The people of New South Wales have a lot to be angry about — a toxic Labor government, a string of knifed premiers, a culture of ministerial incompetence. But why would The Daily Telegraph try now to plunge an additional stake into the heart of an already terminal government over electricity prices?
Fair enough to have a crack at the government for not doing something about the price of power — hip pocket politics can be very beguiling — but surely a government with this kind of record deserves to be called out on so much more? Recent Newspoll figures paint a dire picture for the 15 year-old government and it look likely that they will be banished to electoral purgatory when they face the ballot box on March 26 next year.
As part of its extensive ‘Power Struggle’ campaign, the paper tell its readers that the state government is “officially on notice” and that if the power crisis is not solved Labor will “face the wrath of voters”:
“On behalf of one million readers, The Daily Telegraph today publishes an open letter to Kristina Keneally, informing her that the Government is on the clock.”
To make the outrage easier, the Tele has gone to the trouble of knocking up a bizzare ‘your time starts now’ PDF for readers to email in to the premier and ‘countdown clock’ so everyone is acutely aware of how long this government has left (just 169 shopping days to go).
But the prize must go to Melbourne’s footy-mad media getting its knickers in an uncomfortable knot over the naming of two Collingwood players involved in an alleged s-xual harassment investigation, first by 3AW shock jock Neil Mitchell (angering probably ex-buddy and Collingwood president Eddie McGuire).
Melbourne’s number one footy rag the Herald Sun, which for days “chose not to name the players”, quickly abandoned its admirable stance once Mitchell squawked. It had the news on its website yesterday morning, and then on today’s front page. Both times under the facade that Mitchell was at the centre of a media “showdown” or “stoush”.
If there are no legal issues with naming the players — and we assume that both Mitchell and the Hun have some pretty good lawyers — why did the country’s biggest reporter of AFL news stay tight-lipped for four days and then go ahead and name them anyway?
Was the paper making a stand, or just waiting for someone else to cop the heat and then feed off the story? Either way, it’s a Wankley-worthy achievement.
[Moderated for insulting other commenters – Mod]
The Tele’s headline/campaign re electricity prices is only a shadow of that which could happen.
Picture this:
Expensive feed-in tariffs on solar PV are passed on to consumers by retailers which are forced to pay more than 10 times the wholesale value of the electricity sent to the grid.
$75 million for EnergyAustralia alone in additional retail fees for administering their end of the domestic solar PV installations – charged to each retail customer whether they like it or not – about $8 per year across the State.
More overpriced tariffs for wind power, when it is available, just because the law says that this uneconomic form of generation must be used to make up retailers’ “green power” targets.
Not one existing fossil fuelled power station is scheduled for demolition due to the so-competitiveness of wind and solar. Thus, for all the expense, removal of not a single greenhouse gas generator.
Additional expense of gas turbines to back up the new-fangled generators when either or both the wind isn’t blowing or the sun is not shining. The actual generation achievements of wind and solar are no better than 1/3rd of their stated capacity yet they still require fossil fuel backup via GT’s.
The GT’s which can back up wind and solar must be able to start very quickly and follow the load steeply. Thus, relatively efficient (60%+) Combined Cycle GT’s (CCGT) cannot do the job. What is needed are Open Cycle GT’s (OCGT). Some of these are being built, but not enough to do meet therelentlessly rising consumer demand for electricity.
This demand must ramp up, not down, due to additional electric vehicles, electrification and extension of rail and tram services, and so forth.
But what about improved efficiency? Demand management? These are wishful thinking and come too late once the power cuts start.
End result: It is increasingly clear that under-investment in the electrical generation and distribution industry in NSW and, wider, Australia as a whole, will lead to blackouts like the 1950’s. It is also clear that the public will not blame the private power generators and retailers when blackouts start – it will be the governments who will be caught in the firing line, especially the State ones.
Is there a solution to all this? Yes, but we must act very quickly. France is the best example. 30 years ago they installed safe, non-polluting (yes, I mean that, but here is not the place for details), cheap and reliable fusion powered generation and retired their coal fired generators. Their power is so cheap that they sell it to most of their neighbours, especially those which have wasted billions of dollars in expensive, unreliable solar and wind generation.
Yet even France is currently being forced by Euro-laws to install wind and solar, to follow the mainstream dream of robbing the customer to follow the “green” fads.
The cheapest and only proven technology available to meet the GHG threat while not simultaneously loading up the population with debt and expensive trinkets in the form of solar and wind is specifically outlawed in Australia.
It will take blackouts, community unrest, much loss and pain to force this policy to be abandoned. How stupid we are.