PODCAST · news
Powerlines by Chris Uhlmann
by People. Power. Politics. Passion.
Powerlines is about power, politics and passions. Join Chris Uhlmann as he explores the forces that drive our economy and the ideas that define our time. Life begins with energy. Without it, nothing grows.In human affairs, energy is the economy. Without cheap, reliable energy, nothing functions.Our economy is not a set of numbers. It is a moral project—a living network of human exchange: people trading, building, and solving problems together.Politics should keep this body alive, fair, and free. It should encourage individuals, families, and businesses to advance the common good.We believe our society has succeeded because it stands on the firm foundations of our inherited Western democratic tradition.We believe those foundations are under assault—from within and without.Powerlines exists to defend the best of our heritage and to promote its renewal. We are pro-human, pro-family, and pro-business. We deal in real-world problems and seek real-world solutions.We believe in free s
Episodes
-
The Renewable Energy Clash: Are Regional Communities Bearing the Cost of Australia’s Green Transition?
Australia’s renewable energy transition is becoming increasingly difficult to separate from the communities expected to host it. In this News24 discussion, the debate turns to the growing tensions surrounding large-scale wind, solar and transmission projects across regional Australia. While some...
-
The Energy Transition's Hidden Cost Transfer Nobody Talks About
Energy policy is being sold as a simple transition, but the reality is a messy fight over costs, fairness, and who gets left holding the bill. Ben Beattie sits down with Gavin Dufty, National Energy Director at St Vincent de Paul and board member of Energy Consumers Australia, to unpack the…
more -
What nobody's telling you about renewables and prices
There’s a lot of talk about renewables being cheap and reliable, but much of what’s presented is misleading, especially when it comes to Australia’s energy policies and the costs they’re hiding. This piece breaks down the assumptions behind the “green transition,” the real-world costs of…
more -
Why Australian Gas Security Depends on Supporting Local Victorian Basins
Most Australians don’t realise how close Australia is to a genuine energy security challenge and how some of the policies being proposed today could make it worse. In this episode, Jane Norman, CEO of Amplitude Energy, unpacks the debate around domestic gas reservation and explains why…
more -
The Great Energy Gamble
From billion-dollar battery subsidies and COP spending to transmission lines carving through regional communities, Aidan Morrison, Chris Uhlmann and Ben Beattie unpack the forces reshaping Australia’s energy future. This wide-ranging discussion explores the political urgency behind net zero, the...
-
The Hidden Cost of Australia’s Renewable Push: Connecting Nothing and Paying Big
The Energy Transition Debate: Unpacking Australia's Renewable Energy Policy The Current State of Energy Policy in Australia The past few months have been pivotal for the energy sector in Australia. With rising taxation and the government's push for renewable energy sources, many are wondering…
more -
Energy Shock Meets Policy Confusion
The Australian Energy Producers conference in South Australia last week came as the world grapples with its biggest energy shock in decades, while at home the oil and gas industry is being cast as both saviour and cash cow. In the lead-up to the federal budget there was a populist push for a 25…
more -
We Were Warned
In 2017, I left the ABC and walked down the corridor in Parliament House to begin again as political editor for Nine News. This was the first story I filed for Nine. At the time, my new bosses were a little bemused by it, but they humoured me. I don’t claim credit for the insight. I was convinced...
-
Living in a Material World
The Gulf war has exposed two hard truths: military force still shapes the world, and hydrocarbons still power it. Coal, oil and gas remain the foundation of modern life, embedded in everything from food and medicine to transport, industry and household goods. When oil and gas prices rise, the…
more -
Eyes in the Sky, Death on the Ground
Dr Oleksandra Molloy is not a soldier. But war has defined her work, reshaped her life, and heightened her fears for the West. A native of Kyiv, now based at the University of New South Wales, Molloy’s research has focused on aviation, emerging technologies, and the changing face of modern…
more -
China Arms for Conflict. Australia Arms for Optics.
Canberra warns that our region faces the gravest military threat since World War II. But defence spending suggests it doesn’t believe it. Peter Jennings, director of Strategic Analysis Australia, told Powerlines the gap between words and actions is unsustainable. “To use an old Trotskyism… we may...
-
Energy is Power
Joe Hockey says it is time for governments to get out of the way of energy producers to allow industry to drive Australian productivity and help keep the nation wealthy. Speaking at the Australian Energy Producers conference in Brisbane, the former Treasurer and Ambassador to the United States…
more -
The D.I.Y. Gas Crisis
Australia’s competitive edge has long been its vast natural resources and access to cheap, abundant energy. But Samantha McCulloch, Chief Executive of Australian Energy Producers, says we risk squandering that advantage. In a wide-ranging Powerlines conversation, McCulloch offers a clear-eyed...
-
Temperance preachers
From a ringside seat in Australian government departments, David Pearl watched the nation lurch from rational economic policymaking into what he calls “a moral panic.” Pearl’s experience is broad: he is a former senior Treasury official, economic adviser to a future Labor Prime Minister, and a...
-
Firehose of Falsehood
We tend to think of conflict between states as something that arrives with a bang: bombs falling, missiles fired, ships sinking, or borders breached. Today, it might come as a whisper in the wires: our power flickering out, our water supply cut, our communications down. Katherine Mansted fears we...
-
The Echidna Needs to Swim
Jennifer Parker’s assessment of Australia’s strategic vulnerability is brutally simple: to defeat us, you don’t need to set foot on our soil; just cut our sea-based supply lines. Parker speaks from the experience of a naval officer who served in the South China Sea, the Middle East, the…
more -
How to Lose a Country in Two Elections
Labor’s victory in Australia’s federal election is still being counted, both in scale and its place in history. With the party set to command more than 90 seats in the 150-member lower house, it is arguably the biggest win for Labor since Federation, 124 years ago. Barring a catastrophe, it is…
more -
COVID Zero, Truth Zero
The Albanese government’s failure to hold a Royal Commission into Australia’s response to COVID-19 will leave a historic stain on its record. We lost the opportunity to shine a bright light on the worst crisis the nation has faced this century. We lost the chance to test what worked and what...
-
Undermining Australia
It takes more than 25 minerals to build the phone in your pocket, but few ever pause to wonder how it’s made. It is true of so much of modern life. Our largely urban society is so disconnected from its sources of wealth, food, and energy that many are now actively voting against them. The…
more -
Volodymyr Zelensky
In late October 2023, while filming the documentary Forged in Fire, I sat down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Our director/producer/cameraman, Michael Fardell, had asked the president’s office if he could do as much of the interview as possible in English, as we wanted him to speak...
-
When Science Becomes a Faith
There’s an old line, attributed to the American humorist Josh Billings: “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” That sentiment cuts to the heart of my conversation with Matt Ridley, zoologist, science writer, hereditary peer, and...
-
The Sun Also Sets
Earlier this year, I spoke with Dr. Bjorn Peters—a physicist-turned-energy economist who once believed in the promise of Germany’s energy revolution. Back in 2008, as a senior adviser in Deutsche Bank’s asset management arm, Peters helped direct billions of euros into wind and solar projects. But...
-
The Numbers Don’t Lie
Since the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, when the world first committed to tackling climate change, carbon emissions have continued to rise every year with just two exceptions: the 2009 global financial crisis and the 2020 pandemic.In both cases, emissions fell only because of wrenching economic...
-
Hope is not a strategy
“Hope is not a strategy.” With that one line, former Home Affairs Secretary Mike Pezzullo cuts to the heart of Australia’s strategic complacency. In a wide-ranging interview for Powerlines, Pezzullo lays out a devastating account of how successive governments have failed to prepare the nation for…
more -
The Queensland Quixote
In far north Queensland, in the ancient forests of the Atherton Tablelands, Steven Nowakowski has spent three decades fighting to protect the natural world. A wilderness photographer and lifelong environmentalist, he once stood as a Greens candidate. Now he finds himself in open conflict with…
more -
The Times They Are A-Changin’
As Australians head toward a federal election, former Senate president and High Commissioner to Canada Scott Ryan offers a measured but clear-eyed assessment: the old certainties in Australian politics are breaking down — and the international order that once underpinned them may not return. In a...
-
The High Price of Trust
At Thursday’s National Press Club energy debate, I asked Energy Minister Chris Bowen a simple question: “Have electricity prices risen on your watch?” Once again, he refused to concede it, saying only that prices were higher than the government would like. On that, we can all agree. But here’s…
more -
Living In A Material World
Ever stopped to think where your lifestyle comes from? How the modern world is made? How it runs? Most of us don’t. Least of all the small group of activists that gathers outside Australia’s federal parliament on sitting days, surrounded by hydrocarbon-rich signs, demanding an immediate end to…
more -
Canada’s War on Prosperity
“We're supposed to go along with shutting down our energy sector, shutting down our natural resources.” In February, I sat down with former Canadian Conservative leader Candice Bergen, who detailed the absurdity at the heart of Canada’s politics: a government scorning the very resources that made...
-
Net Zero Fantasy Collides with Facts
In 1998, fossil fuels made up 85% of the world’s primary energy. In 2023, they made up 81.5% — a drop of just 3.5 percentage points in 25 years. And we’re told we can cut the remaining 81% to near-zero in the next 25. That’s not a transition — it’s a delusion. This short clip from our documentary...
-
Climate Change: Stop doing stupid stuff
When The Skeptical Environmentalist was published in 2001, it landed like a meteor in the middle of the environmental debate. Its author, Danish political scientist Bjørn Lomborg, dared to ask uncomfortable questions and insisted on evidence-based answers. Almost a quater of a century on, his...
-
The Power Price Illusion
Thanks for reading Powerlines Media! This post is public so feel free to share it. Before the last election in 2022, I interviewed then-shadow energy minister Chris Bowen on the Today Show. He was selling a simple idea: more renewables mean lower electricity prices. The logic was that wind and...
-
Robert Bryce: How energy explains the world.
Robert Bryce is a veteran energy journalist with over three decades of experience. Growing up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, an oil-industry hub, Bryce was exposed to energy issues early on. His career began in Texas, where he wrote for the Austin Chronicle for twelve years before contributing to major...
We're indexing this podcast's transcripts for the first time — this can take a minute or two. We'll show results as soon as they're ready.
No matches for "" in this podcast's transcripts.
No topics indexed yet for this podcast.
Loading reviews...
ABOUT THIS SHOW
Powerlines is about power, politics and passions. Join Chris Uhlmann as he explores the forces that drive our economy and the ideas that define our time. Life begins with energy. Without it, nothing grows.In human affairs, energy is the economy. Without cheap, reliable energy, nothing functions.Our economy is not a set of numbers. It is a moral project—a living network of human exchange: people trading, building, and solving problems together.Politics should keep this body alive, fair, and free. It should encourage individuals, families, and businesses to advance the common good.We believe our society has succeeded because it stands on the firm foundations of our inherited Western democratic tradition.We believe those foundations are under assault—from within and without.Powerlines exists to defend the best of our heritage and to promote its renewal. We are pro-human, pro-family, and pro-business. We deal in real-world problems and seek real-world solutions.We believe in free s
HOSTED BY
People. Power. Politics. Passion.
Loading similar podcasts...
Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Powerlines by Chris Uhlmann have?
Powerlines by Chris Uhlmann currently has 33 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Powerlines by Chris Uhlmann about?
Powerlines is about power, politics and passions. Join Chris Uhlmann as he explores the forces that drive our economy and the ideas that define our time. Life begins with energy. Without it, nothing grows.In human affairs, energy is the economy. Without cheap, reliable energy, nothing functions.Our...
How often does Powerlines by Chris Uhlmann release new episodes?
Powerlines by Chris Uhlmann has 33 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Powerlines by Chris Uhlmann?
You can listen to Powerlines by Chris Uhlmann on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Powerlines by Chris Uhlmann?
Powerlines by Chris Uhlmann is created and hosted by People. Power. Politics. Passion..
URL copied to clipboard!