Shocking Fact About Life In Australia That Left Tucker Carlson And Elon Musk Stunned

By Eliza Mcphee for Daily Mail Australia

05:26 04 Jul 2024, updated 13:29 04 Jul 2024

Tucker Carlson was stunned after learning of the soaring cost of energy bills in Australia, despite the country’s wealth of natural resources.

The former Fox News presenter, who now hosts a popular podcast, said the high price paid by Australian families was ultimately due to the country’s exports of iron ore and coal to China.

The right-wing commentator said these precious raw materials were used to produce renewable energy which “we then buy back” from China.

“Whoever thought of this hates you,” he said, speaking at the Melbourne Convention Centre on Monday night as part of the Australian Freedom Conference tour.

Carlson ridiculed Australia for selling its natural resources “to a faraway country to make something that doesn’t work and pay extra for it”.

“This seems insane at first glance. The fact that you have high energy costs is reason enough to get rid of the people who run your country,” he said.

Almost all of Australia’s solar panels come from overseas, with the majority made in China.

Chinese investors also own two of Australia’s largest energy companies.

Energy Australia, which has 1.7 million customers, is owned by China Light and Power Company after being sold by the New South Wales government for $1.4 billion in 2011.

And Alinta Energy, which has 1.1 million customers, was sold by its private owners to Chow Tai Fook Enterprises for $4 billion in 2017.

While neither Energy Australia nor Alinta distribute electricity, both are energy producers and retailers, owning critical assets such as coal-fired power stations, solar farms and wind farms.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk also expressed shock at Australia’s high electricity prices in a 2017 interview that recently resurfaced.

“Wow, really?” he said incredulously when 60 Minutes anchor Liz Hayes told him that electricity had become a “luxury item” for many families.

“I didn’t know it was that expensive. Australia has so many natural resources that even if we go with fossil fuels, electricity should be very cheap,” he said.

Her shock turned to sadness when she was told that many people were worried they would not be able to turn on their lights or cook.

“I didn’t expect that,” he said in a shaky voice before taking a long pause.

“We will work harder,” Musk said, hinting that he hoped to make electricity cheaper for Australians using Tesla technology.

In the year to May, electricity bills rose by 6.5 per cent – above the rate of inflation – according to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The increase led the Albanian government to introduce a $300 energy bill reduction for all Australian households to combat the rising cost of living.

Starting July 1, households will receive a $300 credit automatically applied to their electricity bills, while one million small businesses will receive a $325 reduction on their bills.

Critics have sharply criticized the move, saying such cuts only reduce competitive pressure on energy companies to lower prices and could contribute to further price increases.

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At the same time, inflation jumped to 4% in the year to May from 3.6% the previous month, prompting NAB analysts to warn that any interest rate cuts could be delayed until after May next year.

During his trip to Australia, Carlson also spoke about Australia’s housing crisis, which he said is a result of immigration.

Carlson admitted he was shocked when he learned how expensive it was to buy a home in Sydney, even in the outer harbour suburbs.

He said he was researching house prices because he was considering buying property in Australia – but he soon realised that even someone with his bank balance would struggle to afford a home in Australia.

“It was way more than I could afford and I have a decent job,” he told the crowd.

“How can anyone live here?”

He said when he asked a Sydneysider, he was told many had left the city altogether or were left homeless.

“I said, ‘This looks like a crisis,'” Carlson added.

“Why is this happening? Immigration. There is only one reason and that is the reason.

“But nobody wants to say it like that, because it sounds like an attack on immigrants. And that’s how they shut you up. They say, ‘Shut up, racist.'”

Carlson said he generally supports immigration, but that if there is not enough housing for a growing population, prices will rise rapidly.

“If it becomes too expensive for your children to buy a house in the country where they were born, you are erased, it’s over. Your lineage stops and that’s what happens,” he said.

“If your children can’t afford to buy a house here, then you have only one person to blame: the people who run your government.”

Sydney’s median house price of $1.466 million is 12 times the average full-time wage of $98,218 – even with a 20 per cent deposit – and last year a record 547,300 migrants flocked to Australia.