Ian Dunlop dismisses coal's significant emissions reductions technology at the same time, seeking to silence the many people who do not share his opinion.

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Let's get the second issue out of the way from the start. Authoritarian states silence voices with which they disagree, not democracies that embrace balanced and informed debate. The Dunlop doomsday view, as Microsoft co-founder and global philanthropist Bill Gates labelled such contributions, is overblown rhetoric. Gates and many other participants in the energy and climate issue see many paths forward - just as the Paris Agreement set out a decade ago.

Achievement by technological innovation across all fuel sources was a key Paris outcome - achievement of a better climate, achievement of essential improvements in the living standards of billions of people via reliable energy.

The National Press Club has a vital role to play in peeling back issues of public importance and that was evident in my appearance yesterday with some challenging questions. I thank the club for the opportunity and for upholding a basic tenet of democracy, and I also thank the journalists who engaged in respectful interrogation.

In Australia, 2025, I can only hope that cancel culture does not seep further into the mainstream.

It is simplistic to dismiss major technological innovations - whether they be in the coal value........

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