Antinuclear

Australia has a “normal” government? Not really – and they know it!

It’s anything but ‘situation normal’ for the Government The Drum By Paula Matthewson 1 Sept 14  Why is the Government so determined to repeal the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, when both public sentiment and the Senate aren’t on side? Paula Matthewson writes.

One glance at the work program for this week’s sitting of the Senate belies the Abbott Government’s claim that they’re operating under “situation normal”.

More than 20 pieces of legislation are listed for debate in the Upper House compared with just six in the House of Representatives.

The same occurred at the beginning of last week when a similar number of Senate bills were flagged for consideration, only to be pared back once the lay of the land began to emerge……..

In cases such as the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, which Palmer vowed to protect when announcing his climate action policy alongside Al Gore, the Government has quietly dropped the bill to abolish the CEFC off the legislative agenda altogether.

Similarly, the bill to abolish the Climate Change Authority has gone missing in action. This is not only because Palmer intends to oppose the bill; he also plans to amend it to introduce his Claytons emissions trading scheme.

The risk to the Government is not so much from Palmer’s ETS, which will be killed off anyway once it reaches the House of Representatives, but in having to publicly oppose a Palmer initiative……..

Having followed the lead of his occasional kennel-mate, the Motoring Enthusiasts’ Ricky Muir, Palmer has committed to protect the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.

Unlike the mysteriously disappearing repeal bills for climate action entities now protected by Palmer, legislation to repeal ARENA is due to be passed by the House of Representatives early this week. Then it will be debated in the Upper House once a senate committee reports on its review of the legislation on Thursday.

But if Palmer remains true to his word, the votes of his bloc combined with that of Muir will stymie the attempted repeal. It’s difficult to see how this predestined impasse constitutes a sensible use of the Senate’s time when there are at least 20 other pieces of legislation awaiting consideration.

What makes the Government’s apparent stubbornness to fight a losing battle on ARENA all the more curious is the release late last week of the Warbuton Review into the Renewable Energy Target. The review outcome reinforces the perception that a battle over renewable energy presents the Government only with a lose-lose proposition.

According to the report, the RET has encouraged investment, created jobs, put downward pressure on wholesale electricity prices, and contributes only about 4 per cent to electricity bills. It’s greatest flaw, depending on one’s perspective, is to transfer wealth from the fossil fuel industry and its aging fleet of generators to the much newer renewable energy industry, including the 1.3 million households that have installed solar panels on their roofs.

The Abbott Government may not have taken into consideration the influence the burgeoning adoption of rooftop solar may have on voters’ support for renewables. A recent Newspoll found 95 per cent of respondents thought renewable energy was a good idea, although only 31 per cent were prepared to pay more for their electricity to support renewables development.

Ironically, households’ unwillingness to pay more for electricity is the main driver for the uptake of rooftop solar…… http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-01/matthewson-its-anything-but-situation-normal-for-the-government/5709300

September 2, 2014 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | General News