Leith Onselen "Australia to Build Homes without Windows," is a satirical title dealing with a serious issue. Australia's last major plastics manufacturer, Qenos, closed in 2024. High energy costs, a product of Australia's disastrous energy policies, influenced by climate change alarmism, has led now to Australia getting its plastics solely from communist China. Likewise, Oceania Glass Australia's sole manufacturer of architectural flat glass has now closed. Glass making requires large amounts of energy, so they faced the same problem:
""Certainly, for us as glass manufacturers, there are no real current alternatives for glassmaking outside of natural gas or other carbon fuels", Oceania Glass chief executive Corné Kritzinger stated in January 2022.
Obviously, the hyperinflation of East Coast gas and electricity costs made Oceania Glass unviable.
These costs are certain to soar even higher once LNG import terminals are built in NSW, Victoria, and South Australia, thereby locking in import parity prices at the same time as nearly three-quarters of East Coast gas is exported, mostly to China.
So, while Australia exports most of its East Coast gas to China, we will now import plastics, glass, and nearly every other manufactured good from China, thanks to expensive energy costs.
Meanwhile, China will continue to consume coal and gas without restraint.
China will also drive the world's growth in carbon emissions while the developed world cuts fossil fuel use, drives up energy costs, and sends its manufacturing to China."
This, as I see it is radical deindustrialisation, and a path to social doom. What happens when war with China erupts and supplies are cut over night? That is a question not even spoken about now in polite conversation. Maybe it is time for impolite conversation?
https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2025/02/australia-to-build-homes-without-windows/