1.6M
CHUPDATED: MY THEORY
Virtually everyone agrees this timing is extremely suspicious. So let’s go through some of the theories.
1. Government inside job.
Both state and federal governments are Labor, supporting the move towards lower emissions. Was this Team Green Energy’s way of forcing everyone onto renewables?
As someone who’s passionate about the environment, that theory doesn’t check out. The alternatives simply aren’t fully available yet. There are long wait times for electric vehicles, and we don’t yet have enough clean energy capacity to replace fossil fuels at scale.
Governments are under pressure to keep fuel prices stable & avoid panic buying. This fire will likely push petrol prices up further & flow through to the cost of almost everything. That’s politically damaging.
2. Iran did it.
When you look at possible motivation, the Iranian regime certainly springs to mind. The Strait of Hormuz is their most powerful bargaining tool, and if we can’t get our fuel locally, we’re more reliant on Iran. But surely they’d target the US first?
3. Trump did it.
Trump is annoyed Australia hasn’t helped him bomb Iran. So maybe this was payback or an attempt to force us to get involved? I doubt it. Mostly because Trump can’t keep a secret, and we’d have seen a meme on Truth Social by now.
4, The mining magnates did it.
It’s widely reported that most of Perths brown-energy billionaires have been campaigning against renewables, and singing the praises of coal, gas and oil for decades. This fire highlights how vulnerable our existing energy sources are, and the need for more reliable energy options. But this theory also doesn’t fit, because their industries rely on heavy machinery. Higher fuel costs are bad for business.
5. It really was caused by a machinery fault and a gas leak. The timing of this fire makes the “accidental” explanation seem implausible. But perhaps it was accidental, just not “coincidental”. Perhaps scaling up production to 100% capacity was the catalyst for the technical fault.
Ageing machinery, tired staff working overtime (I’m guessing), a pressure cooker scenario. It’s just a theory, but in my mind, the most likely of the lot.
@christiecooper
