Possum’s analysis of the broad policy objectives being played out in a subtle, piecewise fashion shows the political strategy of the Rudd government in the large. Be that as it may, there’s plenty of evidence of raw political cunning as well; I’d just like to point to a little policy announcement in the budget that demonstrates it. Read more »
Against the backdrop of several appalling Rudd Government Budget decisions that will undermine the renewables industry in Australia even further (some of which are detailed here), Christine Milne introduced a Private Member’s Bill in the Senate this morning to establish an comprehensive national feed-in law.
Feed-in laws support the rapid and unlimited growth of the renewables [...]
I guess I was about 12 years old (1970) when I made a crude drawing of my design for an electric car. At school we had been told that oil was running out and I had been bought a new bicycle as a reward for passing the 11-plus exam, which allowed me to go to Grammer School. My bike was a 'state of the art' Raleigh RSW 16 in blue. Read more »
The price of oil continues to set records - it’s now reached nearly $126 US Dollars. While some of that can be attributed to the Pacific Peso-ization of the greenback, by most measures the oil price has reached a record. Against the Euro, it’s still a record. Inflation-adjusted, it’s still a record. Read more »
It’s great that feed-in laws, regarded globally as one of the most effective mechanisms for boosting renewable energy and long-time Greens policy, are finally getting somewhere in Australia.
But it is deeply troubling that, in Victoria, they are being perverted in such a way as to make them greenwash rather than real, effective emissions reduction policies.
Feed-in [...]
Instead of replying to the details of the Rudd-Swan Budget, I decided this year to use their backward-looking, future-phobic presentation as the launching pad for a broader discussion of what we might do if we had a Government with the vision and guts necessary to take on the twin challenges of climate change and peak [...]
Crikey published this piece from me today, in the lead up to my Budget Reply speech tonight, which I will post to the blog as soon as the Hansard is available.
Tuesday night’s Budget was a slap in the face for all those Australians who voted for the Labor Party at the last election in the [...]
Flicking through the Fin Review at lunch today, there’ll all manner of interesting tidbits about the budget. For instance, the means testing of the baby bonus will scrape back a lot less revenue than the scrapping of obscure tax exemption on the byproducts from natural gas production - form of light crude oil called condensate. Read more »
Fresh updates from the world of emissions trading: Read more »
The New South Wales Government is proposing to mandate that all standard unleaded petrol will contain 10% of ethanol. This ethanol will mostly be sourced from grain. The main reasons we must oppose this legislation are the humanitarian effects of converting food to fuel, the lack of CO2 abatement, it’s debatable improvement of air quality and the unsuitability to operate in the variable New South Wales (NSW) climate. Read more »
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