Our PM’s rapid descent is described as due to the failure of the carbon trading scheme tonight on the 7.30 Report. To make it so much more pointed, on top of that, there’s the suggestion that Rudd is driven by anger, and that his latest attack on the Mining Industry (with the massive new tax scheme) is about beating the same forces that succeeded over him on the Emissions Trading Scheme.
Author and journalist David Marr spoke with the 7.30 Report‘s Kerry O’Brien about the psychological make-up of the Prime Minister and his collapse in public approval.
Apparently it all boils down to the carbon trading scheme that failed.
The point he started to unravel was not the Global Financial Crisis, an ongoing war, or the weak outcome of his feted hospital plan, it was about the carbon scheme:
DAVID MARR: Copenhagen means an enormous amount to Rudd. It is of course – the debacle of Copenhagen is the moment at which public affection for Rudd began to fray. Until that time he had been the most-loved political leader for the longest time we’ve ever had in this country. But Copenhagen was a debacle. But it was a debacle that he threw himself into rescuing. Absolutely. He slept for one hour in a 40-hour stretch and his foul language and his disappointment that he was expressing to a group of people in Copenhagen was the result of immense frustration in that time. But he tried his darnedest, and so much failed for him at that point. ‘Cause this is the man who believes he understands China, this is the man who believes in international diplomacy, this is the man who set himself the moral task of addressing global warming and it all collapsed. And at that point, with a new Leader of the Opposition, things began to unravel very seriously for this man.
And what about the mining tax? The new super tax that has caused the stock value of miners based on Australian soil to fall on average nearly 10% in a month. Could it be a payback for the carbon scheme that failed?
I signed off on the essay as the [mining tax] fight began – there’s a little bit about it in there. But this is, I think, a very self-conscious demonstration on Rudd’s part that the forces that in a sense beat him on ETS are not gonna beat him this time. It’s the assertion – it’s a very angry assertion, I think. The angry assertion of a man who wants to demonstrate that he is unassailably running this country.
Could Rudd really hate the climate sceptics so much he wants to hurt those who he thought backed them? It seems too petty for a Prime Minister. Surely not? But read Rudd’s words again from November. This is not a statesman:
… these donothing climate change skeptics are prepared to destroy our children’s future.
Climate change deniers are small in number, but they are too dangerous to be ignored. They are well resourced….
…if they succeed, then it is all of us who will suffer. Our children. And our grandchildren.
[Climate change skeptics] are reckless gamblers who are betting all our futures on their arrogant assumption that their intuitions should triumph over the evidence. The logic of these skeptics belongs in a casino.
Hated, and Despised. Those who would destroy the future of our children. Perhaps he really could believe the country might be better off without the miners and billionaire backers. (It was no secret some of the backers of the Monckton Tour were from the industry).
How arrogant and dismissive can you get?
Today The Australian reported that:
[After] informal drinks in the Prime Minister’s office … the handful of very senior mining executives invited had only come away more depressed at Rudd’s attitude towards their concerns and their industry.
Over the brief gathering in his office, the Prime Minister repeatedly told his astonished guests that his own global experience and knowledge made him the best person to be leader, well placed to understand the industry and to manage the pressures.
Those attending the drinks, organised at the last minute, are hardly unused to global pressures themselves. As well as Smith, they included BHP Billiton chief executive Marius Kloppers, Rio Tinto’s Australian managing director, David Peever, Minerals and Metals Group boss Andrew Michelmore, AngloGold Ashanti chief executive Mark Cutifani and Xstrata Coal’s Peter Freyberg.
Can someone nudge the man and mention “humility”?
The error cascade
The descent into the nightmare of growing government control and irrationality is starkly illustrated. All this because Rudd and co. do not understand that the climate debate is all about the missing feedbacks (Rudd: What? What are “feedbacks?”). They did not take the time to find out, and did not hold a Royal Commission or even a public examination of the AGW theory before embarking on turning the economy inside out to reduce carbon emissions. Did Rudd even read one skeptical book before committing the country to the largest economic change for a decade. One article?
Even a simple request for evidence and an understanding of what evidence was would have allowed Rudd and co. to see through the AGW theory and realize it did not hold up. You don’t need a science degree to see the hot-spot graphs are ever so slightly (completely) different. But no man is as blind as an ideologue. The postmodern crowd believe that truth is relative, not objective (requesting permission to lie and propagandize outrageously sir!). Too bad. Even a modicum of understanding about truth and how it is arrived at would have saved Rudd from this debacle.
For the sake of a nail…a kingdom does fall. For the sake of being unaware of the powerful role of climate feedbacks in computer models, a Prime Minister will fall.
what’s that saying “the faults one sees in others….”
David Marr has already shown his passion for global warming in his childish reaction to Andrew Bolt on the Insiders program. It’s a typical attitude of all the lefty journalists, they can’t get past blaming the ETS and admit to the plethora of more serious failures of Rudd and his Government.
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I’ve just added the paragraph and quote under the heading: How arrogant and dismissive can you get? Rudd’s comments – stated directly to the CEO’s of some of the largest Australian companies there are – really takes the cake.
Janama – given that David Marr is a leftie, it’s rather significant that he and former labor staffer-O’Brien were openly discussing Rudd failures and weak points on primetime ABC. How many days does PM Rudd have left?
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probably as many days as Deputy Julia is inclined to give him.
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Do not be afraid. Do not be depressed. Be angry- cold, calculated and effective in putting an end to this popular delusion and madness based on catastrophic climate alarmism.
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I believe that we should all hope that Krudd clings to his position all the way up to the next election. This should ensure that we can get rid of these incompetents before they ruin the country.
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Just found these anti mining super profit tax radio commericals.
Have a listen, they are really good and to the point!
http://www.amec.org.au/index.php?id=128
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Kev’s trying hard to maintain that pose of leadership, but the mask is slipping.
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So I wake up this morning right, and there’s yet another example of a prime minister who is unhinged. Apparently this is Mr Rudds idea of diplomacy and negotiation.
It’s obvious to me that Mr Rudds government spent up big time on the insulation scheme, and other rorts on the premise the ETS would end up paying for it. The only problem was the ETS was a croc, so now they want to plug the financial hole (and have some more money to bribe some votes) by targeting the mining sector.
I think the rest of the worlds governments must be looking at our current government with contempt – great one guys, we really need this crap right now.
I most sincerely hope this unhinged individual and his mob of cronies is removed from power at the next election before they’re able to commit even more Economic Vandalsim. Personally, I have concluded that this current government hates the middle class people of australia and resents businesses that aren’t related to the public sector..
Caveat: I have no investments in Mining or anything related to mining. I do not work for any oil companies or mining companies. I recieve no funding from said institutions. I am merely a taxpayer who has had enough of seeing my taxes burnt up on schemes based on nothing more than petty politics and idiotic ideology.
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Yes, it’s always is such way with all ideology driven systems and their Führers and Duces, if the ideology is in contradiction to the reality then the worse for the reality.
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Janama @1, 3:
Yeah David Marr’s a person I wouldn’t want to get offside- previous diatribes against the coalition, John Howard, etc. Did you notice at 8.30 we had good old Aunty trot out 4 Corners with a pretty one sided look at the campaign vs the super tax. Don’t get your hopes up- when they get rid of Rudd they’ll push for the ETS again.
Ken
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When more and more of those inside his own party start attacking him you know the end of K Rudd is nigh. However it is the whole AGW scam that must be buried and all its lies and controls with it. Apparently Swan and a number of Labor Party ministers are climate skeptics – anyone know more on this ?
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It is difficult to deal with psychopaths isn’t it? They have no empathy and don’t care who they hurt in getting their own way. It appears that our PM is one.
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Nothing much to do with Rudd – ALP policy is to nationalise the mining industry, by however what means, and to implement their sociali policies – socialism.
Focussing on one of the hydra heads is simply wasting time. If Gillard gets up, nothing will change except the manner in which we are nationalised.
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Rudd claims skeptics use intuition over evidence; that must be the greatest ironic statement of our time.
The alarm is based around models, and interpretation of natural change as being something on which man is having a significant influence. You can’t get much more intuition over evidence than that.
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SUBJECT: MORE EXAMPLES OF GREEN COMMUNISM BASED ON THE TROJAN HORSE FRAUD OF GLOBAL WARMING
WHAT PLANET DO THESE LUNATICS LIVE ON!!!
THE DESPOT UNITED NATIONS SHOULD BE DISBANDED!!
AUSTRALIA SHOULD NOT CONTRIBUTE ONE MORE CENT TO THESE COMMUNISTS!
——————————————————————————————-
UN urges global move to meat and dairy-free diet:-
Lesser consumption of animal products is necessary to save the world from the worst impacts of climate change, UN report says
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/02/un-report-meat-free-diet
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the media continues to push the idea that rudd’s unpopularity is due to his backdown on the ETS.
how is that possible when the opposition’s popularity SOARED once malcolm “ETS” turnbull was overhtrown and the ETS was dropped?
couldn’t watch “four corners” last nite, as it began with stephen mayne’s “They’re making an absolute fortune. Three of the top ten rich listers are iron ore richies who’ve clipped the ticket on exports to China. They’re not paying enough tax”. stephen mayne? give me a break.
i have never voted for the liberals in my life, and i have criticised abbott for refusing to address climategate since he became the party’s leader, given that he won the job because the public didn’t want the ETS. however, i’m tired of the media manipulating the facts and constantly repeating that rudd’s unpopularity is due to his failure to commodify carbon at the expense of the public.
if the govt wants to reduce the deficit, drop the absurd taxpayer-funded natl broadband network which will be outdated by the time it is completed.
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If the gillard idiot replaced the krudd idiot I’m sure labor would get a kick in the polls.
Then we would have a far left numbskull running Australia who would hold all the Victorian hard left prejudices towards Aussies who show some productive useful capacity to build businesses, employ people, pay their taxes and look after themselves.
But don’t expect the majority of Aussies to take the time to understand any of the above, afterall the latest hair colour/ style or her lastest slack suit will be the order of the day to side track the good old apathetic electorate.
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It would seem that history’s lessons have become a little remote.
The ALP/AWU icon, Ted Theodore, championed state owned mining interests.
It is an amusing exercise to review how the likes of Ross Fitzgerald sung his praises & compare that to the work of K H Kennedy’s history of “the Mungana Affair”.
Media tailored presentation of policy is a bit like the mudguard on a restored car :- all nice, shiny & polished on the outside covering hiding all the bog, rust & mud.
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With any luck, all of Rudd’s failures will domino into a screaming heap and the entire fiasco – carbon taxing, the far left, IPCC, the UN and Greenpeace included – will be abandoned and serve as a permanent reminder never to visit mankind’s embarrassing AGW issue ever again.
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Subject: NOW THE FANATICAL LEFTIST LABOR GREENIES WANT TO SWITCH OFF YOUR HOME APPLIANCES!!!
Is this the United Socialist States Of Australia????
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/energy-smart/smart-energy-trial-will-unplug-homes-via-web-20100607-xque.html?skin=text-only
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Rudd and Gillard Lie to our Children!
http://agmates.ning.com/group/climatscepticsparty/forum/topics/rudd-and-gillard-lie-to-our?commentId=3535428%3AComment%3A78276&groupId=3535428%3AGroup%3A4207
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Dont forget Aniie they will also be able to disable your car at the traffic lights as well
http://www.dailytech.com/IBM+Patent+Application+Describes+Intelligent+Stop+Lights+That+Turn+Off+Cars/article18514.htm
THis is climate communism at its best and totalitarian control
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It really makes you wonder why Swan and Rudd are coming to Perth to try and broker a deal:
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/newshome/7360731/rudd-swan-back-to-sell-tax/
They know about as much about the workings of the super tax as they do about feedbacks in climate science. The level of honest brokering with the industry has been appalling and it won’t get better. Rudd’s arrogance means that it is his way or the highway… problem is that he has run out of friends. The shiny new PM sheen is worn away and the abusive gnome that lies beneath is evident to all.
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Personally, I think the simplest explanation is that the Rudd government was a cot-case, and the ETS was only one of many very poor policies.
It’s time for regime change, and I don’t mind getting a new PM who speaks honestly and thinks clearly – e.g. Tony Abbott.
Cheers,
Speedy
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I’m in NZ so I might not be totally up with the play in Australia but from what I’ve seen from the polls while Rudd is taking a kicking , Abbott and co. still have a long way to go and infact the Greens are picking up alot of disaffected Labour voters. Am I right on this ?
If I am right given the huge political errors that Rudd is making and the relative positions of the polls hasn’t Abbot got a huge job in front of him — ie. normally if a party is performing like Labour is with a gaff prone leader you would exp[ect the opposition to “running away with it”. ( NB. I’d like to see Abbot clean them out both for Aussie’s sake and I think it would have positive spinoffs for NZ policy making. )
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Annie @ 20
I read your link and all i saw in it was the gov now or will have the power to turn off your electrickery when they want. Is this the beginnings of electricity rationing? Is this the way we are going to reduce our GHG emissions simply by using less?
Of course we will have electric cars that dont have the capacity to travel from Newcastle to Sydney non stop.
This all seems like a dream…no nightmare, i hope i wake up soon.
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Annie again @ 15
Lets take the Vegan story to its logical conclusion, as the world switches over to a vegan lifestyle all the land previously used for cattle will be replanted with natural bush land to increase our “carbon sink”.
Veggie growers under pressure to produce 1000 times more food than normal will sruggle to keep up production due to variability in weather and unable to use pesticides which will most likely be banned by some tree hugging group will turn to growing food in massive green houses. In an effort to maintain production farmers will inject copious amounts of CO2 into their green houses to stimulate plant growth.
The saying “the enemy of thy enemy is thy friend” comes to mind.
The nightmare continues……………
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Ross @ 25
this article puts it all in a realistic perspective.
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/polls-hype-and-a-dose-of-reality-20100607-xqrc.html
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For those that feel strongly about the tax, they can always “welcome” Rudd at the Hyatt Hotel tomorrow (9 June 2010) at 11:30am. That’s on 99 Adelaide Terrace, East Perth.
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Joanne: “Even a modicum of understanding about truth and how it is arrived at would have saved Rudd from this debacle.” Not sure I agree. My own view is that Rudd came to power with no convictions, beyond a firm belief in the power of the focus group. I suspect his enthusiasm for “climate control” was owed solely to his observation that it, along with a grab-bag of other fashionable concerns, looked certain to redound to his electoral credit, rather than to any personal concern for “the planet”. I do, however, give him credit for “a modicum of understanding about truth and how it is arrived at”, since this is essential to anyone wishing to succeed through deceit. I believe Rudd, unlike the true AGW believers in his party, DID read the CRU emails, and saw the trashing of the scientific method for what it was. I suspect he drew the adverse inference as to the AGW case. All of a sudden, Penny Wong was morphing, before his eyes, into his very own Godwin Gretch. He was far too far down the line with the Copenhagen thing to do other than give it his best shot (which in Rudd’s case means going at it like a terrier, and taking every opportunity to do “conviction-driven leader” impressions for the media), in the hope that by the time Climategate reached the destination it appeared to be heading for, he would be in such numerous company that he would escape personal blame for buying his country a trillion dollar hair shirt in the name of 21st century druidism (I think that might be a bit harsh on the Druids, but you get my drift).
At the time of Tony Abbot’s ascent I wrote, in response to Bulldust :
“Bulldust – I concur – don’t any of us feel too sorry for Rudd – he might be a pratt, but he can read the tealeaves a lot better than the MSM commentariat. He has just been taken neatly off one hook, but unless he too does the unthinkable and does a statesman-like “no responsible leader could take the nation into a climate change scheme until the uncertainties arising from the CRU… etc etc” (in which case, odious little narcissist that he is, I’d have to tip my hat to him), he is still saddled with a fervently-held party policy which by February, say, will look absurd, and from which at some stage he will have to resile. And if you thought the last fortnight saw a party in disarray, wait till you see Labour when he does.”
Well, he has resiled, and I see no reason to change my view of how and why he did so.
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Annie@20
The things for turning off electricy have nothing at all to do with a Labor Govt. They were all started under the previous Lib govt.
You are seeing conspiracies under the bedsheets.
The idea of electricity control if to knock out things causing high demand (eg air conditioners) on days of extreme heat (yes, I know, when you need it most).
This has all come about because on extreme power consumption days, the power use is something like 2x normal. Its REALLY HARD to build and get people to PAY for an electricity system that has to cater for 2x normal capacity, on about 5 days per year.
Once upon a time when electricity providers were the state governments, this kind of thing was just planned for and handled. Tariffs covered the costs but did not have to make a profit (it was regarded as an essential service, after all). In South Australia, a LIBERAL government nationalised the electricity system because the private operators didn’t want to deliver. (That was Tom Playford).
Now that the economic weanies have sold the mantra of “private does it better and cheaper” we have profit motive everywhere, a buck needs to be made which did not before, and the cost of finance is higher.
At the same time, vertically integrated power producers are now split out into separate businesses and compete against each other or have layers and layers of regulation to prevent them imposing monopoly prices.
All this is supposed to be an improvement! It’s economic insanity.
But one of the consequences is that NOBODY wants to pay for improvements to generating capacity or distribution systems. So we have instead what is called “demand side management” – ie – turning your a/c off for 15 minutes on a stinking hot day.
Don’t even get me going on the new “smart” meters.
I’ve been in, around, part of, and alonside the electrical supply and electrical industries for a long time. Not everyone knows whats really going on. Its not a socialist conspiracy, it was put in place by the economic rationalists.
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first MSM to cover this as far as i know:
LA Times: The ties that bind. Remember Rahm Emanuel’s rent-free D.C. apartment? The owner: A BP adviser
Now, we learn the details of a connection of Rahm Emanuel, the Chicago mayoral wannabe, current Obama chief of staff, ex-representative, ex-Clinton money man and ex-Windy City political machine go-fer.
Shortly after Obama’s happy inaugural, eyebrows rose slightly upon word that, as a House member, Emanuel had lived the last five years rent-free in a D.C. apartment of Democratic colleague Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut and her husband, Stanley Greenberg…
Greenberg’s consulting firm was a prime architect of BP’s recent rebranding drive as a green petroleum company, down to green signs and the slogan “Beyond Petroleum.”
Greenberg’s company is also closely tied to a sister Democratic outfit — GCS, named for the last initials of Greenberg, James Carville, another Clinton advisor, and Bob Shrum, John Kerry’s 2004 campaign manager.
According to published reports, GCS received hundreds of thousands of dollars in political polling contracts in recent years from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Probably just a crazy coincidence. But you’ll never guess who was the chairman of that Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee dispensing those huge polling contracts to his kindly rent-free landlord.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2010/06/rahm-emanuel-bp-gul-oil-spill.html
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I was watching the 7:30 report last night, when I thought to myself “This guy has just described someone with bipolar disorder”
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I still maintain that my simple, off-the-cuff, solution to the tax debate is probably the most meritoriuos that I have seen so far…
It solves several issues:
1) Canberra receives more corporate tax from the miners, but only when they make profits. This is what Canberra was whining about… that they didn’t pay enough corporate tax. Reason? Because royalties were tax deductible.
2) It leaves state royalties alone.
3) It is frickin simple – simple is good when it comes to tax policy.
I guesstimate (this is very rough) that Canberra would receive an additional couple billion in corporate tax per year. Given that it would come from profit taxation it doesn’t have the negative impact that an ad valorem type charge does.
Heck if Tony Abbott ran with some compromise like this he would seal the next election win IMO.
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Here’s an Idea – instead of introducing more taxes, how about seriously looking at the expenditure of government instead? I mean seriously, bureaucracies feed off themselves and only get bigger – why is the first reaction to simply thump the earners again?
I know this is an oversimplification and O/T, but has anyone else wondered about how crazy it is that we tax people for earning and saving money, but we give people deductions for borrowing money? Why not just tax people as they spend the money instead?
Let’s face it, the wealthy can tend to work things so they don’t pay much tax (sometimes), it’s always the middle class that cop it.
Why not remove income tax significantly or entirely, go GST all the way. This way you get everyone regardless of how they earnt their money (provided you police it well enough) and then you could lay off most of the ATO.
Oh, that’s right, it would mean the career pollies and career bureaucrats who can never get any system right would have to go out and earn money for the country. Sorry, my mistake, we can’t have that can we?
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Kevin Rudd swears he’s the best man for the job…………….
I swear my difficult childhood did me no harm,
I swear I slept in a car when we were kicked off the farm.
I swear I’ve always been honest in all of my work,
I swear I didn’t have dinners with Brian Burke.
I swear I stay away from grog & strippers & whores,
I swear I didn’t see a thing when I got pissed at Scores.
I swear I’m fair-minded with factions and won’t cause a stink,
I swear I really “don’t care what you fu#@ers think”
I swear I’m tough and resilient, a real modern man,
I swear I didn’t need a hairdryer in Afghanistan.
I swear I’m as kind and considerate as you can guess,
I swear I didn’t yell abuse at that RAAF stewardess.
I swear I’ll present like a statesman on ‘Sunday Night’
I swear it’s a tough job, I swear it’s a “sh1t fight”.
I swear I’ll turn back the boats, makes laws more to my liking,
I swear I didn’t do a special deal with the Oceanic Viking.
I swear I’ll cop all the criticism that this job brings,
I swear at New Ltd executives for not printing nice things.
I swear it’s a challenging job, you must understand,
I swear it might look easy in “7.30 Report land”.
I swear my diplomacy skills would never cause a ruckus,
I swear those “Chinese fu%#ers are trying to Rat F*%k us”.
I swear I pay no attention to polls, even the last ones that sucked,
I swear that if you don’t vote for me, you can “go and get fu#@ed”!
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[…] • Funding Equivalent Hospital Beds – Sorry Kev, can’t sleep in those equivalent Beds – FAIL angry (Reply) Tue 08 Jun 10 (10:03am) And from Bill over at Joannenova.com.au; […]
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Ross@ 25,
It appears that way with the polls, but not unexpected as the media love Kevin Rudd (photo op) because he goes to church on Sundays, and hate Tony Abbott (mad monk) because he goes to church on Sundays.
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and they love Christina Keneally who also goes to church on Sundays because she’s hot!
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More WASTE OF TAXPAYERS MONEY!
Rudd & his cronies in the Labor Party must go!
Rudd Government spends $4.5m at Queensland schools on closure hit list :-
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/rudd-government-spends-45m-at-queensland-schools-on-closure-hit-list/story-e6freoof-1225876672070
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Janama@ 28 thanks for the link. It certainly clarifies things.
T Harley @ 37 & Janama @ 38 . I just hope Australia doesn’t end up with a situation like the UK where it looked like the Conservatives should romp in ( because Brown performed like Rudd is now ) but in the end it came down to alot of compromises. I know you have a different electoral system , but does that help.
NB. In the UK Cameron has come out saying that the books are worse than they all thought
( usual stuff for incoming party ) BUT that they are going to follow the Canadian example of how to reduce deficits — slash the public sector , for a start. Apparently the Canadians turned their economy around from similar circumstances in the mid 1990s. Maybe Abbott can take a few ideas from them both.
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Ross – our public sector has got out of control. There used to be a saying that senior public servants should be respected because they would earn much higher salaries in the private sector. I propose that is no longer true, in fact it’s become the reverse.
Senior bureaucrats are earning top salaries – Penny Wong’s department has around 69 people earning between 160 – 260K a year. Exactly what does a bank manager earn today??
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Rudd understands nothing about Capitalism and free enterprise…. and he doesn’t understand anything about Australians.
Once upon a time in Australia (shit, sounds like a fairy tale!), when a mining venture started out and was successful, a town sprung up around it. If a Fishing industry needed a port of call for unloading, supplies and repairs. A town sprung from the spot. If the land was good for growing food and transport could be had cheaply. A town sprung up…. People traveled to engage in a new life, a challenge, to participate, to be a part of a newness. To make money.
However, the State capital cities started stealing the royalties and pinching the revenue for themselves. The money goes to the urban areas and no towns spring up to build Northern Australia. Now we have the concept of middleclass welfare and no towns spring up… We take other peoples money and think there is an entitlement.
Now the Federal Government wants to muscle in on the States to get a piece of the resource action….
…. and the Australians that want to, can’t even pull up stumps, head north and carve a new life in a hard land…. They might have to dam a river, or build a road, or clear the land, or dig a hole… We now have the Political obscenity that the “environment” is more important than the enterprise of the Australian people. We now have Governments that no longer want Australians to build Australia.
Apparently, we don’t know what we’re doing….
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Ross@40.
Canada may have learnt how to avoid a crisis, by noticing what the Conservatives here in Australia did during the previous 10 years to the current administration, to turn around a similar debt laden crisis left by a leftist government. Abbott was part of that administration, so he is not new to fiscal responsibility. It may be cyclical, like Canada. The disaster of this government is the most blatant spending on useless projects like large cash payments, insulation for houses already insulated (I rent one), new buildings for schools marked for closure and solar subsidies for panels and so on. We still have a large global warming department, despite the scheme being deferred for 3 years.
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Codswallop!
Electricity generation is cheap. Check the stats on the AEMO website where all the wholesale prices are published. The current electricity DISTRIBUTION system makes money hand over fist for the New South Wales government, and they are anxious to sell off the generation side because there’s not enough profit in it. The reason that the distribution system makes money is that it runs as a monopoly and the markup is huge.
The simple problem is that building a new big plant could only sensibly be coal or nuclear but nuclear is outlawed at the federal level and coal would bring howling AGW believers down from the hills. So they build smallish gas turbines which are great for knocking off peak loads, but not efficient enough for large scale generation (like a new coal plant would be).
There is absolutely no commercial reason why we can’t have cheap abundant power in New South Wales. What is holding us back is 100% political, and the badly organised government want to tax the life out of the state instead of getting their act together and doing something useful.
Integral Energy made 142 million profit in the 2008-2009 financial year but returned a total of 167 million to the NSW government (because they pay tax as well). With nett assets of 911 million the return on the assets to the government is 18% which is nothing to complain about, and easily enough to fund further capital investment, should there be any interest.
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This could turn into a landslide yet as NOONE I see is defending Rudd. The media pack seemed to have turned on him finally now that the polls are firming against him. If Gillard has an eye for her own career she may let someone else pick up this fiasco and pounce some time in the next term? What a spanner in the electorate if we had 2 PM’s and 2 oppn leaders in one year. Voters are already reeling with the unfolding Rudd calamity, then throw in “Wildcard Gillard” and they will do a valve.
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Chairman Krudd ticks all the boxes for classic sociopathic/psychopatic behaviour with His “If You won`t drink the Kool-aid voluntarily ,I`ll make You drink it” attitude towards the mining companies and the Australian public as well .
1. GLIB and SUPERFICIAL CHARM
2. GRANDIOSE SELF-WORTH
3. CALLOUSNESS and LACK OF EMPATHY
4. PATHOLOGICAL LYING
5. CUNNING AND MANIPULATIVENESS
6. LACK OF REMORSE OR GUILT
7. SHALLOW AFFECT (a lack of feelings toward people in general; cold, contemptuous, inconsiderate, and tactless.)
8. PARASITIC LIFESTYLE
9. POOR BEHAVIORAL CONTROLS
Need I say more ?
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Rudd, and the rest of the politicians trying to cripple world economies could do worse than heed these words from William Happer to the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming U.S. House of Representatives.
http://globalwarming.house.gov/files/HRG/052010SciencePolicy/happer.pdf
However as stated by many here before Rudd is an egotist, which prevents him from changing his opinion, even when faced with new opposing evidence. And as for the Greens they as a group and as individuals will only go to their graves satisfied when we all live or more likely die in a new dark age.
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Occam’s razor. It’s about the money.
Rudd recklessly squandered Australia’s prosperity on the assumption that he would plunder the economy through the Emissions Trading Scam, unopposed because Turnbull would deliver the pathetic Liberal Party to be sacrificed at his altar.
Rudd’s reaction to the failure of Copenhagen had nothing to do with high humanitarian ideals and everything to do with exposure of the fraud, a bit like the dog eating the winning Tattslotto ticket.
Without the cash flow from ETS, Rudd now has to pillage whatever he can, and miners were merely the low-hanging fruit. They won’t be the last.
The ETS has not gone away. If Labor is returned at the next election it will be a ‘mandate’; a licence to ride roughshod over everything.
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We are a few years off the celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Australian Federal Government’s biggest broken promise: income tax would be a temporary thing, just needed to tide us over for a few years and hold the country together during the Great War.
Maybe get some of the folks together and drink some home brew beer (save on the excise). Drink to lies that were told to our grandparents and see how they shape up to the lies we are told today.
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Compounding things further for Rudd, could the greens get in a twist with their preferences? Turnbull is now their flagbearer and is odds on to have a crack at the leadership again some time, while Rudd has pissed on them big time. They absolutely hate him at the moment – but they love Malcolm. It was unthinkable a couple of months ago, maybe still, but they will absolutely resent helping Rudd get out of this and members will be making noise. Who do they punt on?
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Joanne…
You are beginning to sound shrill when you spread into politics; verging on the ad hom that you you say you hate so much. Well, don’t we all?
I don’t know if I’m the only person here who feels uncomfortable that way, but I think this site would be better just sticking with the hard science.
There are plenty other sites that take free kicks at KRudd and his ilk.
Just a slightly anxious thought.
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Mike Borgelt:
June 8th, 2010 at 7:51 am said
“It is difficult to deal with psychopaths isn’t it? They have no empathy and don’t care who they hurt in getting their own way. It appears that our PM is one.”
And in the UK our (thankfully Ex) PM Gordon Brown is another….
This story sounds SO familiar!
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LevelGaze @ 51:
1. One must deal with politics or the politics will deal with you. When two or more people are involved, politics will be at play. It cannot be avoided.
2. The climate scam was never about the science. It was always about the politics. In particular its about the idea held by the self appointed political elite that “all of those people out there who are doing things without permission must be stopped.” We who believe that we have a right to exist and function without permission rightly object. We must do it as loudly, as frequently, and as effectively as possible.
3. Your personal sensibilities on the matter are as irrelevant as the science is to the AGW alarmist’s cause. Its way past time to play nice-nice. Especially when their stated goal is the enslavement of the population of the earth to their programs and the consequent destruction of modern technological civilization. All because THEY are afraid of what they don’t know and can’t control.
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LevelGaze,
Have to agree with you. It seems the average blogger prefers to rant and rave about personal opinions rather than seek out the facts. Some facts to seek out:
What role at the molecular level does CO2 play in climate change?
What is the value to Australians of the non-renewable mineral resources?
Are the miners returning such value to Australians?
Focus on such questions would be useful. In reality most of preceding contributions simply indicate that Rudd is just one of many angry Australians.
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That certainly has the ring of truth! Unfortunately, when politics is in play (always) neat proofs aren’t usually possible.
This seems to be a common Human problem, especially among those who are strongly motivated to seek power (politicians) — holding on to (and increasing) their power becomes more important that anything else.
I have see the failure of several companies where the management, when forced to choose between losing some control in order to succeed has chosen to ride the company into bankruptcy while maintaining control.
People often don’t behave rationally when something they care very much about is at stake — and politicians care very much about power.
And power, as Mao Tse Tung and the Founding Philosophers of the USA all knew, is ultimately about naked force. Democracies provide a civilized sandbox in which to settle power contests, which suits the vast majority of the citizens very well indeed, and has worked better than anything else for the last 200 years. The citizenry, however, needs to keep a close watch on the political class, as they will try to use whatever force they think they can get away with.
This ongoing struggle often proceeds incrementally, by small, seemingly inconsequential steps, because that is that what the politicians think they can get away with. It is not, therefore, inappropriate to respond forcefully to transgressions. Ridicule is a potent weapon, as long as politicians have to run for election. If you wait until they don’t have to be elected and are immune to ridicule (or, can punish you for it, even) then your choices for resistance will be greatly constrained and mostly unpalatable.
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So, in my previous post, I was trying to say this with too many words:
Go for it Joanne! If politicians are stupid, call them out; make them look like fools; threaten their careers — right on! They will only respect your position if you can threaten their hold on power.
They don’t play nice, because they aren’t nice — as Lionell said, they are out to enslave you. The choice is: words now or enslavement (or revolution) later — let’s not waste the opportunity to use words effectively while we can.
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Kevin Rudd doesn’t need a mining industry to dig a hole for Australia.
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The truth as AGW demononstrates also counts for nought.
Two things would assist our democracy:
1) A legal requirement for politicians and journalists not to speak/publish provable lies. This would put an end to govt information campaigns.
2) Citizen initated referenda (as per Switzerland). Both sides of politics hate the idea, because it gives power to the electorate.
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If it is any consolation, industries get about the same treatment from the Obama government as Australia gets from the Rudd government.
The oil spill near the state of Louisiana here in the USA gave Obama another opportunity to demand “cap and trade” as a way to “eliminate dependence on oil” – as if punishing everybody was going to help repair the damage from oil spills.
The company owner of deep-sea oil well that caused the oil spill – BP – has agreed that the US needs to shift focus away from the oil spill and onto things like cap and trade (to the surprise of no one, since BP is sick of being berated for this accident).
Thank you for speaking up for industry Jo Anne, as we all know, any Nation’s wealth is tied what that nation PRODUCES. No production, no money, and as much as reds/greens/ or whatever they are fight industries, a free society can’t exist without an economy, and economies cannot exist without production.
[To hell with “wind” and “solar power.” These cost more than they produce in commodity energy and thus are not sustainable; these are wasteful investments actually]
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John Watt an LevelGaze — discussing the science is fine if that is what is done but when Mcintyre and co exposed the Hocket Stick on a science/stats based argument what did Mann and co do ? They got in the PR guys to setup Real Climate and play the ” control the debate” game. That’s playing politics , thats why the political realities have to be faced.
Most contibutors to this site have one thing above all in their mind — we don’t want to see billions ( maybe trillions ) of dollars wasted on a theory that will not achieve anything.
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RUDD BROKEN PROMISE – ‘Meat axe’ to public service – Federal Election 2007 News
http://www.smh.com.au/news/federal-election-2007-news/meat-axe-to-public-service/2007/11/21/1195321867004.html
Now, Australia has more bureaucrats than ever before!
Obviously, this was yet ANOTHER lie to CON Australians to vote for him!
Away with him & his cronies in the Labor Party!
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I don’t think Rudd cares what his countrymen think of him anymore; he’s acting like “the biggest Communist on the street” to prove that he is truly “UN leadership” quality material
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Ross,
Agreed. ETS/CPRS will cost a lot for little or no return. The tragedies and wastefulness of the insulation and school building programmes are deplorable.
However in a world of core and non-core promises,Rudd’s double speak and Abbott’s “don’t trust my lips just find my hard copy” the political system is not up to managing Australia in anything approaching an effective manner. Political debate is just so much hot air!
We have to resort to facts to manage our future. If only the effort that goes into sites like these could be harnessed into seeking those facts, step by slow laborious step, we might get somewhere. If we don’t trouble ourselves to find the facts we will eventually find ourselves controlled by those facts.
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Tel,
mine was a tale of electricity generation once upon a time.
Back in the 1980’s state governments realised they could extract dividends from their electricity utilities – thats when the rot set it. It was only a short step then to internal structural separation ready for flogging them off.
NSW has always been a slightly stranger case – its taken longer to get prepared for the flogging off, and the distribution network was for the most part owned by local councils rather than the state govt.
Generation is generally cheap (agreed), however the process of bidding in 1/2 hour blocks makes the prices paid highly variable. There is limited interconnection capacity so especially in South Australia where I am, on days of power shortage you can have as much as you like in NSW, its tough titties for us – we can’t get it. Once the interconnector is at capacity you can’t shove any more into it.
The moves for demand management are mostly coming from SA and VIC. Those states with the gratest capacity problems.
And yes, a big shiny new coal fired power plant is of course the way to go. With a build time of about 15 years typically. These days getting approvals takes about a decade.
Gas plants can be built and brought on line in about 18 months and are just fine for peaking use. As far as I’m aware there are actually not many base-load shortages, its the peaks that present the problems.
There are 2 ways to handle the peaks: supply more, or reduce the size of the peaks. Hence demand management.
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Our last egotistical dictator, with vast adulation from the true believers,also came unstuck at about year two and a half into his glorious reign. Blatant lies spin and corruption filtering out to the plebs in spite of the media control. Poor old Gough he can now die in peace as he no long holds title to the worst PM ever.
The infiltration of our news outlets by the true believers almost fooled the world about AGW and are trying hard to cover the ineptitude of our gang of four. Times have moved on and the unforseen power of real democracy at work, is the internet, has them some what flummoxed. Thus the start to try and control the internet. The internet does not do consensus, it inexorably reveals the truth, and, spin goes in ever decreasing circles up their own fundamental orifice.
Rudd has proved beyond doubt that he believes that he can control the tides, it would appear that the tide of history is about to prove him wrong.
Sooner rather than later some one is going to capture Rudd on video in full flight screaming at some one, one can only hope that it is posted and then becomes main stream, for all the world to see. The humble little iphone is the the new “pen mightier than the sword”
Thank you JO “the time has come the walrus said to speak of many things” Climate science and environmental stuff is now almost all politics. Please continue to seek sense and truth, obviously working or you would not be attacked in our dear leaders domain. Well done.
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I am perfectly happy to pay double the “highly variable” spot price for electricity as per the wholesale price in 1/2 hour blocks. That would be a comfortable markup in anyone’s books. I would come out way ahead. At times where the spot price was very high I might even consider reducing my consumption. At current outrageous markup (i.e. factor of 5 over the wholesale average, or there abouts) I’m tempted to increase consumption at times of high spot price, just to see some perverse value for money. The average householder is getting ripped off blind and all the money goes into the distribution monopolies, not the generators.
I already pay an additional fee on my electricity bill to cover “availability” which is per day, not per usage. This is supposed to pay for wiring and grid maintenance. God knows where this money goes.
By the way, looks like a cold winter coming, I suspect we will have a chance to see a few high price evenings. Around here, August is usually the real hurty month when it comes to cold but we are getting ice over everything in the morning already, and I’m close to sea level here. It just finished raining like a monsoon this Autumn.
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There are no problems in power generation, it is the man in the middle who pulls rent money out of the system as a whole who presents the problem.
Or just tax it less.
That’s where the majority of the money goes, into non-productive tax what will not generate any electricity whatsoever. If there was genuine competition then the man in the middle could not charge more than reasonable market rates for the service of electrical cabling. Since this middleman is government owned and a monopoly, it should be ruled not-for-profit, end of story. Then we would instantly see both cheap electricity and new generators being built.
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