Liberal government’s war against renewable energy, Labor’s tepid response

Liberal government’s ideology threatens renewable energy future, Canberra Times Mark Diesendorf, February 17, 2014 “……..It is the federal government that is implementing an ideological program to terminate climate action and in particular to stop the growth of renewable energy.It’s attempting to remove the modest carbon price, abolish the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, cut the renewable energy target, and further undermine future wind farms by holding yet another inquiry into the sham ”wind turbine syndrome”.

It has already cut $800 million from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and abolished the Climate Commission, which provided independent advice to the public. Fortunately, it has been relaunched as the public-funded Climate Council.) A single one of these actions could be interpreted as simple ignorance, but the whole set clearly comprises a deliberate plan to try to slow the inevitable shift away from polluting fossil fuels to renewable energy.

The deafening silence of the federal opposition in the face of this wanton destruction by the federal government is disappointing, to say the least.

The ”justification” of these federal policies is ideological, because it is anti-climate science, because investment in the growth of renewable energy (and energy efficiency) can generate more jobs than are being lost in the fossil fuel industry, and because the Clean Energy Finance Corporation is leveraging much private investment and is actually making a profit.

The subsidies to the production and use of fossil fuels in Australia are running at more than $10 billion a year and seem to be permanent, dwarfing the small declining subsidies to renewable energy.

Apart from blind support for the ideological position of the federal government, there is no rational reason for a politically conservative person to oppose the growth of renewable energy in Australia. These new industries are being implemented by small and medium sized businesses, creating jobs and supporting technological innovation….. http://www.canberratimes.com.au/comment/liberal-governments-ideology-threatens-renewable-energy-future-20140216-32u2r.html#ixzz2tbiFzDk7