Former prime minister Scott Morrison told controversial media personality Jordan Peterson about his failure to convince other world leaders of his vision for cheap renewable energy and his disillusionment with a major climate summit during a private chat in Parliament House yesterday, Crikey can reveal.
Peterson, a self-described “politically incorrect” Canadian psychologist, revealed the details of his conversation with the former Australian prime minister in an exclusive, if impromptu, interview at Gate 13 at Canberra Airport on Thursday night.
“We mostly talked about Australian energy policy and the relationship to net zero in 2050,” Peterson told Crikey.
“And we talked about the fact that he believed that part of what was necessary to solve the energy transition problem was to ensure that energy was provided — let’s say, if it was provided in an alternative way, renewable way, that it would also be equally inexpensive. He said he spent a lot of time trying to convince other leaders of that when they were orchestrating their environmental policy, but not with much success.”
Peterson said the pair agreed that renewable energy should not come at the expense of higher prices for consumers because “you really hurt people who are poor”.
“And you don’t save the planet either, but you definitely hurt people who are poor,” Peterson said.
Peterson spoke to Crikey hours after he gave a speech to a select group of conservative politicians in a lecture hall in Parliament that was closed to the public.
The Australian reported Peterson told the audience, which included Morrison, ex-deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce, and One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson, that they needed to “fight for cheaper energy, smaller government and the nuclear family”.
Nationals Senator Matt Canavan organised the talk.
Afterwards, Peterson tweeted a picture of himself alongside Morrison with his hand on the ex-PM’s shoulder, and told his 3.5 million followers the pair had discussed a “renewed classic liberal/conservative vision”.
Crikey asked Peterson what that meant and got the following response: “Well, it was partly an extended discussion of similar policies. And policies that I’ve been discussing with centrists around the world. But that was part of it, energy policy — it’s fine, you can investigate diverse energy sources and hopefully cleaner ones, but yeah, they can’t be more expensive, because that’s not a solution, that’s actually a problem.”
When asked what his impression of Morrison was, Peterson appeared stumped and took several moments to formulate a reply.
“Well, I thought, I thought that he was… what was my impression?” Peterson said. “Well, we had a fine conversation. He’s very well versed in energy policy. I was very interested in talking to him about his reactions to events like COP26, which he was not impressed by.
“And I asked him why, and it was for reasons, I presume, he thought that it was mostly posture, which it is, and it was good to see that he was clear-headed about that.”
Morrison’s office has been contacted for comment.
It was interesting that one snake oil salesman didn’t quite know how to describe the other snake oil salesman.
It is easy to criticise people by calling them names, but that won’t stop Scott Morrison from doing the right thing. He has dedicated his life to helping poor people and saving the planet. That is why he was so generous with funding car parks in electorates all across the country. He is still as dedicated as ever and that is why he continues to serve the public by attending parliament religiously. If it wasn’t for decent Liberal MPs like Mr Morrison the socialists would take over Canberra and the economy would be ruined because the entire budget would be spent on increasing pensions and the dole instead of fighting China to keep poor people safe.
At first I thought satire. But now I’m not sure.
It’s understandable. Genuine right-wing rhetoric is mostly indistinguishable from satire.
They know this well, which is why whenever they sense they’ve gone a bit too far, they pull the “just joking” card.
you had me going there for a bit, Frank 🙂
Is this meant to be sarcasm or do you really believe it ?
Yeah, two low blows. Mother would be very disappointed 😉
Well played, sir.
??
Frank, either you are a talented satirist or completely delusional, I can’t quite make my mind up.
Yes, it’s hard to know if Peterson was just talking crap to the journalist or Morrison was talking crap to Peterson; but any connection to reality seems purely coincidental.
It’s the political equivalent of Black Friday
https://www.theshovel.com.au/2022/11/25/pauline-hanson-condemns-use-of-term-black-friday-saying-all-fridays-matter/
Fire Sale, cheap & nasty.
Remember they are both god botherers. One divinely inspired the other intellectually(?) attracted. Weather they are spivs or delusional I am not sure.
Apparently you can swindle a swindler !
Apparently the guy who bulldozed through legal barriers to get Robodebt up and running to ruthlessly victimise welfare recipients, reportedly driving some to take their own lives, is suddenly concerned about to poor.
How can a follower of the prosperity (for the promoters) religions care about the poor. They’re only that way because the imaginary gods hate them.
IKR, but never mind – these guys can teach you a thing or two about rolling with cognitive dissonance
You forget poor to Morrison and his ilk lies between 1 million and 10 million. Anyone with less is just a serf for his donors to exploit.
Ask them why they have allowed over 100 0000 to fly in by air to be the slaves of the farmers.
Judging by what Peterson says about Morrison’s ambitions for energy policy, this appears to be a report from an alternate reality.
Well, we are talking about a man that tried to live on beef and salt
This writer really does journalism the way it’s meant to be – ever unpredictable topic, plain prose and direct reportage.
Well done, worth the subs.
The Right to “fight for cheaper energy, smaller government and the nuclear family”…another 70’s cliche going to cause great confusement amongst the assembled ‘left overs’.
Not sure Peterson was prepped on who’s who in our parochial politics.The Nationals especially Canavan/Joyce and Hanson are actually rooting for more costly energy with their fossil fuel fetish and denial of the long term cost advantage of renewables….and they just love Big Government. A federally funded dam anyone, anywhere? How about a new bowling green?
And not sure its a winner for the LNP’s attempt to improve their appeal to women to exclude the increasing diversity of family types in Australia. Yes nuclear is the mainstream but there is a growing number of single-parent families, larger extended families, and families with more than two parents.
Poor advice I’d say.
Obviously forgetting that nuclear energy is the most expensive form of energy and even if started now would not br available for probably 20 years, given the history of recent new nuclear stations in Europe & UK
Shh. Remember its not about actually implementation, its being seen to support the idea that matters
You can fool the people some of the time etc.
Yeah, none of the right’s schtick is actually motivated by actual policy as we conceive it.
The only policy is tribalism, and every other policy is just a performance of tribalism, which neatly explains why that toxic mob sprint 180 degrees from evidence-based policy of any sort, because they’re Not Us.
Somehow, fitting in with their brethren overrides every. other. dimension. of self-interest.
The LNP drone spruiking nuclear, Ted O.Brien is my local MHR on the Sunny Coast. He has run for years on the promise of a bullet train between Brissy and the Sunny Coast. Still the same old winding single-track line built in the 1800s.
There’s a weird toxic masculinity that thinks renewable are unmanly
So true. Diesel utes, big hats and ignorance are the tell tale signs
The irony is, electric utes have maximum torque available from 0 revs, unlike those gutless diesels which need to be revved up to get going.
The clue is in the name
Two downvotes? Is it not clear I’m referring to why there’s a correlation between toxic masculinity and pollution?
A lot here have difficulty with reading comprehension – alas, they vote.
Is Nuclear Family the same as a Small Modular one?
This is me liking your comment ^2
I’m sure Peterson _could_ have been prepped for whom exactly were amongst his audience. I’m also sure that he genuinely did not care to be that well versed in those details.
This was just a gig for him. His ego was paid handsomely.