Emergency housing being trialled at Docklands for Homeless. Snowy River Mk 11.
Dear reader, though the federal government’s initiative on the Snowy River Scheme is a fascinating excercise in big project boosterism. It is doubtful if the net benefit will alter much in the scheme of things. Still though, you’ve got to hand it to the PM, anything’s better than renewables, and Hydro, is the “best-least-worst” option. And why is that? Because it’s already there. And as evidenced in the glory days of the 50’s when this country had a manufacturing industry and a social system based on mutual respect, trust and egalitarianism upheld by equitable tax rates and the notion of good governance, it worked. It’s comforting to know that the net benefit will be to the shareholders rather than the people. No, we’re not talking the electricity providers, we’re talking about the open ended, under budgeted contracts that’ll be awarded to anyone who shows an interest in making a few quick bucks. Just like the NBN, and all the road projects, that are tollways, run by organisations that pay no tax. That’s how the system works.
Cole Porter. Not to be confused with Coal Parliament.
It’s hard to change energy policy when you’ve got no energy policy. And that’s a good thing. Energy policy is dangerous stuff. If you get too many renewables the coal based energy markets will go mental. And if they get angry, heads will fall. And you can’t have a carbon tax, though the industry lobby, (are there any left?) now says it’s essential. A carbon policy in the life of this parliament can’t happen because of back room deals. And the back room deals are binding. It’s what gave Malcolm his Prime Minister-ship. And Malcolm likes being PM. It means he can look Prime Ministerial and do nothing. And that’s also a good thing, because a reformist, interventionist, imaginative PM is a dangerous thing. It makes markets jittery. And the biggest one’s are the banks. They HATE being jittery. So no change there.
Infrastructure 101. Sods turning taxpayer funds into windfall tax fee profits for shareholders.
Consequently we have an equilibrium of inaction. If you get too many turbines it’ll be South Australia’s fault, and if Hazelwood closes down it’ll be the end of civilisation as we know it. That’s energy policy. And though the PM has a fully decked out solar house, with the full monty battery storage and everything of the highest standard, he doesn’t personally use coal for anything but to hand around lumps of it in parliament. And if asked, he would possibly get confused with the composer of such hits as “Night and Day”, and “I’ve got you under my Skin”.
Malcolm’s house. 100% Solar.
And that’s where it should end.The PM is huge on ideas, and innovation. That’s why he’d do nothing to contribute to the debate on abortion in Queensland. That’s just what Queenslanders do. They don’t like Abortions in Queensland They have a penchant for teenage single mums and the drip feed of poverty and old style religion. The old style religion is what makes Queensland tick. Gives em a sense of certainty. The same goes for coal. Give em a sense of security and it ensures that they have certainty. That’s why they talk of the need for base load power as axiomatic for certainty in the coal industry. They get terribly upset when someone like Mr Musk, ( he’s foreign so he must know something) tells em he can make batteries do what coal has done for years and years and years. That frightens the daylights out of Old Coal, and it sets a tremor through the ranks of parliament.
And parliament is terribly concerned about perks, investment properties and which lobby group they’ll work for when their parliamentary career is over. Or if they’re really lucky, they close down a whole industry, send thousands unemployed and get the cushy job in Washington as ‘Jumping Joe’ did. And if they’re really good at doing nothing, and upholding an anti abortionist, fundamentalist stance as the other little ambitious Queenslander George Brandis did, they’ll be in line for the High Commissioners job in London. Not bad for making bigotry respectable.
So there’s lots to change in the Australian body politic. Donations to political parties is keeping whatever industry left going, and rent- seeking is unchallenged as the leading innovation based business model. And for the Snowy, it’s as good as gold, provided the long- term rainfall and climate predictions are false. And they are. Cos Rupert says.