Just When You Think Australia Cant Possibly Be More Stupid It Is

Residential solar energy, other renewables, climate change and government policy are all intertwined. Government policies determine how many systems go on roofs through subsidies and regulations.Governments that are concerned about climate change and the physical, economic and social damage it will do are more likely to have solar friendly policies. Unfortunately the current Australian Government is hostile to renewables. Tony Abbott, the Prime Minister said a few years ago "Climate change is crap".Since he took over running the country with his inappropriately named Liberal Party (actually more conservative than the American Tea Party) he has hammered climate change policies relentlessly.After almost 80 years there is no longer a Science Minister, but Australia has a brand new Sports Minister.Hundreds of scientists were sacked from Australia's world class science organization. Abbott tried to abolish the green bank which was set up to fund green business. (The green bank was actually making a profit). It's hard to imagine the convoluted thought processes going on in that brain.Anything remotely to do with renewables or climate change was abolished.Joe Hockey, Australia's treasurer says wind turbines are utterly offensive and a blight on the landscape.Then there's the Renewable Energy Target (RET) review. Abbott would like to abolish the RET entirely or at least cut it drastically. To make it look legitimate he appointed a review panel and stacked it with fossil fuel advocates and climate change deniers.If the RET is abolished home solar in Australia will jump in price by about a third, and there'll be no large scale solar or other renewable projects in the foreseeable future.And there's Maurice Newman, Abbotts chief business advisor who is a self proclaimed climate change denier. And he has just written an opinion piece for Australia's Murdoch owned newspaper "The Australian" saying (my paraphrasing)"Australia is ill prepared to deal with global cooling because the world has wasted so much effort on global warming!" The mind boggles.He's also called for the RET to be scrapped because he believes the science behind global warming and the economic case for renewable energy aren't valid.This isn't some scientific and economic illiterate down at the pub, this is the Prime Minister's chief business advisor.He'd rather listen to the fairies at the bottom of the garden than every credible scientific organization in the world, the IPCC, the International Monetary Fund, The World Bank, etc. He has enormous influence over the Prime Minister and Australia's policies. With an advisor of this caliber, a Neanderthal climate change denying Prime Minister and a cabinet that's just as bad it's no wonder Australia has sunk so far so fast since the federal election almost a year ago.It's a frightening thought that our kid's futures are in such hands. And there's still another two years before the next election.OMG!

Reference: energy-news-blog.blogspot.com