion and gasification techniques which are now at pilot and demonstration stages.”

And then there is this:

“Clean coal is another avenue for improving fuel conversion efficiency. Investigations are under way into super-clean coal (35 per cent ash) and ultraclean coal (less than 1 per cent ash). Super-clean coal has the potential to enhance the combustion efficiency of conventional pulverised fuel power plants.”

And on it goes. You can read more here.

But having absorbed this, the hopeful new citizen is then given some practice multiple choice questions. Such as:

And then:

 

Now, we wouldn’t want any new citizens to get any fancy ideas about wind and solar, would we? But would anyone care to hazard a guess as to what the correct answers are? The truth or the marketing?

It makes us think if there was a real test about climate change and coal, some of the Coalition’s most prominent climate deniers, as well as the likes of One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts, should be thankful that they are already citizens.

In fact, we suspect that Dutton himself might struggle to pass the test. Someone alert passport control!

(Note: We’ve updated the second screenshot).

 

Giles Parkinson

Giles Parkinson is founder and editor of Renew Economy, and of its sister sites One Step Off The Grid and the EV-focused The Driven. He is the co-host of the weekly Energy Insiders Podcast. Giles has been a journalist for more than 40 years and is a former deputy editor of the Australian Financial Review. You can find him on LinkedIn and on Twitter.

Share
Published by

Recent Posts

Build it and they will come: Transmission is key, but LNP make it harder and costlier

Transmission remains the fundamental building block to decarbonising the grid. But the LNP is making…

23 December 2024

Snowy Hunter gas project hit by more delays and blowouts, with total cost now more than $2 billion

Snowy blames bad weather for yet more delays to controversial Hunter gas project, now expected…

23 December 2024

Happy holidays: We will be back soon

In 2024, Renew Economy's traffic jumped 50 per cent to more than 24 million page…

20 December 2024

Solar Insiders Podcast: A roller coaster year in review – and the keys to a smoother 2025

In our final episode for the year, SunWiz's Warwick Johnston on the highs and the…

20 December 2024

CEFC creates buzz with record investment in poles and wires, as Marinus bill blows out again

CEFC winds up 2024 with record investment in two huge transmission projects, as Marinus reveals…

20 December 2024

How big utilities manipulate the energy market, even with a high share of wind and solar

Regulator says big energy players are manipulating prices to their benefit. It's not illegal, but…

20 December 2024