Apologies to foreign readers as we rake over the Stupidest Energy Policy on Earth. This really takes the cake.
Back in 2010 Rudd signed off on an extension of subsidies to renewables generators that would apply from 2020-2030, long after he would be gone. Effectively this decision will take up t0 $300 per Australian over that decade — in the order of $1000 per family — and gift to the renewables industry. Naturally, in the public arena, an issue this big was decided with major, some, no discussion at all.
The ABC investigated the intricacies of who knew what and when in the knifing of a first term PM, but billions of dollars — who knew?
Dennis Shanahan raised it today in The Australian
Rudd renewables extension upped power bills $7.5bn
Electricity customers face an extra burden of between $3.8 billion and $7.5bn in “windfall” subsidies for renewable power generators in the next decade because of the stroke of a pen in the last months of Kevin Rudd’s prime ministership.
Against advice from consultants, energy companies and the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Rudd government in 2010 extended the phasing out of the renewable subsidies for existing operators from 2020 to 2030.
The 10-year extension beyond the contracted 2020 phase-out under the Howard government is estimated to cost households and businesses up to an extra $7.5bn.
The subsidy scheme had been put in place by Howard, and back in 2003 the MRET (Mandatory Renewables Energy Target) was designed to end in 2020. Not only did the Australian public not get a chance to say much about extending this gift for another ten years, but neither apparently did Parliament. Indeed, perhaps not even the sitting ministers in the Government at the time:
Former Labor ministers cannot recall cabinet discussion or parliamentary debate over the extension of the subsidies for existing renewable generation to 2030, which was seen as a minor part of the massive changes to renewable energy policy.
There was a Senate Review, and apparently everyone thought it was a bad idea — the advisors, the big gas-giants, big industry, even the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) and Greenpeace. This gift was a windfall to businesses that were already running and which had made their investments based on the current plan and conditions:
“Facilities built between 1997 and 2007 should only be eligible for incentives due under the existing MRET,” the ACF said in a submission to the Climate Change Authority.
Rudd did it anyway — being greener than Greenpeace. What a hero, with other people’s money.
Now Turnbull is left with this ball-and-chain, the best way to undo some of the damage is to build a nuclear plant. Then again, we could just take that money from the ABC budget instead. (Which one would grow the economy more? Oh the dilemma!)
[Snip. Yes, typo fixed. Oops for two minutes. – Jo]
30
[Snip]
30
[Keith- you were fast. No worries. – Jo]
40
Never mind Kinky.
The real issue is why their ABC never took the issue up.
Why? Well, it’s another example of the way in which the Gramsci inspired green-left have infiltrated and subverted the government owned and funded public broadcaster. That’s the tax-payer funded national broadcaster.
Don’t expect Turnbull to ever do anything about it. Or any other Liberal. Turnbull will go to his political grave still holding that the ABC should never be obliged to behave in accordance with its Charter.
272
Tax payer funded? No, taxpayer owned. The ABC own nothing. Sure it is set up by as a corporation but the huge infrastructure, the copyright, the buildings, the contracts, everything is owned by the public who own the ABC. Acting unaccountable, that is just how the law reads at the moment but you would think the public servants paid by us and not reporting to us own the lot. On that basis they do what is good for them and they are all moving to Sydney. Frnakly, they could all leave tomorrow and we would be $30 million a week better off. For that we could get out own information from the internet, without them. Everyone in the country could have free FOXTEL and watch the BBC as much as they like. Peppa Pig is a BBC production. So is half of the rest.
Sell the ABC/SBS. It is no longer an independent balanced news organization, which is the only point of having it.
Look hard at the BOM and the CSIRO too. When Global Warming is exposed as the scam it is, the hundreds of scientists who were paid full time salaries to investigate it and said nothing should be held accountable. “The Problem Solvers” are the problem. Another $20 million a week. For what?
290
I sometimes ask people why should we have a publicly funded broadcaster in Australia?
The usual reaction is one of horror at the very suggestion. When pressed they will usually say that they like watching shows with no advertisements and they like the programs shown on the ABC.
It costs us a lot for such minor benefits
141
If you are talking about Peppa Pig, Midsomer Murders, Poirot, .. they are BBC programs you can watch on Foxtel. The ABC is bidding your money to buy such shows, often outbidding commercial stations. We could watch the same shows cheaper without the ABC forcing up prices.
141
Shows without ads? It’s called Netflix (or Amazon Prime… or Kodi, if you are that way inclined).
102
So they out-source coercion to the government; so that taxpayers are forced to pay for their personal viewing pleasure.
What does it feel like to live like a Mafia boss?
Cashed in on the RETs after putting in e.g. solar power? You’ve licenced the government to force reliable generators the very “discount”/”credits”/… that you got off the bill. And those generators are simply going to pass on the costs of the stuff that they’re forced to buy, to everybody connected to the grid.
Liberty is life without coercion by others and of others.
100
“No, taxpayer owned.”
If we really owned it, each of us would be able to sell our own bit.
11
Last Sunday morning on the ABC Insiders program (would be better called Leftsiders) the Host, Barrie Cassidy at end of the program hour (that included an interview with Energy & Environment Minister, Josh Frydenberg – on, you guessed it, electricity generation) summed up by saying to his panel that the game was over, renewables had obviously won the argument. What? Was that ABC policy? Is that balanced objective ABC science presentation? Cassidy (a card-carrying member of the ALP) prides himself on journalistic balance. Really? Originally Andrew Bolt was on their panel and socked it to them on climate issues but left years ago. Gerard Henderson is still on (occasionally) but criticises the ABC occasionally (A BIG MISTAKE) so his days are numbered.
If you watch the ABC you will experience blatant bias on ALL climate and energy issues. Sceptics are openly labelled “climate deniers” by journalists and News readers alike. Readers of this site should regularly watch the ABC just to see what is going on. You owe it to yourself just to see and beware what we (and the truth) are up against.
80
Thanks Peter,
Yes I suppose that I should watch the ABC more to see what we are up against. But I think that I already know that and I find it better for my mental health if I do not watch it.
So far I have not convinced anyone else to give up watching the ABC, nor to advocate for their Breaking up, Sale or just Closure (the broadcasting infrastructure can be sold).
50
“Oh the dilemma!”
Being caught on the horns of this well crafted pink dilemma? Not nice. Is that worser than ‘running into this SNAG”? Watermelon colored communistic vicious beast?!!
All the best! -will-
140
Not sure if ir”s worser or betterer Will.
80
Rudd was trapped on the horns of a unicorn.
60
I believe that would be ‘horn of a unicorn’. The mythical creature has only one bony protrusion!
30
Maybe, but Rudd’s not smart enough to know that.
20
Rudd was a dudd and went out with a thud – thank god!!!
40
Just as Obama did, Rudd was shoring up his welcome in limited areas after he was gone.
Just imagine if this corrupt weasel had become secretary general of the most corrupt organisation on earth, the UN.
352
Would he be any worse than the delightful Christi?
80
Yes.
80
Another fantastic Howard legacy , started by Howard and fiddled by Labor .
140
And locked in by Turnbull who has never taken a tough decision while-ever in the Parliament.
Another lily-livered Liberal.
Drop the RET.
Second best option: taper the RET to zero over the next five years.
280
Once again we see a pattern emerging ( dare I say it is literally a globalist con******y ) of the same agenda being created by globalist stooges “Labor” and progressed by gloablist stooges “Liberals” only to be cheered on by communist “greens”…..
What a mess.
Vote them all out at the next election , drain the swamp….. deprive the globalists of their power.
5 years of minor political instability is a small price to pay to stem the “pumper” life-blood loss from Australia under the globalist puppets….
111
Yes except now the two major parties are effectively in cahoots with one another and fast tracking our nation to destruction with energy polices that only focus on more and more renwables and no new coal fired power stations, unlike the rest of the world where they have at least come to their senses and understand you can’t have one without the other even in a half baked energy policy.
240
‘…now the two major parties are effectively in cahoots with one another…’
Its a politically correct pseudo Marxist dictatorship and Beijing is more than happy to work with the consortium.
161
There’s been a succession of Australian leaders that has permitted the ever encroaching powers of the UN and its subsidiaries, firstly through charitable gestures then human rights laws then environmental concerns then heritage listings then cultural significance and now anyone that opposes these obtrusion’s is subject to government organised social justice trials that now directly involve the legal system.
The road to hell is paved with
goodegocentric intentions.180
A global take over?
thinkexist.com/quotation/today-americans-would-be-outraged-if-u-n-troops/347294.html
“”Today Americans would be outraged if U.N. troops entered Los Angeles to restore order; tomorrow they will be grateful! This is especially true if they were told there was an outside threat from beyond whether real or promulgated, that threatened our very existence. It is then that all peoples of the world will pledge with world leaders to deliver them from this evil. The one thing every man fears is the unknown. When presented with this scenario, individual rights will be willingly relinquished for the guarantee of their well being granted to them by their world government.”
– Henry Kissinger in an address to the Bilderberger meeting at Evian, France, May 21, 1992.
(in an address to the Bilderberger organization meeting at Evian, France, on May 21, 1991. As transcribed from a tape recording made by one of the Swiss delegates. )”
50
Yes but first empires always have to be weakened from the inside first before they can be taken over. That’s the pattern all down history. Today we have the left in both major parties to break down our nation before the takeover happens. Don’t think this is not possible, in fact it’s very likely for the whole West. It might take a couple of decades or more but sure as day follows night it will happen.
50
If you can weaken a nation, it can be more easily taken over.
I wouldnt want to be globalist Collaborator when the average australain caught up with them…would not be pretty….australians dont take kindly to copping a cowardly king hit from behind….they like to assume thier attackers have the spine to actiually look them in the eye.
20
The takeover will be seamless if we join China’s Belt and Road strategy.
When the British pushed Indian opium onto the Chinese masses it produced an internal weakening, then the Europeans took advantage. On this occasion, the benevolent dictatorship comes in peace.
Beijing must be amused by the unstable democratic process in Australia and probably wonder if the Westminster system is slightly flawed.
10
Look, the solution is in the hands of the public. If you vote in these dills, you deserve everything you get. At the next election make sure your votes go to none of the major parties.
130
Robdel. Trouble is we’re outnumbered by . .. well, leaches, gullible, uneducated, unthinking, uncaring…
Doug
130
Well FarmerDoug2: if the situation is as you have described, that is the price of democracy. Only when the majority realise the error of their ways can we expect any change.
120
Well the price of power is about to financially choke a lot of people….if they are dumb enough to endure that, time to emigrate….
60
Where would you go?
40
When Howard introduced the RET the signs were that action was needed. Then came “The Pause”.
When Abbott was elected to get rid of the RET, Clive Palmer, acting as proxy for Al Gore, “protected” (the word they used) the RET.
The question I keep asking is, how did Al Gore persuade Clive Palmer to do this?
170
“The question I keep asking is, how did Al Gore persuade Clive Palmer to do this?”
In short – [snip]. By “advising” on and “supporting” the Govt “initiative”, the Govt gains in public perception – “Look, these successful private companies are with us, it must be OK”. The payback is subsidies in the “right” areas – which, as a “partner”, you are heavily invested in. A guarenteed return above market rates for the life of your investment – funded by taxpayers. Who’d say “No”? Everybody gets rich and nobody is really poor – well, nobody worth speaking about, anyway.
100
And using the powers of propaganda skilfully engineered by a small army of professionals via GetUp, the organisation established by Bill Shorten when he was a union executive with union membership monies, without asking them. He later used that funding source for his election to parliament campaign.
GetUp is union funded but also receives substantial donations from US socialist billionaire and friend of Al Gore, George Soros.
I wonder where the trail would lead using the China octopus tentacle trails?
50
It is important to put the Howard Government RET of 2 per cent into perspective, it was one of the many trial initiatives following signing of the UN Kyoto Agreement. Note, signed and not ratified. Rudd Labor later ratified the Agreement which exposed Australia to penalties if emissions targets were not met. Labor also raised the original trial 2 per cent RET to twenty three per cent.
The Howard Government decided on what the Abbott Government’s continuation plan referred to as “direct action”. Howard said they would tackle “greenhouse gas emissions” using common sense and affordable measures. And since that time Australia has met every emissions reduction target and is one of the very few nations that have.
Recently former PM Howard commented that Labor should never have raised the trial RET and he said that he was concerned about the energy crisis now developing.
70
Dennis if Howard had of said no to all the calls from the left side of politics when he had the chance my opinion of him would change but only on this issue .
By installing the little green button and hoping no one would press it just doesn’t wash .
In fault finding we always went back to the beginning and worked forwards if it was suspected to be a manufacturing fault but if it was suspected to be an operator or mechanic to blame we just went backwards and looked at each interaction.
Same methodology can be applied here or if you want to be kind I suppose you can call it the law of unintended consequences , but it doesn’t change anything .
40
“In fault finding…”
…always look at the last place touched by human hands.
…never assume anything, except for:
i) the end-user is an idiot, and will do things you thought no sane person would do.
ii) the end-user is an evil genius, and will try to break anything and everything to make you look bad.
…check everything – twice.
…if it’s not broken, don’t try to fix it.
That covers about 95% of the faults you will need to find.
By Your Friend, the School of Hard Knocks.
30
You disregard the powers of persuasion that impressed world leaders who were briefed at the UNIPCC Kyoto Conference in Japan, including UK PM Thatcher who later after commissioning her own research lost her enthusiasm for man-made global warming agenda.
PM Howard was also wary but unable at that time to argue, but wisely chose not to commit to penalties and demands by not ratifying the Kyoto Agreement.
It is easy to know what leaders should have done in hindsight.
50
I said a long time ago.”Little Johnny Howard”was NOT our friend.He is after all,a”Globalist”first last and foremost.He took our guns away from us(at the behest of the UN),for our good,after Port Arthur.Very convenient,is it not?
60
No he did not take “our” guns away, the Howard Governemnt legislated in cooperation with state and territory governments to require gun owners to be licenced and to register their weapons of choice. However certain military style weapons were banned from private ownership, not all, e.g. Vietnam War era SLR .762 can be owned if a need is demonstrated, e.g. feral animal control on a pastoral property.
52
Its the thin end of the wedge. Gun control is Socialism.
91
Gun licence and registration and banning military style guns makes good sense.
And I can assure you that even concealable hand guns are also permitted if there is a good reason for owning one or several.
73
Unfortunately I can’t respond to a lot of what you say here Dennis but there is a lot wrong with what you say .
What on earth “Military style” has to do with anything to do with making people safer you’ll have to enlighten me .
A bolt action rifle is a bolt action rifle period .
Getting a class C license for centrefire is not as easy as you make out and if you have one and have it stored in a police safe and it goes missing your still held accountable.
Farmers used to carry pistols to put down injured stock and occasionally take a feral , it was once possible to use pistols for hunting now only for target shooting or security.
Many people gave up all their guns and license in disgust , there is a lot more to it than you realise and quite often what the law says you can do and what the law will let you do are two completely different things
71
Most people were not willing to apply for a gun licence, I wonder why? So most or many handed in their weapons in return for compensation from the government.
Those who needed a gun for recreations shooting, rural feral animal and stock control applied for a licence and registered their weapons.
But the point is that “our guns” were not taken from us.
We were given choices.
Military style means machine guns and other automatic weapons. I acknowledged that the Vietnam War ADF SLR .762 semi-automatic rifle is permitted after showing good reason for possession.
32
Military style is currently a sticking point , any rifle that looks like it’s “military style” depending on the states definition of the NFA is not available to the average Joe because it’s classified as “C” class , bolt action or not .
Machine guns ? When could you ever have one of those , Dennis I’m not sure of your knowledge in the area of firearms but it’s starting to look like you read something somewhere or you believe the codswallop put out by the greens and the anti gun brigade.
I’m going to assume that by military style you mean fully automatic ? And that’s a class available to the army and police .
Semi automatic which can look like military weapons depending upon cosmetics are not machine guns .
As for registration it’s been and is a farce and a costly
farce at that , some states still don’t comply because they simply don’t have the resources to get it all together .
It would be great if criminals would register their weapons but they just won’t .
Canada went down this path and after wasting untold millions decided it was all too hard .
Each state although agreeing to the NFA have their own version of it mate , what’s ok in one state is banned in the next .
An OZ company designed a sound moderator for military and police also export , they had forward orders but were stopped by Howard’s regulation and folded .
I’ve said before Dennis what is law and how it’s defined and policed varies wildly between states , someone with firearms and under pyhsc care can still own firearms so this is the crux of the matter that Your hero acted upon and never actually fixed .
Nobody in oz ever legally had a machine gun or machine pistol and I don’t care if gods your friend facts are facts .
Military style bolt action rifles should never have been banned ever and only are in states that interpret the NFA as per the way your mate wrote it .
Not sure what the jibe was about gun licenses was about but to be clear a firearms license was needed pre little johnny .
Your a very intelligent person and well liked on this forum but on this issue your info and eagerness to defend Howard leaves a lot to be desired .
21
John Howard tried to take away all guns. In his campaign to do this he set decent citizens against decent citizens for a political purpose.
That is fascism.
Tasmania needed new gun laws. NSW and Victoria did not!
21
Correct.
Humans work on patterning, they find comfort in that. The problem is when you point out something that shatters the careful illusion they create for themselves, rather than accepting the new reality, they doggedly hang onto the mast of the sinking ship, as it drags them under…..
The concept of JWH being a socialist is too much for people to process, which is a classic form of conditioning and a form of collective Stokholm Syndrome that is used to enforce the traditional 2-party power structure by making people afraid to think outside the square….collective rabbits in rhe headlights really….
One of the most powerful phrases every iuttered was by Jesus :
“By their fruits you will know them” ( Matt 7:15 ), meaning basically watch and see what they produce by way of results into the world. If its bad news, you will know who and what they are…..
60
How does it apply if a person has grown up through teenage years with John Howard a regular dinner guest and therefore knowing him far better than most who seek to create a false impression?
I do not know Tony Abbott but he strikes as being a very similar dedicated public servant.
It seems to me that too many political views are based on the misinformation or propaganda the well oiled media management units engineer based on groups of researchers qualified to get into the minds of people.
50
Those ever mobile goalposts move again, eh?
90
Rudd was and is a traitorous globalist.
192
So is Turnbull. After all the both wanted a Carbon Tax/ETS or whatever you want to call it.
182
They are associates, the both have China Associates and Chinese sons in law.
The Weekend Australia reported when Turnbull was Minister for Communications in the Abbott Government that he had been spotted dining in a Beijing, China restaurant with former Labor PM Rudd, and members of both families. As I recall it Turnbull claimed it was a social event, a family group outing.
Which leads me to China Associates and Labor years in government. One involved Minister for Defence Joel Fitzgibbons who was caught leaving his wife and children in Australia one Christmas Day for a week or so travelling with his Chinese Australian landlady owner of his Canberra rented apartment. And, reported, a business acquaintance, China Associate. Other Labor cabinet ministers were named as being members of the business group. Fitzgibbons was forced to resign after the scandal was made public.
It is interesting to Google Rudd+Tang
50
I guess someone could be pleasant enough, but talk is cheap.
As an adult, we have to look at how they run the country, thats the important bit. Real world, real descions, real impact.
Right niw, Mr Howard has through his sctions, delivered the Socialist crowning aim of gun control.
While we are on the topic. you should also research the military standard shot-to-kill ratio that a supposedly mentally impaired person with zero tactical training was allegedly able to deliver to those killed in Port Arthur. Its interesting reading.
Id also look at the quote in federal Parliament House Hansard about Barry Unsworth who declared some years before it happened , that we’d need a firearm related massacre in tasmania before wed get gun control in Australia. I would suggest finding Barry to get stock tips , if hes that good at predicting location and incident so far in advance…
10
Rudd’s second stint at PM for 2 1/2 months was one big spend up at the taxpayers expense from global jet setting to needless renovations this type of narcissistic parasite takes whats desired with the entitlement of a child that’s never heard the word NO!
151
Yonnie, what is being overlooked is the overall plan.
The Hawke government deregulated the banks, then strenuously promoted abuse of the deregulation by Bond and others and the banks. Every prudent businessman knew that what they were doing had to lead to a bust, and sure enough, in 1987 they got their bust. But in 1987 the Marxists were outsmarted, and the economy recovered. But the plan was there, to destroy capitalism so that they could install a different system. What the are doing to destroy capitalism is to destroy all savings. Just as a developer buys a building and demolishes it to build a supposedly better one.
When they failed to gain control in 1987 the Marxists switched to running up public debt. Public debt must be funded by private capital, by way of taxation. Public debt is future private savings already spent.
The AGW scam, the NBN debacle, the NDIS mess, all are part of that same plan.
100
Yes, also Hawke always pushed the idea of scrapping state governments and just have a Federal rule with councils carrying out their orders, just another centralisation ploy to omit the peoples voices.
60
During the 2013 election campaign PM Rudd commandeered a brand new RAAF Airbus combination passenger-tanker jet to fly to Afghanistan with a group of selected journalists and television crew for a publicity stunt.
He had access to two Boeing 737 VIP executive jets flown by RAAF personnel but wanted more passenger and luggage space. The VIP jets remained grounded at our expense while the new RAAF jet was in the air.
70
Thievery and treachery wrapped in ideology. A more heady political admixture one could not get. Across the Tasman, the newly installed Government of Losers, a coalition of minority watermelons, Labour, Green and NZ
FirstLast with the verbal accompaniment of the chanting choir of the MSM “Party” make no pretence, openly intent on an ideological trajectory of wanton economic destruction and globalist wedlock.It beggars belief that anyone could vote for this krapititudinous kollectiv of kleptomaniacs.
140
Rudd gave us a $100billion NBN (not the $50bn being touted at present), he killed our resources industry (probably for decades) and was instrumental in providing the country with the fiasco (euphemism) we currently have in the electricity business.
Rudd was, is and always will be an A Grade bag of sh*t (euphemism).
152
He and Minister Conroy offered a zero cost benefit analysis $4 billion high speed NBN as a 2007 election lure to voters and later offered it as a $44 billion model, but never told voters that the basic NBN would be no faster than existing dial up or that businesses and universities that needed higher speed were already being serviced by Telstra. Or that higher speeds required a higher cost plan.
90
No apology needed.
Here in the US the media is obsessed with Trump and then accuses us Trump voters of being myopic nationalists.
I find OZ energy politics interesting (difficult to follow) and our press ignores anything that does
not promote the renewable fantasy.
Plus it’s fun to watch others go down the Yellow Brick Road.
230
John Smith:
You must understand that In Germany the politicians want the nuclear plants to shut down in case a tsunami sweeps up the Rhine and damages them.
Our politicians are a bit more gullible, hence more fearful of the boogey man, changes in the weather etc. They think they are Superman or Batman** but they are more like Calvin or Garfield.
**I personally think that some of them should live in caves (with bricked up exits).
70
the extra billions Rudd gifted to “unreliables” still pales in comparison with the cost of the NBN.
watched about 10mins of ABC 4Corners tonite, which was sufficient to show ABC/Geoff Thompson were not interested in facts, but instead were insisting Rudd’s FTTP was the only way to go, no matter what the cost, even though it’s the public who is paying for it.
equally, the pampered, taxpayer-funded ABC staff have no interest in the costs of the RET & associated CAGW policies, which are being borne by those who pay their wages. money is no object to the ABC…because they don’t have to compete to get their billion-plus per year.
working for the ABC is such a cushy number, staff should be turned over every few years to give more Australians an opportunity to enjoy the perks, and to avoid partisan political hacks becoming entrenched in the Corporation.
23 Oct: Australian: Joe Kelly: Fifield releases Four Corners transcript
Communications Minister Mitch Fifield has pre-empted tonight’s Four Corners episode on the problems facing the $49bn NBN, by releasing — ahead of time — the full transcript ***(LINK) of his interview with the ABC program…
“The NBN will completed six to eight years sooner than would have been the case under the approach of our predecessors and at around $30 billion less cost,” he said…
When pressed on whether the government should have persisted with a fibre to the premises model, Mr Fifield argued that there was “almost nowhere in the world that is doing fibre to the premise in every premise in the nation.”
“While there may have been efficiencies, they would not have been of the magnitude of $20 to $30 billion to bridge the gap in the cost between our approach to the NBN and that of our predecessors,” he said…
Mr Fifield said the US and the UK had mandated minimum speeds of 10Mbps, while Australia would have a minimum speed mandate of 25Mbps. “The Australian experience on the NBN will compare very favourably with the rest of the world,” he said…
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/fifield-releases-four-corners-transcript/news-story/c837bc544a5f3cf8d8a2758dec16b8ec
***read the hostile, repetitive, full length interview with Fifield at the LINK, then compare it with what was aired on the program tonite from the Transcript below the summary at the following:
23 Oct: ABC Four Corners: What’s wrong with the NBN?
TRANSCRIPT
DEAN HALL(NEW ZEALAND): I get a shudder when I think about it.
I think it’s gone from the point of being a competitive advantage to use fibre, to just being a basic requirement.
I think it would be a tremendously scary situation if I was in Australia, to be in that situation.
There’s just so many other things to worry about.
You don’t want to be worrying about your lack of fibre network.
I couldn’t imagine building a new place and not having fibre into every home…
GEOFF THOMPSON: To understand why, we need to go back to 2009 when Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd stunned the nation by committing to build a broadband network connecting 90 per cent of Australians with fibre to the premises.
NBN ANNOUNCEMENT, 7 April, 2009. PM Kevin Rudd: “Like the building of Snowy Hydro, like the building of the Sydney Harbour Bridge this is an historic act of nation building.’…
GEOFF THOMPSON: A year later the NBN plan helped deliver Julia Gillard government.
INDEPENDENT MP TONY WINDSOR, 7 Sept 2010: “You do it once, you do it right, and you do it fibre.”
GEOFF THOMPSON: The project – led by a former international telco chief Mike Quigley, immediately became the target of sustained political attack…
MALCOLM TURNBULL, SHADOW MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS, 14th Sept 2010: They’ve provided no evidence, no financial analysis, no business case to persuade any of us, convince any of us that this will be anything more than a massive destruction of taxpayer’s money…
GEOFF THOMPSON: But after winning Government the Coalition’s promise couldn’t be kept with the cost of its plan also blowing out – to about 50 billion dollars and taking until 2020.
MIKE QUIGLEY, FORMER CEO NBN: The fundamental assumptions on which that decision was made in 2013 have absolutely proven to be wrong.
It isn’t 29.5 billion, it’s now 49 to 56 and it isn’t the end of 2016, it’s the end of 2020, if it gets finished by then.
So, the cheaper, faster, better were wrong on every count…
http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/whats-wrong-with-the-nbn/9077900
http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/whats-wrong-with-the-nbn/9077900
90
Locked in spending on the ‘unreliables’ from 2020 to 2030.
It’s hard to believe that in the year 2030, every single wind and solar plant operational today (in 2017) will be time expired, worn out, finished.
So, just to keep parity with what we have now, they have to completely replace all of those existing plants with new ones, so it’s no wonder they needed a lot of money locked in place at these early days.
And yet all but perhaps one or two of those old coal fired plants will still be humming along nicely, and some will have have many years operation ahead of them, like every coal fired plant in Queensland.
And they say that modern technologies are superior.
Tony.
270
“… time expired, worn out, finished.”
Do you expect these places to be serviced and refurbished in the manner of my car (30,000, 60,000, and 90,000 miles service with replacement of selected parts)?
If not, as they wear out, they will likely be sold to an entity that takes some value out, and sells again — until only scrap and land remain.
I wonder if the land is owned or leased from the government or private owners. Can the power company just walk away when the operation has no value?
What then?
100
John, you can best consider these unreliable generators as items that have no serviceable parts and when they reach end of life or wear out the subsidy farmers will follow best practice* and leave them to rot in place because it will be much too expensive to remove them.
Even if they did manage to get a scrap merchant to take them away there are still the massive concrete foundations that will never be removed so making the land useless.
*Best practice as shown by old wind farms in the US.
150
By 2030, the UN / UNEP / UNFCCC / UNESCO will have implemented their global transformational agenda, the realisation date of “169 associated targets which are integrated and indivisible sustainable development goals.” In among these is a commitment “to making fundamental changes in the way that our societies produce and consume goods and services.”
By 2030, any discussion of wind and solar replacement will be mute. Sustainable impoverishment will supervene.
150
And no possibility of a creative disruptive supervention?
20
I guess there’s always a ‘possibility’ of ‘push-back’, though given the substantial momentum of the UN driven ‘NWO’ it will perforce, need to be massive. The level of compliance in the West seems tsunamic.
Push back from African nations blessed with huge coal or oil reserves, push back from India, maybe Russia and perhaps China, who knows? An unexpected revolution, the push-back of innovation in cheap energy (fusion on the back of a truck) that essentially makes the UN irrelevant, regressing it to core business — peacekeeping. What seems certain is that the eco-Marxist globalists of the West appear
unwilling to relinquishincapable of relinquishing the faithOther than that, well, it sadly took a World War with the price tag of 50 million deaths to unravel the League of Nations. But think, isn’t that just the kind of population nihilism the more rabid Greens favour?
20
Once the plebs realize marxism isnt working, people will push back.
What is important though is that people teach the younger ones about liberty, freedom and democracy. Such things cannot obliterated, because its deeply ingrained in peoples dna….interstingly, Christianity is the bastion if such values and exist because of God of the Bible.
Communism is athiestic, and not all humans are equal, so communusm is flawed at its core and a dead duck.
20
23 Oct: AFR: Max Mason: Costs balloon in all-fibre National Broadband Network rollout
The potential cost of Labor’s original ambitious all-fibre national broadband network model has been revealed with documents which show that it cost up to $91,196 to connect a single premises.
Ravenswood in east Launceston, Tasmania, is at the centre of why the Turnbull government scrapped Labor’s all-fibre NBN rollout in favour of its multi-technology mix, following a strategic review of the project when it was elected in 2013.
Tucked away in a remote area, building fibre all the way into one property cost $91,196, while another property, a bowling club in Invermay, Tasmania, cost $86,533 to activate a fibre-to-the-premises service, due to substantial remediation work…
The least expensive of the 70 properties was a residential property in Strathalbyn, South Australia, which cost $8,916, more than double the average FTTP per premises cost…
“This is precisely what was wrong with Labor’s theological approach to NBN technology,” Communications Minister Mitch Fifield said.
“These costs prove that spending on the NBN would have got out of control under Labor and driven up home internet bills for all Australians. This is what happens when technology decisions are made by politicians with no regard for budgets.”…
http://www.afr.com/technology/web/nbn/costs-balloon-in-allfibre-national-broadband-network-rollout-20171020-gz56pk
23 Oct: news.com.au: NBN’s eye-watering costs exposed
Malcolm Farr and wires
NBN chief executive Bill Morrow: “This network is not being delivered as a free gift.
“The government wants taxpayers to get their $49 billion back and expect a small return as well.
“That means that the people who will ultimately pay for the NBN network are the Australians who buy services delivered over the network.
“So, to be quite blunt about it, the more money that NBN spends on building the network then the more expensive the services will be for Australians — it really is that simple.
“If we decided tomorrow to upgrade the entire FTTN footprint to FTTP — upgrading nearly five million premises at a cost of $2000 each — then that’s another $10 billion we would have to recoup for taxpayers.
“To put that number into perspective, BT in the UK have spent less than $6 billion on upgrading nearly the whole of the UK — with a population three times that of Australia’s — to FTTN.”
NBN Co expects to serve an initial one million premises with FTTC and estimates the technology will cost about $2900 per premises to deliver compared to $4400 for FTTP…
“Again the plain reality is that we can’t reduce the cost of our services — as retailers want us to — and at the same time spend billions of additional dollars on the network as some so-called industry experts are demanding — because it’s ordinary Australians that will end up paying the price for that.”
http://www.news.com.au/technology/online/nbn/nbns-eyewatering-costs-exposed/news-story/37290cca5c8a6e2d10cb0f30196792fa
30
add this to the Uranium One Clinton/Russia collusion story:
22 Oct: DailyCaller: Richard Pollock: EXCLUSIVE: Podesta’s ‘Green Company’ Forced to Close Because Hillary Lost the Election
Joule Unlimited, a secretive green energy company that appears to have placed a big bet hiring Democratic insider John Podesta to its board, appears to have been doomed when former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election.
When the 2016 presidential election ended, senior company executives admitted the prospects for their renewable energy “biofuels” company evaporated. “We had a lot of prospects last year,” former Joule CEO Brian Baynes told BioFuels Digest in a rare interview in July. “But those new investor prospects walked away, particularly post-election.”
Dmitry Akhanov, the president and CEO of Rusnano USA Inc., a Kremlin-owned venture capital firm nicknamed “Putin’s child,” oversaw the Russian government’s investment in Joule and sat on its board along with two other Russians with ties to the Kremlin. Akhavov agreed that Clinton’s loss doomed the company.
“We lined up investors who were willing to buy the bonds, but after the elections, with some statements from the new administration regarding potential uncertainty, the future support of biofuels was stopped,” he told The Daily Caller News Foundation in an interview. “The company was not able to do the deal and it was one of the reasons why the company was closed.”
The two other board members with ties to Moscow were Ruben Vardanyan, who Putin appointed to a Russian economic modernization council, and Anatoly Chubais, a close personal friend of former President Bill Clinton and economic advisor to former Russian President Boris Yeltsin. Chubais allegedly made millions in the sell-off and “privatization” of Russia’s state-owned industries…
Hillary’s loss of the 2016 presidential election meant Podesta would not serve in the White House and thus was not in a position to advance the company’s prospects.
The Obama administration became a big “hedge fund” trying to finance and promote renewable energy technologies at any cost, Thomas Pyle, president of the libertarian Institute for Energy Research, told TheDCNF.
“The whole entire eight years under Obama, the Department of Energy was basically a hedge fund — and a bad one — for renewable energy for wind, solar and biofuels,” he said.
Critics of former President Barack Obama’s renewable energy agenda believe it’s likely a President Hillary Clinton would have doubled down on Obama’s renewable energy initiatives…
Since entering office, Trump reversed many of Obama’s regulatory mandates that hurt fossil fuels and assisted renewable energy in the marketplace. He also ended the U.S. participation in the Paris agreement on climate change, which was designed to cut carbon emissions…
Podesta was one of Joule’s biggest political assets. He had served as President Bill Clinton’s White House chief of staff and co-founded Podesta Associates, a D.C. lobbying shop with his brother Tony. John Podesta also founded the Center for American Progress, a Washington liberal advocacy group.
Podesta served on Joule’s board from December 2010 to December 2013. In January 2014, he joined the Obama White House, where he served as “counselor” to President Obama. After leaving the White House, he joined Hillary Clinton to help run her presidential campaign as its national chairman.
From the very beginning, Joule executives knew Podesta’s value…READ ALL
http://dailycallernewsfoundation.org/2017/10/22/exclusive-podestas-green-company-forced-to-close-because-hillary-lost-the-election/
no wonder we’ve heard nothing but Trump/Russia rubbish from the political and media swamp for the past twelve months – there is so much to hide from the other side.
150
Batteries, windmills and solar panels. Good luck renewing these pre-obsolesced museum pieces.
It’s like a government in 1990 decided that the VCR had no future…and gave $7.5 billion for the further development of Betacord and Donkey Kong.
110
In the US, what was created by pen and phone could be erased by pen and phone. Couldn’t you current Prime Minister do the same?
140
Good question. And the answer is . . . ? After all no institution now is trustworthy. Impoverisation of the general public is fundamental to the purposes of contemporary politicians and bureaucrats. Otherwise mateship—one of John Howard’s favoured terms—rules, and a foul thing it is too.
70
And it’s only taken the LNP 7 years to find out what KRudd did?????
160
No, the Abbott Government was well aware and started a repair programme including a budget repair May 2014 Budget. But the Labor Green led hostile Senate opposition blocked most government bills, and the compliant MSM rubbished the Hockey Budget which was based on the advice of independent auditors commissioned to audit the Labor May 2013 Budget which discovered many budget items for which no provisions had been made to pay for. Therefore under estimated budget deficit and more borrowing required to fill those Labor budget black holes.
The Abbott Government scepticism about man-made global warming climate change was blocked by the first term Rudd Labor Government ratifying the Kyoto Agreement that the Howard Coalition Government only agreed to sign.
And PM Abbott with rebels on his back and some hostility in the Cabinet only had from September 2013 to September 2015 in that position before Turnbull replaced him.
And contrary to the misinformation now being spread about the Abbott Government, they with PM Abbott in the chair did their best to modify and minimise commitments for the Paris Conference. The Paris Agreement was signed and ratified by the Turnbull Government.
80
A reminder: Christopher Monckton’s warning to Austraians to watch the back of Prime Minister Abbott because he was treading on too many toes in the climate change hoax.
80
The renewables gravy train,
By a P.M. were given free rein,
To waste and to pour,
For a decade and more,
Many billions down the Green drain.
240
O/T
Kidston pumped storage to go ahead. They talk about it as though it represents new generation capacity.
https://amp.smh.com.au/business/energy/queenslands-snowy-20-pumped-hydro-expands-20171020-gz56nq.html
42
What legal obligation, if any, is there to “honour” this subsidy?
92
None. The original policy ended in 2020 and arguably the RET is illegal and a ripoff of Australian consumers. I would challenge the ‘sovereign risk’. There is an idea that it is a law so it must ipso facto be legal. There is also the idea that people benefiting from this ripoff, profiteering have a right to keep doing so.
The government could repeal the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act 2001 and deal with the consequences, which would be far cheaper than just paying billions for a wrong, unfair and unnecessary law. This is without the extension which has no sovereign risk at all.
We repealed the carbon tax. This is the world’s highest carbon tax. It was estimated at $80 a tonne in the Australian yesterday. As Tom Quirk calculated, it is $200 per tonne for coal, $400 per tonne for gas. I would argue this is a feed in cost at wholesale and typically you can double it to retail, which is why the retailers have such huge margins for discounting. It is not really a cost as you can pay it in arrears, get the certificates AFTER you have sold the electricity.
So there is no problem, as Daniel Andrews argued. You just pay the bill, $1.2Billion for cancelling a pile of real contracts. Walk away. In this case, there are no contracts to cancel. The RET is not a government contract, it is between the electricity retailers and the windmill owners. It is as easy to cancel as it was to create and as wrong.
This Sovereign Risk is just an excuse for doing nothing. No one will stop trading with Australia if we remove a wrong law which is nothing more than a ripoff of consumers. Those profiteering will have lost a gamble to make money for nothing. Tough.
231
The Victorian government payed substantially less than was anticipated at the time (for tearing up the EW contracts) and he smoothed the waters by bringing in the same consortium for a new venture.
http://www.yarralabornews.org/2017/08/01/ew-link-sovereign-risk-furphy-metro-tunnel-tender-announcement/
60
Daniel Andrews said the contracts were not worth the paper they were written on. He was totally wrong as usual and we had the unique position of paying $1,200million to NOT build a road. He also is fighting to not return $2.5Billion in Federal funds provided for the road. Even so, the State has not collapsed. Contractors need work, so they come back.
Sovereign risk occurs in the cancelling of government contracts. Uniquely in the case of the RET, there is no contract to tear up. Government debt is not involved. Not a cent is collected or paid by the Federal government. Cute. So not a tax, not a contract and the government pays nothing to anyone.
You could only argue that the obligation for electricity retailers to pay you for simply generating power and not the power itself was the basis on which you took a commercial risk. That’s gambling, not obligation. You gamble, you can lose.
Repeal the RET. Not in 2020. Today.
If Tony Abbott gets back, he should just walk away from it all. WIndmills. Solar. RET. Paris. Climate Crap. More than half the country would vote for that, regardless of traditional voting pattern.
Someone has to have the stomach to say no more of this. Stop the nonsense.
Climate Changes. Global Warming is a lie.
210
Tony did the same with the boats. Stop. It worked.
You cannot tell the difference between Malcolm’s Liberals and Shorten’s Labor, both trying to out Green the Greens. If Abbott steps up with a bold plan to deny the Climate Industrial complex any more cash, the whole country will vote for it, just to show the politicians they are being ignored.
If the world comes to a sudden end, it will be Iran or North Korea, not Climate Change. The UN is proving as useless as the League of Nations. Imagine honoring Gadaffi or now Mugabe. Who put Costa Rican President’s daughter and sister in charge of the IPCC? The UN is near useless, as Trump knows. Stop the insanity. Close the IPCC as well.
170
‘If Tony Abbott gets back, he should just walk away from it all.’
He won’y become the top dog unless he starts talking now, from the backbench.
Tony needs to talk to journalists about the science being crap and demanding an audit of BoM. He has to start a revolution, does Tony have the bottle?
60
Have you read his recent speech delivered in the UK?
He is talking about it.
50
I forgot to add that in 2014 PM Abbott wanted to commission an independent audit, due diligence to be conducted at the BoM following the allegations of data fixing and admission of errors and omissions by BoM management.
He was of course under threat from various rebel Liberals in his cabinet and cabinet voted in the majority against the audit.
50
Tony is not a person with thought bubbles and answers carefully. He thinks first, something the ABC parodied. He is not a quick wit, but a planner. Malcolm took years to get his revenge on Tony. Tony is letting Malcolm stew and he has already suggested he can be drafted.
The fact that Malcolm is worried is clear after three ministers were sent out as attack dogs to savage Tony after the London speech. Then the journalists, Savva, Van Onsolen and more. Turnbull will be working behind the scenes to get Tony out of Malcolm’s Liberals.
Meanwhile Malcolm’s sheen is wearing thin. Crazy ideas. Instant solution. Apologies for the NBN. New laws and taxes to cover up old ones. Compulsion on gas availability, power availability all dressed up as an acronym, NEG. For a merchant banker, absolutely no faith in the market.
So as Malcolm’s Liberals run completely out of money, diehard supporters walk away, donors dry up and thousands of election helpers decide they have better things to do, the MPs will get very edgy and Malcolm’s Liberals could end up under 30% of the primary vote. Now if he could just throw in another $5Million, they might just have a chance of not losing as badly.
That is when Abbott will get the call from a desperate party. No one else can save their seats, restore their funding or give them any hope.
My hope is that Abbott goes in boots and all. Turn on Hazelwood. Fix Liddell. Kill the RET dead today. Resign from Paris. Ask the UN for cash for ending the drought and saving more CO2 than all the rest of the countries combined.
He could let the NBN sit or sell it off, but stop spending.
Plus he could get a price on a lot of near useless windmills instead of building giant batteries. He could also stop Snowy II, another huge uncosted and unprofitable and near useless idea which will gobble money like the NBN/BER/NIDS/Pink Batts failures.
After that, get the ABC to obey its charter or sell it. Then they can run their own business with their own overpaid indulged opinionated staff and overbid with their own cash, or go home. CSIRO too.
Organizations like this just metastasize far past their original purpose. I would certainly look at why we even need the SBS, Al Grassby’s ethnic media. Everyone just watches the Internet. As for the CSIRO, just do a cost benefit analysis. You would not buy it. The automatic sheep shearing machine never worked. Public service innovation? A contradiction in terms.
101
The GWPF speech is exactly what Tony has to do, but with more consistency so that he educates the population. Overcoming mass delusion will be no easy task.
The gang of four rolled Tony over the audit, they said BoM would lose credibility if it was found they lowered the past to raise the future.
71
‘That is when Abbott will get the call from a desperate party. No one else can save their seats, restore their funding or give them any hope.’
Not so sure, Turnbull may have the wit to pull a rabbit out of the hat and save his political ambition, or he may retire from politics and return to his roots in the commercial world.
I’m keen on political science, so looking for the inside run I asked an astrologer friend, who do you think wil be the next PM? She said its hard to predict, Dutton, Abbott, Turnbull and Bernardi are all Scorpios.
Political forecasting is an inexact science, but I’m backing Dutton for PM and Tony as Treasurer.
I agree with you about SBS, tell them they must go fully commercial in one year, and we need to put a broom through the ABC news room. The organisation must be brought back into balance, so that we can have a debate on the important issues like climate change.
60
El Gordo, I take your other point, that the contractors come back. Sovereign Risk is a concept, that if you make a promise as a government and you do not keep it, people will not work for you again. That’s it. It’s not a law and if it was, who would enforce it?
As you point out though, the contractors come back for more. Where else are they going to go? Governments are the biggest developers in the country.
This ‘Sovereign Risk’ is a worthless excuse for politicians to stick with bad laws, a bluff.
130
Sovereign risk should not be a consideration in this situation, how about national risk of serious decline in national prosperity if nothing is done?
90
Rudd has given us plenty of ammunition to hit back at him for being a complete and utter disaster for Australia. However, on one point he shouldn’t take the full blame, not even most of it. That is the saga of the NBN. Turnbull and the LNP should take most of the blame for the mess it’s in at the moment. The original plan was FTTH and not FTTN. As a result of Turnbull’s mistake (as the a minister and then as PM) the current NBN is now in an even less economically viable position than before due to other competing technologies, such as 5G (and beyond) that provide similar if not better speeds. The decision to use the “last mile” of copper from the node is going to become one of the biggest mistakes the LNP has ever made. So much so now some are arguing that the government do something about it to handicap the new technologies. That’s another step further away from what the Liberal Party used to stand for – free enterprise. Now one could argue correctly the NBN shouldn’t have been started by Rudd in the first place. In that case what Turnbull should have done is pushed for the dumping of the NBN as soon as Abbott won the election. Instead he made matters worse by giving us an already outdated technology that’s still not even fully deployed. This is yet another example of how incompetent Turnbull really is. He has to go for the sake of the nation, either by his own party or by the people at the next election if he’s still the PM. To reward him and his party with another term is absolutely insane.
100
PeterS, with most of what you say I would agree, but I’d still give 80% of the blame to Rudd. He utterly rejected calls for a cost-benefit analysis and, more fundamentally, government is for taxing winners, not picking them.
Once elected, Abbott should have walked it back to a cost-benefit study. This might have been unpopular with the loud voices of the NetFlix crowd, but I doubt it would really have been electoral poison. How many people thought it sensible that Armidale had NBN so early?
50
In Armidale we had our FTTP delivered – slung under the poles,as we had no footpath to dig up . Fair enough! We have not had a problem with NBN, but that is not the case with many businesses who have to deal with erratic service .
10
Just before the 2013 election that Rudd born again Labor lost to the Abbott led Coalition the Liberal Party, according to The Australian as I recall it, was advised by a qualified observer that PM Rudd appears to suffer from grandiose narcissism.
I wonder what the advisor would say about the present PM?
30
I can see the vermin taxing data carried by non-NBN pathways to force traffic onto the NBN.
30
Slightly OT but this story on this coal fired power station sold for a million now valued at $750 mil
Proves a lot about our current crop of pollies of all stripes .
Also noted was the Flannery name , wonder if related .
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-24/coal-power-station-sold-for-peanuts-becomes-730-million-asset/9077582
70
While typing I was listening to the ABC and just when I was putting the value they said $750 mil , and it stuck , hey by the end of the day it could be valued at a billion depending on which news network you listen too
40
And do you see who was the”Teasurer”at the time?Why that would be”Gladys Berejiklian”now Premier of NSW.Sound a bit sus to me.
40
I desperately want to believe that this outrageous act of Rudd’s will be repealed TDeF. But this is in the f&?@#%ing unbelievably stupid Australia of today we are talking about, and I have just about had a gutfull and now looking at quitting for an affordable,stress free retirement in North Vietnam.
90
Rudd only extended this absurd cash handout of our money, not our taxes to windmill opportunists. We, the people of Australia, get nothing anyway. It is theft. Blaming Rudd is diversion. This is a Coalition Carbon tax. Rudd simply extended it and they are trying to blame him?
If it is wrong from 2020 to 2030 it is wrong from 2001 to 2020. It was always a wrong law, a hidden massive carbon tax. In fact it is so well hidden, it is never discussed because no one understands it and the politicians pretend it is not there.
Why should we pay it at all? The windmill and solar money is collected from your electricity bills and paid directly in cash to the windmill and solar people. The home solar people get 15 years carbon tax in advance in cash, usually paid to the installer. It is all so wrong. Plus the retailers double it as a feed in cost. Then you have to pay the ‘feed in’ tariff for lunch time solar, power the new owners cannot use and you cannot use either.
Stop the insanity. Turn off the money machine.
160
The RET is a coalition Act introduced under John Howard, not a Rudd Act.
Prior to that electricity was a State matter. Brown coal in Victoria. Hydro in Tasmania. Black Coal in NSW and Queensland. Plus gas discoveries in SA and in the Bass strait. So electricity was a state issue.
This all started when the Federal government decided they wanted to use Global Warming to create a National Energy policy and a national energy market. The usual battle between the States and the Federal Government. Turnbull in particular wanted this.
This is State Coal, State Gas, state shale, not Federal property. Natural resources are owned by the state.
However the disruption to State Power is now massive. Everyone is building windmills in South Australia as the Act does not say where they have to be. Weathill is the happy recipient of tens of billions of dollars of windmills and cannot believe his luck? It is the biggest industry they have. Too bad it is nonsense.
So while the AEMO is struggling to balance the inadequate power, 90%+ from coal, Shorten is talking of closing most of the coal power stations. Our faux Prime Minister is talking about building his own giant water battery, without considering who pays to pump the water uphill? Or how much it cost to build? Or whether it would actually make money?
In this energy Free for all, the only winners are the people overseas receiving $3Billion a year for windmills and solar panels plus the retailers here pocketing as much again in markups. The people of Australia are distraught and the Federal politicians tell them it is a very complex problem. Rubbish. This is devastation wrought by politicians and their mad desire for power over our lives, our telephones our internet access and our electricity.
This must stop. Get the Federal government out of electricity. It was never a Federal issue. As for Paris, what do we owe the French? I thought the debt was the other way around.
160
You’re spot on again TdeF , and this is a point that seems to be missed by many even here .
The rot started with a liberal government, they opened the door and let the green dragon in and many argue oh but it was only 2% or it was only a trial , no one will ever convince me otherwise as to when this garbage started and who it was that started it .
100
Robert Hill was the minister at the time..
Later career
Following his return to Australia in 2009, Hill accepted an appointment as Adjunct Professor in Sustainability at the US Studies Centre at the University of Sydney where he was involved in the development of the $2 million Dow Sustainability Program, funded by the US-based Dow Chemical Company Foundation, to bring together academic and policy experts from Australia and the US to develop action-oriented solutions to a range of sustainability challenges concerning energy, water, food and biodiversity that are technologically innovative, commercially scalable and politically viable.
In July 2009, Hill was appointed by the Australian Government to head the Australian Carbon Trust. This is now called Low Carbon Australia.
So it is not just about Rudd. That is simple diversion, to blame Labor for the Carbon Reduction industry.
100
Then you get Green activist, form Liberal Leader John Hewson.
In 2011, he and former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Fraser were among 140 Australian community leaders who pledged support for an emissions trading scheme, despite the fact the Coalition and its leader Tony Abbott (Hewson’s former Press Secretary) oppose the Carbon tax.
Who needs a massive Labor Carbon tax when you have the Liberal RET Ripoff?
130
Can’t think of the first name but last name Kroger was an ex liberal president or something similar is making money out of the scam , inside knowledge me thinks .
70
Micael Kroger? I would be very surprised. How is he involved in this? At present he is fighting to grab the Cormack Foundation for control of its donated millions as the Liberals are utterly broke under Turnbull and want a bucket load of cash for the next election. If Kroger is behind this climate scam, that would be big news.
He is usually accused of the reverse, of the Liberals being behind the IPA which is full of so called skeptics. A skeptic is apparently someone who does not believe science is decided by journalists, economists, lawyers, public servants, politicians and public opinion. Newton’s three Laws of motion are under appeal by the Greens.
90
I’m positive he has a connection with the molten salt solar project planned for South Australia, I might be confusing him for Hewson but I’m fairly positive I seen an interview where he was exspousing the virtues of renewable energy .
After seeing him a few years ago on the bolt report it surprised me he had switched sides .
30
Sorry my bad it was Hewson not Kroger , Hewsons company had a rival bid in the solar thermal project and lost out .
50
For comparison – cooking the books on renewables in Ontario
” Liberals under fire for ‘cooking’ Ontario’s books – ‘Fair Hydro Plan’ undermines accountability standards
Although ratepayers will get a temporary, 25% break over four years on their hydro bills, the plan will cost “up to $4 billion more than necessary” in interest, Lysyk said.
The Liberals also “improperly” moved $26 billion in hydro debt off their books, borrowing the money through Ontario Power Generation, and as a consequence hydro ratepayers will face increases for 30 years.”
More at
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2017/10/cooking-the-boo.html#comments
60
I totally agree with Jo’s comment that we have
the Stupidest Energy Policy on Earth.
There are none worse that I am aware of except the UN refusing funding for coal power stations in Africa because they are not weather-dependent generators.
141
So true. What both major parties are doing is they are doing their best to make Australia like a third-world country. Thanks to how the majority of voters think at voting time, it doesn’t look like things will change after the next election. Somehow we need a completely new party to take office but it appears too many Australians are still asleep for such a dramatic change on our political landscape. That’s fine – they will be woken up in any case in shock at some stage when Australia is finally crumbling away all around them.
80
Dave, I suspect this may be the seed of the UN’s great undoing, the charge of unbridled neo-colonialism in its most intentionally toxic form, driven by pure ideology. There must be those in Africa for whom the cognitive dissonance wrought by UN hand-out against the opportunity to forge ahead and prosper on the wings of cheap, abundant coal fired power is irrelevant. To have a future in which one owns one’s own soul, well, isn’t it a choice that seems as compelling as it is clear?
40
Last Friday morning total Australian Government Debt hit $750 billion. Today (Tuesday morning) it is over $900 million more! By this time tomorrow it will be over $751 billion. So the vermin are basically spending a billion every five days or less. And no one in media or politics cares.
http://www.australiandebtclock.com.au/
This is basically the end for Australia. Might as well sell what’s left to the Chinese what they haven’t already bought. And the first thing they’d do is build some badly needed coal power stations.
121
And stop subsidising weather-dependent power generation.
81
Given Labors addiction to spending and they’re apparently sure to win the next fed election that debt clock better get a grease and oil change because it’s about to go at ludicrous speed .
50
We may get to see what will happen at the next Federal election,by watching what happens at the Queensland election,which may happen in the not too distant future.Palletchook is making squarking noises about power prices and WHO is to blame,which says to me she thinks the time might be right,to go to the polls,before the $hit hits the fan.
30
Does this debt include private debt David, and what about state govt debt? Or is it only federal govt debt?
40
The figure is for Federal and State Government debt. It does not include private debt. All the figures are available at the link.
31
I have to agree. Both parties are setting us up for a financial collapse before we are taken over by the Chinese or whoever. Of course I doubt it’s being done deliberately. Our politicians are not that clever. The West as a whole is going in the same direction. Perhaps the only exception is the US as long as they have Trump. However, Trump can’t President forever. Once he goes, it’s over for them too.
30
I was hoping that Trump would have had some influence over our leaders but after that disastrous phone call Trump had with “Trumbull” and Trumbull dumping our ineligible “refugees” on the US (as organised with Obama) and Trumbull mocking Trump it is clear that our traitorous PM doesn’t like him.
20
I wonder if people will take notice once we breach the 1 trillion mark. I doubt it.
30
In a NWO borderless World, Australia may bizarrely once again find itself recompensed as it once was by the UK for penal settlements. That might address the new age debt. Given the Continental resource of empty island space surrounded by tricky waters, the UN may well ‘suggest’ it is the perfect end-destination down-under for relocation.
10
The twin perfect weapons to destroy Western Civilisation are 1) import the world’s most uneducated, unassimilable and violent people and 2) destroy cheap electricity, the lifeblood of Civilisation.
111
plus take over the internet with a Government only backbone and force everyone to use it. Get ride of individual telephones. Why else would an IT ignorant Labor minister suggest it on the back of a beer coaster? This is the Chinese model. We even have retention of metadata, to stop terrorism of course. Nothing will be hidden from our political masters.
50
Beware of the smokescreen of the NBN debate ..currently being deployed to distract from the more tricky political issue of power management.!!
110
It is all down to the “Greenhouse Gas” scam.
We have to expose the error for what it is. I’m encouraged by recent events but we’re still less than 50%. and even less noise.
Jo and posters here put up good points but to many voters are worried about this “Global Warming” and they are not reading here.
Doug mist
50
The claim that CO2 causes global warming wasn’t an error but it was a deliberate deception.
81
Even more, the wrong claim that the increase in CO2 was actually man made.
Whether CO2 causes warming is a separate hypothesis, since disproven by the fact of a 20 year pause in temperature, assuming it has not in fact gone down but kept from falling by rampant ‘homogenization’. There’s no money in the temperatures falling. Not yet anyway.
30
A Trojan horse for NWO … doesn’t matter in the least how or what it was and whether it has been entirely falsified. It was successfully wheeled into Troy where it has successfully disgorged its contagion and miscreants. It was and remains a hand waving distraction for the imposition of the UN ‘transformational’ agenda. It can only be derailed or extinguished at source.
10
It could get worse
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/blogs/andrew-bolt/labor-to-close-75-of-coalfired-power-add-200-to-bills/news-story/ae0ad4f6a9d319b4d42329aab3037fcd
50
Ian I don’t believe that modelling is correct unless they’re talking about $200 per mw hour , getting rid of most of our coal generation will be more expensive than that .
30
Remember that basic modelling dictum “If in doubt leave it out”
50
Tricksy mann-made modelling
has ever been the chosen methodology
to support climate millenarianist
methodology, e.g. YAD-O-Six,
‘One tree to rule them all, –
silly.’
20
countdown to Bonn…BBC is pushing the new scare on air and in the following:
23 Oct: BBC: More acidic oceans ‘will affect all sea life’
By Roger Harrabin
All sea life will be affected because carbon dioxide emissions from modern society are making the oceans more acidic, a major new report will say.
The eight-year study from more than 250 scientists finds that infant sea creatures will be especially harmed.
This means the number of baby cod growing to adulthood could fall to a quarter or even a 12th of today’s numbers (LINK), the researchers suggest.
The assessment comes from the BIOACID project (LINK), which is led from Germany.
A brochure summarising the main outcomes will be presented to climate negotiators at their annual meeting, which this year is taking place in Bonn in November…
The Biological Impacts of Ocean Acidification report authors say some creatures may benefit directly from the chemical changes – but even these could still be adversely affected indirectly by shifts in the whole food web.
What is more, the research shows that changes through acidification will be made worse by climate change, pollution, coastal development, over-fishing and agricultural fertilisers.
Ocean acidification is happening because as CO2 from fossil fuels dissolves in seawater, it produces carbonic acid and this lowers the pH of the water…
Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the average pH of global ocean surface waters have fallen from pH 8.2 to 8.1. This represents an increase in acidity of about 26%.
The study’s lead author is Prof Ulf Riebesell from the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Kiel…
260-PLUS COMMENTS AT TIME OF POSTING
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-41653511
Sky has picked it up and the rest of the MSM will be on board soon:
23 Oct: Sky News: Ocean acidification poses threat to sea life, research finds
Scientists find the number of cod growing to adulthood could fall to a 12th of the current stock by the end of the century.
By Rebecca Taylor
Increased acidity in the oceans, called by some the “evil twin of global warming”, compounds the effect of rising temperatures…
Professor Ulf Riebesell, Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, told Sky News: “Even if an organism isn’t directly affected by acidification, it may be affected indirectly through changes to its habitat or food chain.”
He said the only way for acidity levels to change is to “quickly” reduce the level of carbon dioxide emissions globally.
“Co2 emissions have to be reduced both for oceans and for climate change, they are two sides of the same coin” he added…
It comes as Sir David Attenborough called for a global deal to tackle overfishing.
“The sea is being hit in three different ways,” he told BBC Radio 4.
“There’s nothing which we, or anybody listening to this, can do much about the raising of the temperature because the die is already cast…
http://news.sky.com/story/ocean-acidification-poses-threat-to-sea-life-research-finds-11095180
60
Harrabin begins at 49mins in:
23 Oct: BBC Newshour
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w172vghcmswf8bf
paraphrasing:
Harrabin: the implications of this research are really extremely significant. it’s by far the biggest study of this kind that I have seen. almost all countries, apart from US and Syria, agree that CO2 – carbon dioxide – is a massive problem for the climate, it’s warming the climate and changing the chemistry of the seas in a very fundamental way.
Carol Turley, Plymouth Marine Lab: what we are seeing now is a rate of change of the acidity of the ocean that has not been seen on the planet for 56 million years. so what we’re doing to the planet now is amazingly rapid, amazing changes, that will likely affect the whole biology of the oceans and how organisms interract.
Harrabin: won’t affect adult cod, but baby cod are, so less will grow into adults. coral reefs are paticularly vulnerable, even if we manage to hold CO2 to the level that is associated with a temperature rise of 1.2C, even then, half the coral reefs in the world will not be able to survive. we’re talking about corals being non-viable by the second half of the century.
obviously this has implications for humans in the tropics, where the fisheries on reefs are a major, major food source. Christian Aid is very worried that the impact is, yet again, falling on the poor, who have done so little to create the problem. (quote from Christian Aid).
BBC presenter: …some species will benefit from acidification too…
Harrabin: yes, that’s the interesting thing with this study. the guy who is running this research – Ulf Riebesell – has been very, very cautious through the years, but now this report has come out and he’s concluded, very strongly, that, because some things benefit, some will be harmed, it’s impossible for us to tell what the overall balance will be.
***there are OTHER FACTORS involved in this, MANMADE CLIMATE CHANGE, pushing up the temperatures of the oceans which is affecting the relationship with acidity, but his main conclusion is that the food web will be inexorably changed & irreversibly changed as a result of what is going on. we can’t be exactly sure how, but all of us, in some way, will be touched by these changes.
30
‘More acidic’? Less alkali, closer to fresh if salty water. No ocean is acidic. It is a massively buffered alkali solution. At the very least, the White cliffs of Dover would have to waste away and every coral atoll before the oceans were acid. This is not science, it is deceit.
CO2 dissolved in the ocean/air balance is set by temperature. Henry’s Law. 98% of it is in the oceans already. This is science fiction based on the principle that if it sounds vaguely plausible to a science ignorant person, it must be true. However the CSIRO did host a world conference in Hobart on Ocean Acidification. It’s a big new business full of experts.
70
You know even dumb people can count to 14 so how do they get away with it ?
30
Our state governments are letting us down too, and in New South Wales as I have posted previously the last Labor Government sold half of the government owned private electricity industry companies for $6.1 billion less than the lowest valuation of the assets. Sold for $5.9 billion in a fire sale before inevitably losing the next state election.
And hidden in company accounts were debts created to pay the state Labor Government more in “dividends”, monies used to make state budget bottom lines appear stronger than they were. After retirement of debts and interest all that was left was $800 million.
Today the ABC News exposes the State Coalition Government involvement in selling more electricity assets …
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-24/coal-power-station-sold-for-peanuts-becomes-730-million-asset/9077582
50
“By the year 2030 no Big Green carpetbagger will be living in poverty.”
100
By the year 2030 no green carpet bigger “should be” living in poverty .
Fixed it for you .
40
Errrr bagger!
30
B*gger!
70
“By the year 2030, no Australian serf will be without a light rail ticket, a $2 discount off power bills and a brochure explaining how to turn off appliances at the point.”
40
By the year 2030 we will all be serfs working for the evil overlord .
40
Hope the brochure has picchures, moso.
40
Look, I know it’s an absolutely ridiculou$ thing to do, comparing unreliables with real power generation, but what do you you expect to happen when they remove coal fired power and rely on wind power, after having spent billions on it, when you have a situation like this. Do you just all sit around in the dark, patiently waiting for the power to come back on when the wind springs up again.
Currently in the State of Victoria, wind power has, well, no other word for it ….. failed.
From a Nameplate of 1726MW, every wind tower in Victoria is currently delivering ….. 8MW.
That’s a Capacity Factor of 0.46% and that wind power is currently supplying 0.16% of Victoria’s current total power consumption.
The Bayswater plant currently has one Unit down for maintenance, so only three units in operation, and instead of following the load, they have been running at around their maximum for the last 30 or so hours, and delivering almost 1900MW of constant reliable power.
So the current power output of EVERY wind tower in Victoria is being delivered by those three Units at Bayswater, every, umm, 15 seconds.
Hmm, wind power, that was money well spent then!
Tony.
200
Tony, we know that but unfortunately there is only a miniscule number of politicians in Australia with the ability to not only join the dots but do the maths.
Even those few that can join the dots and do the maths are in thrall to the UN red green environmental clique so will never speak out against it.
The big problem is that nothing will change until such time as the sheeple are forced to wake up and then it could be very nasty.
50
I believe history in Australia will hold Rudd in contempt for the way he abused his position as Prime minister to sell us all ‘down the river’ in order to ingratiate himself with his international climate pals at the UN. Simply shamefull and irresponsible actions.
Regards GeoffW
110
I have just been reading about a civil court action being prepared right now against people involved in an AWU union slush fund years ago including one former prime minister. The documentary evidence that has been discovered is irrefutable and substantial. The same matter but only one minor player charged continues in a Perth WA court of law on 20 December. That witness is preparing to summons others to court to give evidence and answer questions.
However, the case being prepared is far wider reaching and should prove to be one of Australia’s biggest polical scandals.
120
Also an AFP raid on the AWU offices in two states looking for any evidence linking little bill to get up .
Love the union and labor response about why were they not out looking for terrorists or drug dealers , reminds me of the guy gets pulled up for a breath test and says to the cop why aren’t you out there looking for murderes and bank robbers .
40
What about the many referred to state and territory legal agencies by the Trade Union Royal Commission?
Files marked: CLOSED
30
this was also the big scare on ABC today – can’t find it on their website as yet:
24 Oct SkyNewsAustralia: AAP: Warnings of bushfire season danger increase
VIDEO: RECORD-BREAKING HEAT OVER LONG-TERM PERIOD IN NSW HAS CONTRIBUTED TO AN INCREASE IN FIRES ACROSS THE STATE
New South Wales is facing increasingly dangerous and prolonged bushfire seasons as a result of climate change, a Climate Council report has found.
The ‘Earlier, More Frequent, More Dangerous: Bushfires in NSW’ report shows record-breaking heat in winter and spring has resulted in dangerous fire conditions across the state.
The report states the hot and dry winter was then followed by unprecedented September heat, including some regions reaching 40C or more for the first time on record for the month.
‘Communities, emergency services and the health sector needs to be prepared and resourced for worsening fire danger conditions now and into the future,’ said ecologist and Climate Council member, Professor Lesley Hughes.
‘By 2030 firefighter numbers will need to at least double.’
The report will be released on Tuesday.
http://www.skynews.com.au/news/top-stories/2017/10/24/warnings-of-bushfire-season-danger-increase.html
60
Pat, On ABC radio I heard something from a BOM ‘expert’ that due to warming there is 7% more moisture in the atmosphere which means heavier rainfall.
I just don’t believe them anymore and I never did come to think of it . .
Regards GeoffW
61
why is news.com.au carrying this?
VIDEO TRAILER SBS: 23 Oct: news.com.au: Miami’s sea level is rising quickly, forcing residents out
MIAMI is raising roads and installing new pumps, but there’s one thing for certain: the rising sea won’t be held back for long.
Captain Dan Kipnis is a retired fishing captain from Miami Beach, and is Chairman of the Miami Beach Marine and Waterfront Protection Authority. Here, he writes about America’s First Climate Change Refugees ahead of an SBS documentary on subject.
“THE world’s climate is rapidly changing around us — floods, fires, rising seas, record high temperatures, melting ice and fierce storms.
“As an American, I have to apologise for our President, Donald Trump, and the bull-headed politicians that surround him.”…
I’m a 67-year-old fishing boat captain, so why should I consider myself an educator on the effects of climate change?
For the past 11 years, I have been presenting a regularly changing (as is the nature of the science of climate change) presentation to university and high school students, as well as business and civic groups, educating them as to the why’s and how’s of anthropogenic-caused global warming. My education began by training with Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project, specifically to present on his book, An Inconvenient Truth, and its film companion.
Since then, I have presented hundreds of times to thousands of people. Thankfully, over the past 11 years I have seen a sea change in people’s awareness of what is surely the greatest challenge ever to confront the human race…
First off, burning more hydrocarbons adds more CO2 to the atmosphere, which traps sunlight trying to radiate back to space as infra-red light waves, and in turn the earth heats up.
This is about as simple a science fact as there is — not to climate deniers though.
They are pushed on by the greed of hydrocarbon producers and the politicians that are in their pockets.
The world’s inability to aggressively mitigate this problem has pushed mankind to the brink of extinction, and there has been no vigorous action to quickly pull us back from the brink…
I am so sorry for all the young people, as we have not kept our moral obligation to leave them a world that is healthy, safe and vibrant.
America’s First Climate Change Refugees airs on Dateline Tuesday at 9:30pm on SBS.
http://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/climate-change/miamis-sea-level-is-rising-quickly-forcing-residents-out/news-story/7d886818338f5114098e93af9a8560b8
40
I wonder why they don’t worry about the 2 nuclear power plants built right at sea level at Port St. Lucie and Turkey Point, both within a 200km of Miami.
I walk the dog at the beach at Port St Lucie and the sea level hasn’t changed in years.
50
Thanks for your report & confidence on sea levels at Port St Lucie and Turkey Point.
As for our Captain Dan Kipnis well he certainly has it in for us sceptics (climate deniers). I have to wonder at the motives of such people.
Regards GeoffW
40
‘Since then, I have presented hundreds of times to thousands of people. Thankfully, over the past 11 years I have seen a sea change in people’s awareness of what is surely the greatest challenge ever to confront the human race…’
. . . . . to find sea level change where there doesn’t seem to be any . . . . . .
60
12:01PMGREG BROWN
PoliticsNow: Mark Butler says Labor doesn’t know what its renewables target will cost, amid revelations energy bills will soar.
The Australian
60
Cost is irrelevant to an ideology Dennis , not sure a Labor policy has ever come in as planned and under or on budget .
They’re ideas people and leave the details to others .
60
Just like it didn’t think to cost its NBN or its NDIS.
We, the taxpayers, are finding out the costs now though, aren’t we.
In spades.
Never vote Labor. Never. Ever.
They’re fools.
60
Cunning fools, NBNCo was home to several Labor brothers including the once shamed Queensland Labor Cabinet Minister Mike Keyser, forced to resign and quietly relocated to the Queensland Government Office in London UK, magically reappeared as a senior highly remunerated NBNCo executive.
I would like to know how much favouritism and profiteering has taken place as NBN is rolled out, including union gains.
60
24 Oct: FraserCoastChronicle: Power bills set to soar almost $2000 over next decade
HOUSEHOLD power bills would soar almost $200 per year for a decade under federal Labor’s plan for a 50 per cent renewable energy target by 2030.
That’s according to modelling commissioned by the Climate Change Authority, which also showed almost all of Australia’s 16 coal-fired power stations would have to close to meet the party’s target…
The Australian reports the CCA modelling showed household energy bills would increase by $1921 over 10 years from 2020 to 2030 if an emissions intensity scheme was introduced that aimed to achieve a 52 per cent renewable energy target.
That’s the closest model to Labor’s target yet…
The modelling, which was initially provided to the government in a briefing note on the Climate Change Authority’s 2016 report on Policy Options for Australia’s Electricity Supply Sector, also showed Australia would need to cut about 17,000 megawatts of black and brown coal-fired power generation out of the market by 2030.
According to The Australian that would mean closing all but one or two of Australia’s coal-fired power plants.
Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg told the publication the CCA modelling exposed Labor’s “hypocrisy” over energy policy…
He accused the party, which has yet to release modelling of its energy policy, of deliberately trying to hide the cost.
“The only reason why Labor hasn’t modelled its emission intensity scheme is because it will drive up household bills by an average of almost $200 per year,” Mr Frydenberg told The Australian.
“That’s more than a $300-a-year difference to the Turnbull government’s National Energy Guarantee, which will deliver affordable and reliable power.
https://www.frasercoastchronicle.com.au/news/power-bills-forecast-to-increase-almost-2000-by-20/3246764/
20
UK Daily Mail: BBC in new fakery row as it emerges viewers WON’T be told when scenes in flagship documentary Blue Planet II were filmed in laboratories rather than the wild
Sir David’s new BBC Two show includes close-up lab footage of corals bleaching
Producers recreated rock pool and burrow of zebra mantis shrimp for close-ups
Fangtooth filmed in chamber on ship after samples were taken from deep ocean
But Sir David, 91, and executive producer have defended filming techniques
By Mark Duell for MailOnline and Laura Lambert For The Daily Mail
And the terrifying-looking fangtooth was filmed in a special chamber on a ship after samples were taken from the deep ocean, according to The Guardian.
But the source of the footage is not made clear to viewers during the show, with executive producer James Honeyborne saying: ‘You can’t just break the spell.’…
The fakery row comes after the BBC’s Frozen Planet in 2011 featured footage of a polar bear tending her newborn cubs – filmed in a Dutch zoo using fake snow.
But Sir David told the newspaper: ‘We wouldn’t do that now. Because we are being very, very meticulous to be correct and not in any way misleading.
The veteran 91-year-old broadcaster, who has been making TV programmes since the Fifties, added: ‘To say that we are distorting natural history would be absurd.’…
The BBC press office has been contacted for comment by MailOnline.
It comes as Sir David, who is currently working on four filming projects as well as publicising Blue Planet II, revealed he sees no reason why he cannot live to over 100…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5007471/Sir-David-Attenborough-91-says-NO-plans-retire.html
40
24 Oct: SMH: Peter Hannam: Bureau of Meteorology to declare a La Nina ‘watch’, pointing to a wetter summer
The chances of a wetter-than-average summer for eastern Australia are increasing, with the Bureau of Meteorology set to declare a La Nina weather pattern is likely to take hold in the Pacific.
The bureau’s shift from neutral conditions to a “La Nina watch” will be formally stated in Tuesday’s fortnightly update, Rob Webb, the head of the bureau’s national forecast services, told Senate estimates on Monday.
Andrew Watkins, manager of climate prediction services at BOM, told Fairfax Media the declaration of a “watch” indicated at least a 50 per cent chance of a La Nina, although shy of the 70 per cent level that would prompt the declaration of an event as virtually certain.
“We’re not quite up to the 70 per cent yet,” Dr Watkins said
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/bureau-of-meteorology-to-declare-a-la-nina-watch-pointing-to-a-wetter-summer-20171023-gz66ow.html
24 Oct: Herald Sun: Rain, mild temperatures before sunshine and snow on slopes
by Christine McGinn
MELBURNIANS will just need to get through the next few days before a glorious 29C Sunday — and then a chance of snow.
Today will reach a top of 21C with up to 2mm expected to fall over the city in the afternoon into the evening…
Thursday will hit a top of 18C with a slight rain shower…
But spring can bring many surprises with snow forecast to fall on the alpine region on Monday as the city shivers through a high of 17C and 5mm of rain.
(BoM’s Dean) Stewart said there was “a chance” snow could fall on Monday.
“There is quite a strong front coming through on Sunday night — a burst of cold air coming over the state,” Mr Stewart said.
“It is not unusual for spring (to get snow) as we can get those strong front systems.”…
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/rain-mild-temperatures-before-sunshine-and-snow-on-slopes/news-story/c01806d1f8aad482ac1a7f3fa5b4cffd
10
comment in moderation re:
24 Oct: SMH: Peter Hannam: Bureau of Meteorology to declare a La Nina ‘watch’, pointing to a wetter summer
extra excerpts:
Dr Watkins said La Ninas are usually evident from autumn or winter, unlike this year: “It’s quite unusual to be so late in the year.” …
One other impact of La Nina years, though, tends to be a moderation of global surface temperatures as the Pacific takes up more of the atmospheric heat.
So far this year global temperatures are running at about the second equal-warmest on record for the January-September period – marginally ahead of 2015 and behind only 2016. (See NOAA chart below.)
***According to NOAA, this year will almost certainly be the third warmest on record behind only the two previous years, based on data that goes back to the 1880s…
***UNBELIEVABLE.
40
2007, Rudd: $1 a year to save the planet:
“That is that they calculate that between now and about 2045 that you’d be looking at a total impact … in the vicinity of $45 per person over that period of time or something like $1 per person per year.”
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2007/s2076131.htm
30
Power prices ‘up the sh–‘: Mackay man lives alone, pays $300
https://www.dailymercury.com.au/news/power-prices-up-the-sh-mackay-man-lives-alone-pays/3244404/
30
around 1min in, Felicity says to guest Mayor: catastrophic bushfires are becoming more common, how do Australians cope with catastrophic bushfires which are so different to conditions most people grew up with?…
across Australia, people are being warned… catalysmic conditions, fires are starting earlier, etc etc.
Environmental Change Professor Bowman says it’s a global trend.
Bowman: it does your head in that we are now merging fire seasons globally. basically you have to call it like it is. the diagnosis is this is climate change kicking in.
AUDIO: 3mins32secs: 24 Oct: ABC The World Today: Bad bushfire season predicted for Tasmania
By Felicity Ogilvie
A university professor says it’s a national and global trend and blames climate change.
Guests:
Kerry Vincent, Mayor of Sorrell
Chris Arnol, chief officer, Tasmania Fire Service
David Bowman, Environmental Change Professor, University of Tasmania
http://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/worldtoday/bad-bushfire-season-predicted-for-tasmania/9080354
followed by Lesley unleashed:
AUDIO: 3mins04secs: 24 Oct: ABC The World Today: Climate Council warns of increased NSW fire risk
By Penny Timms
Ahead of this year’s season, the Climate Council is warning that this year will see an earlier start to the fire threat in NSW, and that there could also be more frequent blazes.
It argues that what’s being seen is the consequence of climate change, and warns that there increased fire risk also carries health and financial implications.
Featured:
Professor Lesley Hughes, Climate Council
http://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/worldtoday/climate-council-warns-of-increased-nsw-fire-risk/9080662
20
24 Oct: Australian: Belinda Tasker: La Nina won’t cut bushfire risk, BOM warns
But bureau climate prediction services manager Andrew Watkins says if one develops this year it’s likely to be weak and short-lived.
“And given the dry soils in large parts of south eastern Australia and no expectation of widespread rainfall, we’ve got to be careful not to be too complacent,” he told AAP on Tuesday.
“The fire danger will still remain quite high particularly in the south east.
“Weak La Ninas can actually bring heat into southeastern Australia, surprisingly enough, and a weak La Nina doesn’t wet up the soils enough so heatwaves and fires, you can’t write them off yet.”…
“By comparison, in 2010 we’d already had soaking rains and the soils were already wet, the rivers were reasonably full and we were already in a very strong La Nina event, one of the strongest we’ve seen,” he said.
“But we also had lots of warm water around northern Australia, which helps boost up the rainfall, and we had a negative Indian Ocean dipole, which basically means we had a La Nina in the Indian Ocean as well.
“The ducks all lined up in 2010 but this time (it could be) a weakish, possibly shortish La Nina if we have one.”
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/latest-news/la-nina-wont-cut-bushfire-risk-bom-warns/news-story/6f4415c79dfecf1af2565419224b4996
20
24 Oct: 9News: Commission report calls for carbon price
A major report hailed by Treasurer Scott Morrison as setting the direction for national reform calls for a price on carbon.
The Productivity Commission report, Shifting the Dial, set out a broad agenda for reform spanning health, schools, universities, transport and energy.
Mr Morrison spoke positively at the launch of the report in Canberra on Tuesday describing it as a “road map to higher living standards”.
One of its recommendations is for Australian governments to co-operate on energy reform.
“They must stop the piecemeal and stop-start approach to emission reduction, and adopt a proper vehicle for reducing carbon emissions that puts a single effective price on carbon,” the report recommended…
Mr Morrison said at the report launch the commission was right to highlight the cost to the economy of getting energy policy wrong…
The report came as Labor dismissed as a “tired old beat-up” leaked analysis which claims its energy policy could add almost $200 a year to household power bills.
The analysis of modelling commissioned by the Climate Change Authority, obtained by The Australian, also claims 75 per cent of existing coal-fired power would need to be retired to meet Labor’s 50 per cent renewable energy target under an emissions intensity scheme.
Opposition energy spokesman Mark Butler said the story reflected modelling of a policy that no one has ever supported.
“The modelling assumes that the policy would be internationally linked and would start with a carbon price of $69 per tonne of carbon in 2020,” he told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.
That was not what Labor was advocating…
http://www.9news.com.au/national/2017/10/24/08/30/show-us-your-energy-modelling-labor-told
40
posted a HuffPo writer Alexander C. Kaufman headline on this on jo’s previous thread; figured it would be Yale! WHAT A JOKE:
23 Oct: Guardian: Americans want a tax on carbon pollution, but how to get one?
A new study finds that Americans are willing to pay an extra $15 per month on energy bills to tackle climate change.
by Dana Nuccitelli
According to a new study (LINK) published by Yale scientists in Environmental Research Letters, Americans are willing to pay a carbon tax that would increase their household energy bills by $15 per month, or about 15%, on average. This result is consistent with a survey from last year that also found Americans are willing to pay an average of $15 to $20 per month to combat climate change. Another recent Yale survey found that overall, 78% of registered American voters support taxing and/or regulating carbon pollution, including 67% of Republicans and 60% of conservative Republicans…
A key question – what to do with carbon tax revenue
The new Yale study also asked survey participants how they would like to use the revenue generated by a carbon tax. Supporting the development of solar and wind energy and funding infrastructure improvements were the two most popular choices (around 80% support), followed by assisting displaced coal workers (73% support) and paying down the national debt (67% support). Interestingly, the option of returning the revenue back to taxpayers was supported by fewer than half of Americans – both Republicans and Democrats…
Basically, Americans support a carbon tax because they want action to address climate change, and they want to spend the revenue on clean energy for the same reason…
Although most Republican Party policymakers continue to oppose taxing carbon pollution, it’s inevitable that the USA will implement national climate policy sooner or later…
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2017/oct/23/americans-want-a-tax-on-carbon-pollution-but-how-to-get-one
cannot find the actual questions, but noted the following in a couple of places on related PDF pages:
The first question informed respondents that Congress may consider ***a ‘tax on fossil fuels (e.g. coal, oil, and natural gas) to help reduce global warming.’
***We refer to such a tax ***hereafter as a‘carbon tax.’ We then asked respondents how they would like to see the revenue used if such a tax were implemented.
A follow-up question asked respondents to allot revenue in percentage terms among the expenditure categories for which they had previously indicated support.
2. Data collection
The data used in our analysis come from a nationally representative survey of 1226 American adults, aged 18 and older. The survey was conducted November 18 through December 1, 2016. The sample was drawn from GfK’s KnowledgePanel, an online panel of members drawn using probability sampling methods…
Respondents were asked a standard, referendum format, contingent valuation question about whether they would ‘support’ or ‘oppose’ a carbon tax. ***Specifically, the survey asked respondents to consider ***a ‘tax on fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) to help reduce global warming.’
—
***SURELY THE ABOVE SUGGESTS THIS DUBIOUS “ONLINE” SURVEY DIDN’T ASK ABOUT A “CARBON TAX” AT ALL, BUT – IF THE SURVEY WAS EVEN DONE – PEOPLE WERE SIMPLY TOLD GOVT WAS CONSIDERING A “TAX”. YALE THEN SIMPLY CALLED IT A “CARBON TAX”.
10
behind paywall:
23 Oct: UK Times: Emily Gosden: Wind farm subsidy bill ‘to be blown off course’
The subsidy bill for new offshore wind farms is likely to be almost 50 per cent higher than the government has forecast because officials have overestimated future wholesale prices, research suggests.
Last month ministers awarded subsidy contracts to support three big offshore wind farms by guaranteeing them a price for every megawatt-hour of power they generate for 15 years.
The difference between the guaranteed price — £57.50 per MWh for the two cheapest projects, and the wholesale market price for power, which is about £45 per MWh today — will be “topped up” with subsidies, paid for through levies on energy bills.
Ministers estimated that the contracts for the three new wind farms, together with a handful of far smaller energy-from-waste projects, together would require top-up subsidy payments of £176 million a year by 2023-24. However, Aurora Energy Research suggests that “the government’s methodology for forecasting future subsidy payments to these projects appears to underestimate the likely cost by almost 50 per cent, or £80 million per annum”. This is because officials use forecasts of the average future wholesale price to estimate the top-up required.
***Falling electricity price forecasts have resulted in the estimated lifetime cost of top-up subsidies spiralling from £6 billion in 2013 to £50 billion this year…
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/wind-farm-subsidy-bill-to-be-blown-off-course-5trjv3jdl
10
completely insane:
21 Oct: Vice: Dream of a World Without Fossil Fuels
Experts are already considering how an end to the oil, coal, and gas industries would transform society.
by Geoff Dembicki
(Geoff Dembicki is author of Are We Screwed? How a New Generation Is Fighting to Survive Climate Change)
Several dozen academics, diplomats, and energy researchers gathered earlier this year in Berlin to embark on a fascinating thought experiment. They began with the assumption that a worldwide transition from fossil fuels to renewables is all but inevitable—a future that is not guaranteed, but hardly implausible either, despite the current domination of oil and gas. Then they imagined what that future would look like, not just in terms of the energy economy but in terms of society as a whole. Oil, coal, and gas have shaped and structured our political and economic system for well over a century. If the fossil fuel empire were to collapse, participants wondered, what would follow?
It’s tempting to dismiss this scenario as wishful thinking…
Society becoming more democratic and socialist at the same time renewable energy replaces fossil fuels sounds like a utopian dream. Yet the world might just be swapping one set of global overlords for another. The raw materials, technology, and political sway needed to deploy renewables at a scale large enough to destroy the fossil fuel industry could end up being concentrated in authoritarian countries like China…
(David Sandalow, a former Obama administration official, who is now the inaugural fellow at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy who was at the Berlin meeting and co-authored a report on its findings) explained:
“It’s going to be complicated,” “It’s really hard to say exactly how it’s going to play out.”…ETC
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/8x59m5/its-not-crazy-to-dream-of-a-world-without-fossil-fuels
20
Beyond Belief!
20
a dose of reality:
24 Oct: Reuters: Florence Tan: IEA sees Southeast Asia oil demand growing until at least 2040
Southeast Asian demand for oil will keep growing until at least 2040 as emerging nations there rely on the fossil fuel to transport their rapidly growing populations, ship goods and make plastics, the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday…
Oil usage in the region will expand to around 6.6 million barrels per day by 2040 from 4.7 million bpd now, with the number of road vehicles increasing by two-thirds to around 62 million, the agency said in a report…
But oil will continue to meet around 90 percent of transport-related demand in Southeast Asia, especially for trucks and ships, Keisuke Sadamori, the IEA’s director of energy markets and security, said at the Singapore International Energy Week.
“Unless there are any drastic technological changes that can decarbonize these areas, we do not expect oil demand to fall,” he said…
Oil demand from the petrochemicals sector, one of the largest users of the fossil fuel, will also grow fairly substantially, Sadamori said. Oil can be used as a raw material for plastics and textiles.
The IEA expects electricity to account for only 1 percent of transport energy demand in 2040, saying there will be only about 4 million electric cars in a total passenger vehicle stock of 62 million…
Meanwhile, Southeast Asia’s overall energy demand is expected to climb nearly 60 percent by 2040 from now, led by power generation, as rising incomes in the region spur more people to buy electric appliances including air conditioners, the IEA said.
The region will have universal access to electricity in the early 2030s and is expected to install more than 565 gigawatts (GW) of power-generation capacity in 2040, from 240 GW today, the agency said. Coal and renewables account for almost 70 percent of new output, it added…
Coal alone will account for almost 40 percent of the growth…
Southeast Asia will become a key driver for energy demand globally as its economy triples in size and its total population grows by a fifth, the IEA said…
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-asia-energy-iea/iea-sees-southeast-asia-oil-demand-growing-until-at-least-2040-idUSKBN1CT03R
10
24 Oct: EconomicTimesIndia: Vedanta’s focus is to produce 50% of the total oil output in India: Anil Agarwal, Chairman,Vedanta Resources
By Satish John, R. Sriram
Anil Agarwal, chairman of Vedanta Resources Plc, wants the government to revise its mining policy in order to attract more investment. As part of its commitment to India, Vedanta plans to invest $8 billion in the country, Agarwal told ET in an interview, pointing out that mining is critical for the growth needed to eradicate poverty. Edited excerpts…
Anil Agarwal: What comes out from the ground should be processed in India. Fundamentally, what we are keen to have is that India should focus more on natural resources. Every industrialist would not like to have competition. But without competition, work will not happen. We need at least 20 oil and gas exploration companies. Can you imagine the only private oil company that produces oil in India is Vedanta…
The only company that produces coal is Coal India. Can any country survive with just one company? You need 10 coal companies. The government should not view making money as a sin. Unless you make money, you can’t reinvest or plough back the money…
Q: How critical is mining to India’s economic wellbeing?
Anil Agarwal: Above the ground, you will get food and drink but if you want to remove poverty, then you’ll have to go below the earth. I’ve been saying this for last 10 years…
Look at the official documents. We have 70 billion barrels of oil reserves. No one in the world can boast about (such reserves). These are from the petroleum ministry records. Everyone in this world looks at India as a market, for their products. I feel disconsolate… Jobs are going abroad because we import goods — GST, Swachh Bharat, everything is necessary. But fundamentally we need revenues too…READ ON
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/interviews/vedantas-focus-is-to-produce-50-of-the-total-oil-output-in-india-anil-agarwal-chairman-of-vedanta-resources/articleshow/61190805.cms
20
22 Oct: Reuters: Ecuador defends big Yasuni rainforest oil bet
by Alexandra Valencia
The manager of state oil company Petroamazonas defended Ecuador’s plans to expand exploitation of major oil reserves in one of the world’s most species-diverse rainforests, saying it will ensure minimum environmental impact and use appropriate technology.
The OPEC country is avidly seeking resources to revitalize an ailing economy, after a fall in oil prices and a major earthquake.
Ecuador expects to raise revenues of about $2.4 billion annually as of 2022 when it completes the development of the Ishpingo, Tambococha, and Tiputini (ITT) fields and Block 31, located in the Yasuni National Park, a 9,820-square-kilometer (6,100-square-mile) swathe of rainforest on the equator…
“This is the second phase of oil exploration in Ecuador … that allows for cheap and economically profitable exploitation,” said state oil company manager Alex Galarraga…
Challenging the world to save Yasuni a decade ago, former president Rafael Correa asked wealthy countries to donate $3.6 billion to offset revenue lost by not drilling there.
The initiative brought in less than 4 percent of that amount so Correa scrapped the plan six years later and authorized drilling, saying the world had failed Ecuador…
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ecuador-oil-opec/ecuador-defends-big-yasuni-rainforest-oil-bet-idUSKBN1CQ0UM?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
24 Oct: Reuters: Iraq asks BP to boost oil production from Kirkuk: spokesman
by Ahmed Rasheed
Luaibi, who met BP’s president for the Middle East region Michael Townshend, has asked the British oil major to help increase output from Kirkuk oilfield to more than 700,000 barrels per day, the spokesman said…
Kirkuk is one of the biggest and oldest oilfields in the Middle East, still estimated to contain around 9 billion barrels of recoverable oil, according to BP…
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iraq-oil-bp-kirkuk/iraq-asks-bp-to-boost-oil-production-from-kirkuk-spokesman-idUSKBN1CS1VT
23 Oct: OffshoreEngineer Digital: Total acquires ultra-deep Namibia, South Africa stakes
Robert Wilde, Interim CEO of Impact Oil & Gas says: “We believe Total brings substantial technical and exploration expertise to the licenses, particularly in deep water, and allows Impact to maintain a significant interest in these high impact, exploration assets which could potentially contain multi-billion barrel prospects…
10
This raises a few questions in my mind.
If no one knew how was this subsidy enacted?
Is it legal?
Can Rudd be prosecuted for subverting the democractic process?
40
Followed Rudd Union Labor ratifying the Kyoto Agreement the Howard Government only signed.
20
ok Dennis.
But the question was. Has a political crime happened here?
30
behind paywall:
21 Oct: UK Telegraph: Edward Malnick: Smart meter roll out under threat by cap on energy bills, industry figures warn
The Government’s planned roll-outs of “smart” energy meters and electric vehicles are under threat as a result of Theresa May’s flagship conference pledge for a cap on electricity and gas bills, industry figures have warned.
Senior sources said the Prime Minister’s plans to set limits on energy prices paid by consumers cast into doubt ministers’ plans for all homes to be offered smart meters by 2020.
They also disclosed that Big Six firms are gearing up for a “significant” legal challenge if the cap was proposed at levels previously indicated by Mrs May and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which would “wipe out all the profitability for the whole industry”.
The warnings came after an analysis seen by The Telegraph concluded that the introduction of new meters is expected to cost the industry £6 billion between now and 2020 and that a cap that “pushes the industry as a whole to…
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/10/21/smart-meter-roll-threat-cap-energy-bills-industry-figures-warn/
21 Oct: UK Independent: Civil servants lay ground to dump Theresa May’s planned energy bill cap amid cabinet split
Exclusive: Investors have been told the Government has not decided if there is ‘any need’ for cap
by Joe Watts Political Editor
Theresa May’s flagship plan to cap energy bills has been cast into doubt after evidence emerged that Whitehall officials are laying ground for it to be shelved next year.
The Independent has learnt the Government has already told energy investors Ms May’s draft proposal will be ditched if it feels the “Big Six” power firms are doing enough to tackle high bills, an approach now also confirmed by civil servants.
It comes amid a months-long cabinet rift over her election promise to end “rip-off” energy price rises by “introducing a cap”, a pledge fleshed out in her conference speech less than three weeks ago…
Price comparison service uSwitch also warns today that households could see their bill rise by up to £395 a year from November as popular fixed deals come to an end and customers return to STVs.
Shadow Business Secretary Rebecca Long Bailey said: “The Tories can’t be trusted on the energy price cap. In the general election campaign, they promised a price cap for 17 million households but then backtracked in the summer, passing the buck to Ofgem and letting millions of people’s bills rise still further…
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/theresa-may-energy-bill-cap-civil-servants-power-firms-big-six-whitehall-government-a8011296.html
10
23 Oct: CarbonPulse: EU Market: EUAs dip for third straight day after weak auction
EU carbon prices dropped for the third consecutive session on Monday after a weak auction and as some observers identified the potential for further falls.
23 Oct: CarbonPulse: Hanergy sells 48% of shares in CO2 subsidiary as China carbon industry struggles
China’s Hanergy has sold 48% of the shares in its emissions industry business, the company said Monday, with some of the proceeds to be spent on non-carbon related operations.
23 Oct: CarbonPulse: Polish PM threatens to take EU ETS reforms to bloc’s leaders, as others push for more ambition
Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo said she will raise the issue of climate policy at December’s EU leaders’ summit if the concluding post-2020 EU ETS reform process fails to allocate the country adequate compensation for transitioning away from coal.
20
Has anyone else been following the activities of Steve Bannon (Breitbart)
He seems to be galvanising conservative opinion in the USA and almost directing Trump in terms of policy! We could do with him here now.
30
OT but I think SA just broke the AEMO dashboard , prices for the state went from $12k to -$43 , not sure what minus $43 means exactly , does it mean the SA government have to pay each user $43 per mw they consume or just the stuff they send to Victoriastan.
30
Ahh, glad you noticed that also.
I though i was going msd !
30
The wind generation in SA picked up from, 100MW around 3pm to 1000MW at 8pm. It probably rose faster than AEMO had forecast and the price dropped like a stone to -$391 before the gas plants could respond. The gas was generating at 1170MW at 6pm but was down to 590MW by 7pm. That may be as fast as they can respond in a controlled way. Prices stayed negative for 2.5 hours.
This sort of variation is not unusual in South Australia. The State has 1698MW of installed wind capacity and they are only obliged to limit output if there is less than around 400MW of gas generation that is required for stability reasons. It varies depending on actual demand at the time. The wind energy has a firm limit of 1200MW if there is enough demand to handle that plus the 400MW or so of gas. That situation usually requires exporting energy to Victoria.
Remember the wind plants get their $80+/MWh through LGCs separately to the AEMO wholesale price so anything above -$80 they are still making money. On the other hand the gas plant would be hurting but they are getting some separate compensation for the stability service they are providing. You need to dig down to see what that payment is.
The South Australian network is truly cactus. It has a base demand around 500MW and wind generation that can get up to 1700MW in good wind conditions but is now capped at 1200MW. The peak demand can reach 3300MW on a day when the wind is likely doing little. They are building a CSP with 150MW capacity and installing a battery with 100MW capacity. They are installing more gas fired generators and some diesel generators. Even with all this their network would never operate if it did not have the 600MW link into Victoria. Existing consumers are going broke or building their own solar capacity so their consumer base is diminishing. This simply proves that wind and solar connected to the grid are truly unrenewable. No sane government would persist with this insanity.
I can see there will be a lot of pressure to impose an electrical service tax on consumers if they desert the network. The federal government Future Fund and all the union super funds have large investments in renewable energy and they will no doubt bring pressure to bear to ensure laws protect their income stream. This is how Peter Costello puts it:
The Future Fund might have ploughed $400 million into AGL Energy’s renewable energy fund but it isn’t turning green, chairman Peter Costello says.
http://www.afr.com/news/peter-costello-defends-future-funds-renewables-push-20160930-grsos9
10
Kevin Rudd knows so much more than anyone else he is taking up a position as North Korea’s information minister.
30
Wetherdill just on Lateline, brushing off SAs energy crisis and power cuts as missinformation.
Insisting on the need to get away from “Old Technology” power generation !!
10
Interesting.
It seems patently unfair to begrudge us “greenies” our turn at the trough. Shall we look at how the government has featherbedded and subsidised the fossil fuel industry for millenia? Yes, lets. The higher estimates peg it at about $11 billion per year, in the form of soft loans and guarantees and direct subsidies. Knock 30% off that and it’s still well above the “outrageous” $7.3 billion earmarked for renewables over the next decade. And what do we get for our money? At the very least one would expect some kind of steady employment. Alas, we’re in a world of diminishing returns there. Or vanishing, more accurately. The labour movement would call it a death spiral. Employment growth in the renewable sector, meanwhile, just keeps ticking upwards. As a taxpayer I’d rather support that than a bunch of drunks trying to hold each other up.
02
Sure Kevin, let’s look. Send in your links. My reading of the infamous “fossil fuel subsidies” is that most of them are a/ not in advanced economies, b/ based on the communist/fascist idea that all the money a company earns really belongs to the government, and if it lets the company keep more of it (a tax break) that equals a “subsidy”. OR c/ based on broken climate model predictions of doom, coupled with wild extensions in economic models to estimate health losses due to a pollutant that feeds the world.
Go for it…
20
Kevin, there was a time, further back than you can remember, when the ABC was staffed by intelligent, well educated people. Then the Marxists infiltrated.
During the 1980s some Australian fertiliser manufacturers claimed that imported fertiliser was being dumped, and persuaded the Australian government to impose a tariff on these imported fertilisers. The Farmers’ Federation researched the claim, and lodged a counter claim that convinced the government to withdraw those tariffs.
That evening the ABC TV News opened with the headline, “The Federal Government today caved in to National Farmers’ Federation demands for a subsidy on imported fertilisers.” This was an outrageous lie!
I was extremely annoyed, so I rang ABC TV News to complain that this was not the application of a subsidy, but the withdrawal of a tariff. The bloke on the phone said: “What’s the difference?”
I was flabbergasted. We were strapped for cash and the STD call was costing more than I dared to waste, so I just hung up. But it seems that you, Kevin, learned your economics at the same bar.
00