Australians blame wind, solar for high power bills as media campaigns take hold

It is also an objective fact that in most places in the world new solar and wind (this may not be the case for wind anymore due to high interest rates) is cheaper than existing coal.

That’s why coals plants have been shutting down globally.

Now this may not be true specifically for Australia, which is one of the largest coal exporters in the world but your claim of what is and isn’t an objective fact isn’t true.

Finally, all this is simply the dollar amounts that are paid for. What is also an objective fact that energy generation from sources like coal cost the local and global population far more in terms of medical expenses due to pollution and damage due to climate change, costs which are not captured in the cost of coal but instead borne as an externality by everyone.

So no, your objective facts are blatantly wrong.

Edit: Also, if you actually read the article, renewable energy is cheaper than coal in Australia already and the reason for the high costs are due to expensive coal contracts signed a few years ago. Renewables are actually making Australian energy cheaper and coal is making it more expensive.

You've also conflated the short and long terms where convenient. We have a century of energy and research dumped into petrochemicals, but absent are the historical costs of building and maintaining it. Roads, gas stations, cleaning, etc are acceptable ongoing costs of diesel, and the refineries and pipelines are all paid for, just as renewables will one day be. You do mention the cost of generators and peaking plants, but you haven't scaled any of it across a century for comparison.

And rightfully, because that's one of the hard problems about illustrating change at scale. I think people should have more input over energy choices, as in, deciding whether and how long to allow energy companies to bill customers to cover construction costs, limits to externalizing costs, etc, but I think we need very open talks about the financials and feasibility.

Lastly, our (great)grandparents subsidized energy development for our futures. As those who only grew up in the shade of those trees, how selfish are we to resist that for our children? If there's anyone to be annoyed with, it's the generation or two that lived large without saving or having to foot the bills - largely because of cheap energy.

It will be more costly to wait until it's not our problem.

Ironically, coal is only cheap because it does not price in the damage it causes via emissions (yet).