It was so weak that it failed to signal investment opportunities in new clean-tech industries that would create thousands of green collar jobs.
Jobs like the ones that have been put on ice at renewable energy company Solar Systems, whose administrators, PricewaterhouseCoopers, yesterday held a creditors' meeting and will next week announce the company's fate.
The company planned to build a concentrated solar photovoltaic power plant near Mildura, capable of feeding electricity to 45,000 homes.
But it faltered after one of its backers, coal-fired electricity company TRUenergy, had its $53 million investment written down by its Chinese parent CLP Holdings.
TV weatherman turned eco-warrior Rob Gell said yesterday it was "pathetic" that governments were not intervening to save a solar company that should be a testament to our nation's clever embrace of cutting-edge technology rather than a tombstone in Victoria's renewable energy cemetery.
Ever scathing about Australian governments' inability to create clean-tech markets with effective policies, Gell was this evening due to speak at a public meeting in support of intervention to save the Solar Systems jobs.
Also addressing the Fitzroy Town Hall event will be renewable energy expert Mark Ogge, from Beyond Zero Emissions, and Clive Hamilton, author of Scorcher and the Greens candidate at the Higgins by-election on Saturday.
It may come to pass that the weekend vote to fill Peter Costello's old seat will help to refocus the government's attention on real climate change action in a way that it hasn't been able
