South Australia 15th March 2014 State Election is the opportunity to change direction and achieve a prosperous future

SA must have plans to achieve LOWER prices for electricity, water, gas and hydrocarbon fuels if it is to have a viable and prosperous future. Are the SA Liberals capable of doing this? (Oz Liberals not US). I am not sure, which is why I write this blog to nudge them in the right direction.

For a decade or more the State has suffered from the application of the renewable energy nonsense of former Premier Mike Rann. South Australia unfortunately is now leading the country in renewable energy (wind and solar), also promoted by the Greens, which is why the State, like Tasmania, is economically stuffed and cost of electricity is so high (31 cents per kWhr in Adelaide). This political direction of demonizing carbon and imposing legislation limiting "greenhouse gas emissions" promoted by Labor and Greens must STOP and be replaced by a scientifically sensible ENERGY POLICY, devised without Green bunkum. (Ditto water policies)

The Federal change of repealing the Carbon Tax and Mining Tax later this year will be a welcome great step forwards. State wise it is essential to STOP giving permits for construction of wind farms which are just a SCAM. Liberals take notice: NO MORE WIND FARMS PERIOD. Also, subsidies to existing wind farms must be phased out over 5 years and plans made for their demolition, removal, and landscape restored to its former attractiveness.

Plans for subsidizing any large scale solar plants (eg Port Pirie) should be scrapped as being expensive and un-necessary. Existing coal-fired plants can be expanded and modernized with expansion and development of the States coal resources. The possibility of importing coal from the Eastern States needs to be studied. This is just the beginning ... watch this space. Cheers Allano

Nature takes no notice of the "ship of fools" trapped in the sea ice of Antarctica

A week has gone by and the ship of fools carrying warmist scientists and their followers are still trapped in the sea ice of Antarctica. The 1.5 million dollar expedition was to commemorate the "Spirit of Mawson" the Australian explorer to the region 100 years ago. The scientific data gathered was to compare the changes over 100 years and show how the ice of Antarctica is melting away due to global warming!

The sad thing is their ship is trapped in the sea ice and the weather is so bad that attempts at rescue have failed. I predict that eventually they will all be rescued by helicopter and the ship be abandoned, to eventually sink, as did happen with a similar cruise in 2007, with MV Explorar to commemorate the "Spirit of Shackleton".

The moral to the story is it is best to give Professors of Climate Change (Leader of expedition) a wide berth and believe the opposite of what they say, which on average will be nearer the truth of the matter.

In Australia we have many academics of warmist belief who have advised mainly Labor Governments with dud predictions on climate change which have cost us billions in unnecessary expenses, of un-need desalination plants instead of more dams, of countless useless wind farms instead of further developing our extensive coal resources to fuel power stations.

Yesterday's Australian newspaper records that Prof Tim Flannery, a notoriously dud climate change campaigner, says "the Coalition Government is not serious about taking action on climate change and the need to take steps to reduce carbon pollution." He is quite right of course. Also he uses the crap jargon of the warmist and is the cause of State and Federal Governments wasting billions of tax payer's money on dud infrastructure.

Happy New Year to all from Allano

Electricity from COAL is cheapest and best for Australia

The Energy Supply Association of Australia needs to submit their findings through a BF (bullshit filter) and you would find NOTHING coming out the other side. Why don't they admit to the public having to paid costly electricity bills, at 31 cents kWh, that they got it wrong and so too have the pollies, including John Howard, by promoting the Renewable Energy Target Scheme.

The RET legislation, that requires by 2020 our electricity be 20% supplied from renewable sources, is crazy. In Australia, hydroelectric schemes are barely possible (because of the Greens), solar and wind power are excessively expensive and should NOT be subsidized by the State Governments, if we want cheaper power. Promotion of useless wind farms must be STOPPED. If we must have a Power Target let it be 15 cents per kWh by 2020, then we WOULD have a flight of the warmists rabbits from positions of influence.

We don't need to subsidize or promote renewable energy just now when we have plentiful supplies of coal and gas to fuel power stations for the national grid. Maybe by the year 2100 renewable energy may start to be attractive in Australia, but until then let's make the most of our competitive advantage in world trade by having cheap coal-based electricity. CO2 is NOT a pollutant and CO2 emissions should be cherished by mankind and the biosphere. No more pollie bullshit allowed from 2014 onwards. Merry Xmas from Allano

3 CHEERS FOR A PROSPEROUS SOUTH AUSTRALIA

A prosperous future for South Australia lies in getting energy (electricity) costs down preferably by HALF what it is today i.e. down to 15 cents per kWh from the present 31 cents which has come about mainly by the Labor Government subsidizing wind farms and solar panels. Promoting wind and solar is a very expensive way of getting a dribble of "green electricity" often when you don't need it, and this must be stopped if we want a prosperous future.

We must preserve and modernize our existing coal-fired power plants at Port Augusta and expand production and development of our coal resources beyond the Leigh Creek operation. Shipping coal in from NSW or Queensland could be considered as a possible option.

A new Coalition Government for SA in March must stop the present Labor's idiotic unbridled promotion of expensive renewable energy projects. I hear that a $40 million grant is being considered for a FEASIBILITY study of a thermal solar plant for Port Augusta! It is high time these Green cowboys were given their marching orders out of our state so that a sensible energy policy can be followed exploiting our extensive coal and gas resources for electricity generation. Merry Xmas from Allano

Coalition's Paid Parental Leave Scheme is unaffordable & unnecessary

The Coalition's proposed Paid Parental Leave Scheme is unfair to those mothers not in the well-paid work force. Labor's parental leave scheme at 18 weeks on the minimum wage PLUS whatever the employer provides is adequate attendance to this problem, in view of the present parlous state of the economy.

The idea that the Coalition's scheme is fully funded is semantic bunkum. The proposal is to charge a levy (= tax increase) of 1.5% on profits of companies that have more than $5 million taxable income! They say this will be offset by the Coalition's proposed 1.5 % company tax cut. What a load of semantic BS! First priority of Government must be to hold or cut expenditures AND devise NO MORE NEW taxes, and get rid of the existing CARBON and MINING taxes. Working within these restrictions the Federal Government may have a chance of turning the economy around from the disaster its heading for. Saying that productivity will be increased is just pie-in-the sky dreaming typical of trade unions.

The large companies subject to the proposed levy are quite capable (and do) devise their own parental leave scheme tailored to their circumstances. There is no need for the Government to interfere in this matter, extending the nanny state into unknown and expensive territory.

Green electricity is TOO COSTLY for Africa (and Australia)

In today's "The Australian" newspaper there is an interesting article by environmentalist Bjorn Lomborg about the huge extra cost of providing electricity from wind farms and solar plants, compared to conventional power stations using coal. In South Africa coal powers 90% of electricity at a cost to the consumer of US 9 cents per kWh. It is easy and cheap to cut coal (particulate) pollution by 90% or more with scrubbers. CO2 emissions are considered to be beneficial to humanity and the biosphere.

However, in some other African countries, using a mix of hydro, gas and oil, in the grid/population centers in Ethiopia, Ghana, and Kenya the cost will likely be 25 cents per kWh. Lomborg concludes that for the forseeable future, electricity will be generated by burning fossil fuels.

Hydroelectric power stations are by far the best source of renewable energy and for some lucky mountainous countries hydro is the main power source eg New Zealand, Norway etc. However, South Australia where I live has no hydroelectric power stations, and has been UNfortunate to experience a decade of Labor Governments hell bent on making the State the leader of renewable energy in Australia. True, we have the most wind farms of any state (26 or more) and also the highest domestic cost of electricity at 31 cents per kWh because of this stupid eco-religious goal. The state elections are due in 3 month's time (March). Let's toss out this inept Labor Government of Premier Jay Weatherill and replace it with a Liberal Government that will STOP the wind farms and aid in development of our coal, gas and uranium resources for domestic power production. Merry Xmas from Allano

EPA leads USA and Australia to low economic outcomes

US commentator, Alan Caruba says today in his blog "Facts not Fantasy"... "Cleaning the nation’s air and water is a public health activity, but denying Americans access to the nation’s vast reservoirs of coal, oil, and natural gas is an attack on the nation’s economic growth and a denial of the energy it requires to recover from the 2008 financial crisis, providing jobs and keeping energy costs under control.
Environmentalism is based on lies and the lies reflect an agenda that regards humanity as the enemy of the Earth".

We see the same thing happening in Australia and especially South Australia which has suffered from 9 years of Labor Government mismanagement caused by dreamily following Greeny environmental ideas without question. We now have at a cost of $2 billion an unneeded desalination plant which exists on standby, run by Green power from wind mills, according to the Greens. About 25 wind farms (at least) despoil our countryside providing a dribble of power mostly when we don't need it. The domestic price for electricity is 31 cents per kWh which is the highest of all states of the nation. All wind farms require a 100% backup from gas-fired power plants so why allow them to be built in the first place?

South Australia has extensive gas and coal resources and the world's largest uranium mine all of which are ignored by Labor and Greenies in Government as as an energy source to be promoted for development. No, we must be content with very expensive electricity from wind mills and pie-in-the-sky solar-plants. Pox on Premier Jay Weatherill and his useless Labor Government. Roll on the SA State elections in March 2014. Get ready to boot Labor out of office.
Merry Xmas from Allano