Governments need plenty of these...
Because wasting taxpayers’ money and axing jobs is just fine, so long as we’re “saving the planet.” Of course, if we trace the logic back, green loan schemes such as this are theoretically needed to encourage people to invest in energy saving measures, which are necessary to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, which are the source of greenhouse gases, which are the cause of “dangerous global warming”… or so states the IPCC.
The Gillard government uncritically swallows everything the IPCC says, and shuts its eyes and ears to any dissenting views. It also blindly relies on various compromised government advisers, including ACM favourite Will Steffen, who has been in good form recently, mudslinging, spouting propaganda and smearing deniers. But why wouldn’t he? The entire careers of climate scientists the world over, including Steffen, is paved with gold from the AGW hysteria they themselves help to create, so even if they had any doubts, why would they dare reveal them in public and thereby help kill the golden goose?
But what does the government find? Tragically, it’s not the green utopia that Bob Brown and his cronies keep promising, but the unacceptable costs of spruiking a green agenda in the face of harsh economic reality.
So it’s little surprise that yet another “green” scheme collapses in a heap, following close on the heels of the home insulation (pink batts), solar rebates and Green Loans debacles, and all of it can be traced back to the spin and misrepresentations of the IPCC:
EIGHT months after the Federal Government axed its disastrous home insulation scheme, it announced yesterday it would also stop its “Green Start” program because there were too many “risks” involved.
The axing of the environmental scheme just days from Christmas means that, within weeks, thousands of people will be without work.
Labelled a “disaster” by the Federal Opposition, the Government’s original Green Loans program was yesterday slammed as a “disgrace and a sinful waste of money” by one NSW assessor.
The multi-million-dollar scheme was supposed to provide 360,000 households with energy-efficiency checks and access to interest-free loans of up to $10,000 for environmental improvements such as solar panels and insulation.
Following criticism of the administration of the scheme, the Government announced in July the Green Loans program would be replaced by a Green Start program, to be delivered in two rounds.
But Climate Change Minister Greg Combet yesterday announced the Government would dump Green Start, forcing nearly 10,000 accredited and uncontracted assessors – 4635 in NSW – to find alternative work. (source)
Who cares? It’s all well intentioned. What’s a few jobs and a few million dollars between friends compared to the future of the entire planet?
Australian Climate Madness 
I’ll bite.. what were the too many “risks”? I absolutely abhor half-baked news stories by so-called respected news outlets, and this is a classic example.
One could be forgiven for thinking that they didn’t bother to publish the “risks” because they were closely associated to the flimsy premise the whole AGW movement is based upon.
Don’t forget these little items:
– Qld water pipelines, billions of dollars spent on pipes that go nowhere and have been quietly shelved as more floodgates are opened on the dams and the Brisbane river starts to threaten residents with flooding. All from a river system that Flannery advised us would (most likely/could/probably/{insert disclaimer}) be dry within a few years.
– Qld desal plant – mothballed after never producing a usable drop of water. Just a couple of billion down the tubes.
– NSW Solar rebate scheme
– Federal Solar rebate scheme
..and on and on and on it goes and goes. Each little project isn’t enough to bankrupt a state or country, but in total the amount of mal-investment and wealth destruction will affect us all for years to come. And in the meantime, the coal carriers are doign brisk business as the developing world speeds up the provision of electricity for it’s consumers, negating all Australian efforts every couple of weeks.
One of the things a lot of journalists are failing to look at with regards to a carbon price/tax is if increases in electricity prices actually result in reduced electricity use. Because any carbon tax is likely to result in a lower price rise than has already been felt by most Australians in the last couple of years as the price of the green schemes starts to get paid by the consumers. My power bill is up at least 25% and usage hasn’t changed one bit.
So if putting up taxes on ‘carbon’ {dioxide} is supposed to save the planet by reducing electricity usage, we should have already done so by increasing the prices. But has the nationwide increase in prices led to a fall in usage? That could make for an interesting blog post. My bet is that it hasn’t. And the reason is simple – power in my house goes to running fridges, water heating, stoves, lighting and pumps. I can’t turn my fridge off for 25% of the time, nor my hot water system, and I can’t switch off 25% of my lights (and they’re all energy saving bulbs anyway). No amount of switching the TV off at the wall is going to make but a rounding error of difference to anyone’s bill, or the climate for that matter.
Granted, it might stop people running the air con with the windows still open, but anyone idiotic enough to do that isn’t likely to be convinced out of their idiocy by a mere tax line item on their bill.
I’ll bite too Dave N.
Great to have you back Simon.
The blogosphere was not the same without you!