Why is it the Tony Abbott-led cabal of hard right conservatives within the Coalition is so determined to undermine chief scientist, Alan Finkel's, best attempt to come up with a politically acceptable solution to the long-running climate change and energy policy impasse?
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The recommendations contained within his review could, if adopted, end a wasted decade in which Australia has spun its wheels on the issue described as the greatest mortal challenge of our time.
What is at stake is nothing less than the type of world we are going to leave for our children.
It would appear that in the eyes of at least some on the extreme right of the Coalition revenge and ideology trump energy security and the welfare of the environment every time. Yet this small number of inflexible legislators should not have the right to obfuscate and hold the country to ransom every time there is an attempt to have a sensible, facts-based debate about our future energy needs.
Mr Abbott and his supporters are still smarting over the Queanbeyan coup that elevated Malcolm Turnbull to the Prime Ministership ahead of the 2016 election.
This is despite the fact the self-appointed minister for women who took Australia back to the future with the now dumped reintroduction of knights and dames is electoral poison and was leading his government over the abyss and into opposition at an alarming pace.
Having originally won office in 2014 on the back of an "axe the tax" pledge, Mr Abbott is now apparently opposed to any form of energy market regulation that would advantage renewables over coal on the grounds it would be heretical backsliding of the worst possible stripe.
The sheer bloody mindedness of that stance, adopted by about 21 coalition partyroom members, raises the question of whether or not they have actually read the Finkel report.
It is generally agreed that even leaving aside the environmental issue, the Clean Energy Target would result in lower power prices for business and domestic consumers in the forseeable future than if the Government did nothing.
It is also generally accepted the proposals outlined by the chief scientist would increase the level of energy security enjoyed by most Australians, an issue that made headlines in 2016 with notable supply failures in South Australia and other parts of the country.
Malcolm Turnbull put the argument in a nutshell on Wednesday when he said: "Enough is enough. We need a clear national plan founded on economics and engineering and we're doing the work to deliver it... glibness is not going to keep the lights on, glibness is not going to pay the electricity bills".
Now is not the time for the Coalition's conservative rump to go against the global, national and even its' own government's interests on this issue.
We cannot afford to waste another decade.
