Leap of faith on the National Electricity Market required

However smart and committed, our NEM institutions do not have real skin in the multi-billion-dollar game. I doubt AEMO would have opted for load shedding had it been accountable to those who do have a commercial interest in success. I also doubt the over-bearing rules and regulations of the NEM would flourish like they do if the rule-maker (currently the AEMC) and rule-enforcer (currently the AER) were part of industry rather than government.

Alas, the prospect of an agile, efficient NEM is bad news for many established players, including the endless roster of lawyers and consultants sustained by the perpetual conflict that arises when a vast bureaucracy loses its way.

And so identification, escalation and resolution of real issues go on being thwarted.

The truly terrifying news for Turnbull and Energy Minister Frydenberg is that large-scale electricity supply is under siege from battery-backed solar PV. The national grid is at serious risk of collapse. At best, it will become a rump, a mere back-up for businesses and households using self-generated, localised power. This has major social and budgetary implications, all of which remain too hard for the policy elite.

Ironically, a refusal to engage reality – including the fact regulatory protections are unnecessary in a disruptive world where traditional utilities face intense competition from their own customers – prolongs the damaging myth salvation involves more government interference.

It's time the PM made a leap of faith. Time to give the NEM ideal a proper shake-up and change the status quo by privatising the industry, not just the assets.