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Federal ALP Opposition 2013-?

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I like to watch

David Codey (61)
I think your broad generalisation about voters today is wrong.
You are confusing the public,with the media.
Back in the day,a current affair,used to discuss current affairs.A dog catching a frisbee in the surf would never be the focal point of the news at 6pm.
Political discussions were conducted in greater depth than 3 second sound bytes.
 

Runner

Nev Cottrell (35)
Wind and solar can’t handle heat

18 Jan 2014 PRINT EDITION: 18 Jan 2014





Australian Solar Council chief executive John Grimes says solar met 9.4 per cent of power demand in South Australia on Wednesday. Photo: Glenn Hunt

Angela Macdonald-Smith

More than $2 billion of subsidised investment in over 2 million rooftop solar systems contributed less than 5 per cent of peak power demand in Victoria and South Australia during the worst of this week’s heatwave.

A lack of wind in South Australia during the extreme heat on Wednesday meant the state’s wind farms did almost nothing to stop wholesale power prices surging past $13,000 a megawatt hour, several hundred times normal prices.

The inability of wind and solar to meet demand during the heatwave in southern Australia has fuelled debate over whether the cost of renewable energy is outweighing the benefit ahead of a review of the government’s 2020 renewable energy target.

“The risk of high peak prices and high wholesale price volatility has not been eliminated by solar,” said Cameron O’Reilly, the chief executive of the Energy Retailers Association.

“These past policies were mainly industry development initiatives, a very expensive way to reduce carbon, and largely have led to individual benefit and no greater societal benefit.”

The mandated Renewable Energy Target, which requires investment in wind, solar and other renewable energy sources, has drawn $18.5 billion into Australia’s energy grid, according to the Clean Energy Council.

Many Coalition MPs want the government to dump or water down the renewable energy target. Prime Minister Tony Abbott said last week the government would have a “good, long, hard look” at the RET with the aim of “doing what we can go get power prices down.”

The government’s most senior business adviser, Maurice Newman, this month called for the RET to be ditched alongside the carbon tax, arguing it has destroyed industrial competitiveness. National Senator Ron Boswell also wants the RET scrapped.

But Environment Minister Greg Hunt on Friday said the government’s commitment to the 20 per cent target “remains unchanged”.

He said the government would carry out the review “in a thorough and consultative way”.

“The best thing we can do right now to alleviate the pressure on Australia’s manufacturing sector is scrap the carbon tax,” Mr Hunt said.

The Clean Energy Council estimates another $18 billion could flow into the industry if the government keeps the target. Some 30,000 new jobs, many in rural areas, are at stake, it says.

A spokesman for Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane said the government was reviewing energy sector policies and making changes to lower costs for households and industry.

“The government will review the RET in 2014, including the cost of the scheme to households and businesses and this important process should be allowed to run its course,” he said.

The terms of reference for the RET review were expected before Christmas but are understood to be still more than a week away.

Australian Solar Council chief executive John Grimes says solar met 9.4 per cent of power demand in South Australia on Wednesday.

“Solar is absolutely pulling its weight on days like these,” he said.

The Clean Energy Council blames the mid-week surge in wholesale prices on an unexpected shutdown of AGL Energy’s Loy Yang A coal plant in Victoria and says clean energy plants were a big help in helping the power system cope with near-record demand.

Once source said the delay was due to a legislative requirement that the review is carried out by the Climate Change Authority, a body slated for closure, while the government wants the Productivity Commission or another department to take control.

Electricity retailers calculate the cost to consumers from the RET has been large. Origin Energy puts it at billions of dollars. It calculates that the cost of cutting carbon emissions through the small-scale renewable energy scheme, essentially involving rooftop solar systems, is a substantial $100 per tonne, well above the nominal price of carbon.

The cost of renewable energy is inflated by the mismatch between generation and peak demand, and by increased network costs.

While solar power reduces peak demand in the summer and is better correlated to summer peaks in consumption than wind, it helps little with winter peak demand. Also, even in summer, solar photovoltaic systems pump out most power from midday to mid-afternoon and are typically winding down by the late afternoon peak in consumption.

The Australian Energy Market Operator says by the 3pm to 5pm peak in Victoria and South Australia, solar output is running at just 30 per cent of capacity.

Origin also argues that more intermittent energy such as wind and solar require increased investment in managing volatility of supply.

Managing director Grant King says wind and solar are “free-riding” on the grid, and that households with solar panels are not paying their share of network costs, placing an unfair burden on those without.

EnergyAustralia says the rapid growth in solar PV thanks to subsidies and a ‘lack of cost-reflective network pricing” has driven up the cost of power for many customers while others “avoid their network charges and pay very little.”

About 3 gigawatts of solar power is installed across the national electricity market, representing a “small but rapidly growing contribution” to power supply, said electricity market analyst Paul McArdle at GLOBAL-ROAM.

“In the absence of solar demand would have been higher this week but now much is difficult to say,” he said.

The lack of visibility in the solar contribution helps explain the differing estimates for its contribution to meeting demand this week.

The Energy Supply Association of Australia puts the contribution of solar as low as 2-2.5 per cent in Victoria and SOuth Australia this week. The AEMO estimates solar met 4.5 per cent of maximum demand in South Australia on Tuesday and Wednesday, and 1.5 per cent in Victoria.

Mr McArdle said that only those households that had oversized their solar systems thanks to earlier, more generous feed-in tariffs would probably be able to meet their own air conditioning demand during the summer peak. Others who installed systems later would still be relying on the grid to supplement their own solar generation.

The overall RET target is increasingly being called into question given the target was hardwired at 41,000 gigawatt hours in 2008, when that level would have resulted in renewables meeting 20 per cent of supply. The downturn in demand since means the proportion will be closer to 27 or 28 per cent.

But the regulatory framework for small-scale solar systems is coming in for particular criticism within the regulations. The so-called SRES is currently uncapped and attracts a fixed price of $40 per certificate. While the policy targets a theoretical 4000 gigawatt-hours a year of small-scale renewable generation, that has already been surpassed, according to EnergyAustralia.

Mr Grimes says estimates by Origin and others on the costs of the RET are “deceptive and misleading” and says the policy accounts for an average of 1 per cent of electricity bills. He says the risk to the SRES is “enormously concerning.”

However steep wholesale prices have climbed this week, they would have been higher without solar, Mr Grimes argues.

Pitt&sherry principal consultant on energy strategies Hugh Saddler agrees, crediting rooftop solar for significantly lower spot prices this week compared to January 2009, the last prolonged spell of 40-plus degree days in both Melbourne and Adelaide.

“Evidence suggests that it is highly likely that the contribution of electricity generated by rooftop solar systems, particularly in SA, has been a major cause of this moderation in prices. There was a negligible amount of rooftop solar in 2009.”

The Australian Financial Review

 

boyo

Mark Ella (57)
LETTERS

Labor should support good policy despite broken promises

Speaking as a staunch Labor supporter I reckon Ross Gittins’ Monday column should be compulsory reading for Bill Shorten and all Labor power brokers (‘‘Labor sells principles to fight deficit levy’’, May 12). Broken promises or not, some of Joe Hockey’s proposed reforms are worthy and defensible. I have waited in vain for something more from Bill Shorten other than dogged opposition. Worthy as some of them may be, the Coalition’s proposals still fail to address the comprehensive economic reforms Australia is going to need into the future. There is an opportunity there for Labor, so grab it, Bill Shorten, and articulate it with some fervour and conviction.

Col Nicholson Hawks Nest

Is the Leader of the Opposition even in the country at the minute?

Maurie Farrell Elanora Heights

For once, Ross Gittins gets it wrong. I agree the wealthy should pay more. I'd be happy if they just started paying their fair share. They're a small select group enjoying the best advantages a developed Western society can offer and effectively being funded by the large majority of their fellow, less wealthy, citizens. But the deficit tax is wrong because it breaks a promise. Like the MPs' wage freeze, it’s just another thought bubble from Tony Abbott, who is quickly becoming the Liberals' answer to Kevin Rudd.

Phil Bradshaw Naremburn


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/smh-letters/budget-emphasis-on-profit-will-turn-australia-into-another-united-states-20140512-zra3g.html#ixzz31Yq4RNfh

 

Runner

Nev Cottrell (35)
LETTERS

Labor should support good policy despite broken promises

Speaking as a staunch Labor supporter I reckon Ross Gittins’ Monday column should be compulsory reading for Bill Shorten and all Labor power brokers (‘‘Labor sells principles to fight deficit levy’’, May 12). Broken promises or not, some of Joe Hockey’s proposed reforms are worthy and defensible. I have waited in vain for something more from Bill Shorten other than dogged opposition. Worthy as some of them may be, the Coalition’s proposals still fail to address the comprehensive economic reforms Australia is going to need into the future. There is an opportunity there for Labor, so grab it, Bill Shorten, and articulate it with some fervour and conviction.

Col Nicholson Hawks Nest

Is the Leader of the Opposition even in the country at the minute?

Maurie Farrell Elanora Heights

For once, Ross Gittins gets it wrong. I agree the wealthy should pay more. I'd be happy if they just started paying their fair share. They're a small select group enjoying the best advantages a developed Western society can offer and effectively being funded by the large majority of their fellow, less wealthy, citizens. But the deficit tax is wrong because it breaks a promise. Like the MPs' wage freeze, it’s just another thought bubble from Tony Abbott, who is quickly becoming the Liberals' answer to Kevin Rudd.

Phil Bradshaw Naremburn


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/smh-letters/budget-emphasis-on-profit-will-turn-australia-into-another-united-states-20140512-zra3g.html#ixzz31Yq4RNfh

Poor Ross gets it wrong according to some folk and you put it up.
 

boyo

Mark Ella (57)
This is not limited to one sphere of politics.

Spin, weasel words and lies - how politicians keep attempting to break promises

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/spin-weasel-words-and-lies--how-politicians-keep-attempting-to-break-promises-20140516-38e8w.html#ixzz31qvQyYJP


"Wresting a straight answer from a politician to the most direct of questions can be like wringing water from a wash cloth – something will inevitably come out but the contents extracted will likely be murky, rather unpleasant to swallow and smell more than a little off."

"The last, and most sacred, rule of weasel words: if all else fails, blame the previous government.
The problem, with weasel words is that they, no matter how many pour forth with gusto, at speed and volume, can never camouflage the plain fact that politicians will promise just about anything in circumstances that offer a shot at power.
Inconvenient truths have a way with catching up with us all."
 

Runner

Nev Cottrell (35)
Horse shit. We will have to wait and see if he will deliver in action, but that was a bloody good speech and I hope a line in the sand moment for the ALP.

Nice speech for a coach to make to a team to fire up before a game. But as opposition all we get is we was right and all we did was fantastic so lets get us back in quickly.
If ALP don't have the benches in parliament then its "paramilitary wings" begin to take to the streets as unionists and students have done to suggest mass chaos. Nixon did this to Barry Gold water in the USA in the 1960's
 

Gnostic

Mark Ella (57)
RIP Gough Whitlam. Like it or not he changed this nation.

I always thought he was a visionary and of a calibre that we just don't get in office anymore.

On the negative side he was a crap administrator and let his party and cabinet run riot and that led to the dismissal. The parallels with Gillard/Rudd are stark with some great ideas coming out but just so much crappy execution.
 

wilful

Larry Dwyer (12)
Ahem. In 1076 days, the Whitlam Government:-
1. ended Conscription
2. withdrew Australian troops from Vietnam,
3. implemented Equal Pay for Women,
4. launched an Inquiry into Education and the Funding of Government and Non-government Schools on a Needs Basis,
5. established a separate ministry responsible for Aboriginal Affairs,
6. established the single Department of Defence,
7. withdrew support for apartheid–South Africa,
8. granted independence to Papua New Guinea,
9. abolished Tertiary Education Fees,
10. established the Tertiary Education Assistance Scheme (TEAS),
11. increased pensions,
12. established Medibank (Medicare today),
13. established controls on Foreign Ownership of Australian resources,
14. passed the Family Law Act establishing No-Fault Divorce,
15. passed a series of laws banning Racial and Sexual Discrimination,
16. extended Maternity Leave and Benefits for Single Mothers,
17. introduced One-Vote-One-Value to democratise the electoral system,
18. implemented wide-ranging reforms of the ALP's organisation,
19. initiated Australia's first Federal Legislation on Human Rights, the Environment and Heritage,
20. established the Legal Aid Office,
21. established the National Film and Television School,
22. launched construction of National Gallery of Australia,
23. established the Australian Development Assistance Agency,
24. reopened the Australian Embassy in Peking after 24 years,
25. established the Prices Justification Tribunal,
26. revalued the Australian Dollar,
27. cut tariffs across the board,
28. established the Trade Practices Commission,
29. established the Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service,
30. established the Law Reform Commission,
31. established the Australian Film Commission,
32. established the Australia Council,
33. established the Australian Heritage Commission,
34. established the Consumer Affairs Commission,
35. established the Technical and Further Education Commission,
36. implemented a national employment and training program,
37. created Telecom and Australia Post to replace the Postmaster-General's Department,
38. devised the Order of Australia Honours System to replace the British Honours system,
39. abolished appeals to the Privy Council,
40. changed the National Anthem to 'Advance Australia Fair' (confirmed at 1977 Referendum),
41. instituted Aboriginal Land Rights, and
42. sewered most of Sydney Melbourne.
 

wilful

Larry Dwyer (12)
So, crappy execution, I think not. Lets not forget that in this time he had an incredibly hostile public service (conservative old farts didn't want upstart lefties changing things) and a hostile Senate.
 
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