Climate Change, page-1032

On the matter of dumb government policy that ends up adversely, I note that the Queensland state budget just announced included $3.0bn for electricity bill relief for households and small business.

That's $3.0bn that could have been spent on building new schools, hospitals or training nurses and police personnel.

And in NSW the state government is handing over $500m over two years to keep Eraring coal power station open so that the lights stay on in the state (and I'll wager London-to-a-brick that Eraring's life will have to be extended even further).

So here we have two Australian states, which are geologically endowed with more energy resources per capita than just about anywhere else on the planet (except the Middle East), having to spend taxpayer money to subsidise power costs.

If, a decade or more ago, someone stood up and predicted that one of the consequences of policies, that deter/prevent the investment in coal and gas fired power generation, would be government subsidies being required to soften the blow of soaring power bills, the rabid worshippers at the Altar of Green would have shouted down any such view (actually, not would have, they indeed did.)

Well, here we are today and government subsidies are being required to soften the blow of soaring power bills.

One would have to be looking through a truly biased lens to think that reflects anything other than inordinately bad energy policy.

I wonder how many acolytes of the renewable energy movement will be contacting their MPs informing them that they choose to not receive their power bill rebates, but that the money should instead be deployed to the rolling out of even more renewables.

I'm guessing not too many.

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