Hi Qoka. Everyone I speak to must be missing the same thing...

Hi Qoka. Everyone I speak to must be missing the same thing then. No private enterprise runs a revenue neutral business. And underpinning the private sector with taxpayers money is dangerous. The tax system did underpin the power in Victoria , Bewport, Yallourn, Loy Yang, Hazelwood to name a few, up until the late 1980s but the SEC was STATE owned and tax payer funded. We, I worked in the SEC, kept budget neutral with electricity tariffs covering tax payer contributions because the priority was only keeping the grid stable and especially essential services. There was NEVER in my time talk of profits above what cost the taxpayer until it was to be privatised and extra money was raised to upgrade and make the assets look good to flog off. And private companies had no involvement until the 1980 when power stations, transmission, the Hazelwood mines were all broken up and privatised to different companies. Engie, AGL, LOY YANG was Japanese then American owned, then AGL. These change in private owners was due to loss in profits and there was no underpinning by taxpayers. Free enterprise. No Im not missing anything. Combining privatisation with tax payer underpinning is as costly as Sydney Tollways where the nsw government pays the Transburban if they dont get enough thoroughfare. The most expensive motorways in the world and everyone jamms onto Parramatta Rd. Thats digressing. The state government of Victoria , bad as they were, did want to recreate the SEC back to government hands and control renewable projects which would have been underpinned as in the old days by the taxpayer, but Daneil Andrews sent the state into debt oblivion and jumped ship. Nope. Combining privatisation with taxation funding is real dumb and no enterprise is going to invest to be profit neutral. They will pay taxes on profits, yes, maybe, and hit the taxpayer when profit forecasts are not met and reach neutrality let alone going into loss under Chris Bowens announcements. Shareholders, business , remember. Profits. This tax underpinning encourages the continuation of unviable private concerns where in a free market they should have liquidated and the assets remarketed at their true value. My goodness. That was long winded. Excuse the pun. Catchya Qoka.