Why does our energy transition seem so slow? Because it is.

The picture routinely pushed by Government and the renewables industry shows Australia's main renewables, solar and wind, roaring ahead at record rates. It's pure fiction. The Government's own statistics prove that growth, heavily subsidised over almost a decade, is modest and steady. And the official numbers, the governments' own statistics, tell us that at this modest steady rate it will take nearly 70 years for the energy transition to reach completion.

Renewables growth is undeniably slow! Which of course doesn't mean it won't be denied.

Contrast this reality with the message consistently spread by government politicians and industry enthusiasts. Our renewable energy transition is exciting, it's approaching fast, it's inevitable, it's successful. And it's ambitious; the aims keep growing. Just the other day, (23 September 2025), Australia's Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen, in New York for United Nations Climate Week, announced a new even bigger Australian emissions reduction commitment. By 2035 emissions will be 62%–70% below 2005 levels, all due to renewables growth. The emissions target aligns with achieving 82 % renewable electricity by 2030. Wow!

The popular narrative calls ita "clean energy revolution". Australia is a global leader, a "renewable energy superpower". And our Mr Bowen enthuses that "renewables would overtake coal as the largest global energy source sometime this calendar year".

It's not just Australia; breathless boasting and cheering about renewables is the norm worldwide. At that same UN meeting (High-Level Session on Renewable Energy Abundance, convened as it happens by Australia's mining giant Fortescue), European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen celebrated:

· Almost half of Europe's power now comes from renewables.

· Solar and wind are our fastest growing sources of energy.

· In 2024 "almost two trillion dollars was invested worldwide in clean energy – twice the investment that had gone into fossil fuels".

· 90 per cent of new renewables projects were now generating power more cheaply than fossil fuels.

Here in Australia there's some minor dissent. Residents in rural areas express their dislike of the unavoidably large environmental footprints of solar and wind farms and the long transmission systems required to get electricity to centres of population and industry. And there's a bit of scepticism about government claims that solar and wind energy "are the cheapest". Minister Bowen easily dismisses such concerns. He stands rock solid. Renewables policy dissent comes from "cranks and crackpots", displaying their "climate change denialism".

The renewables growth strategy is straightforward. Australia's governments, state and federal, are aligned. They set renewables policies and drive them with subsidies. Targets and subsidies. That's the growth strategy. It is vigorously supported by government propaganda. Firm construction plans with schedules, locations, budgets etc. are not conspicuous. What's stands out is the repetitious official enthusiasm for the energy transition. It works. Public approval remains solid, governments get re-elected, any signs of serious disapproval are easily dismissed.

A new element has recently emerged. The Australian Human Rights Commission, our Human Rights watchdog, has weighed in on critics of energy policy. In its submission to the Senate Select Committee on Information Integrity on Climate Change and Energy (published 19 September 2025) the AHRC said: "False narratives distort public understanding, erode trust in science and institutions and delay urgent climate action". All a bit vague. Does the AHRC suggest that all criticisms of energy policy are false, perhaps punishable? I hope not. Especially as I'm about to tell you that energy policymakers and the renewable energy industry they created are guilty of seriously exaggerating the prospects of our energy transition succeeding. They might even be lying.