"It's the stupid country"
- 16/10/2007
"THEY must be counting their blessings, the workers at
CSG Solar AG in Thalheim, Germany. Demand for solar power
is booming and the people in the eastern state of
Sachsen-Anhalt are riding the wave of global change.
So successful is the company in developing and
manufacturing solar power technology, it recently
started to operate around the clock.
Many people in the East had a rough time after the
reunification of the two Germanys. The socialist economy
was in tatters and there were few prospects for decent,
well-paid work. Then, in June 2004, came CSG Solar, first
with only one employee. But soon demand for solar products
expanded, and so did the need for labour. Today CSG Solar
employs hundreds.
Great for Thalheim. Bad for Australia. These jobs could be
in Horsham or Goulburn. "Crystalline silicon on glass"
— solar technology is an Australian invention. It was
developed at the University of New South Wales. But Australia
lacked the determination and political will to effectively
commercialise the brilliant invention. In 2004 CSG Solar
purchased the rights. Aussie solar cells are now manufactured
where staff eat bockwurst during their lunch breaks, not
meat pies.
This is only one example of a phenomenon that surprises
even long-term observers of this country. Be it the lack
of superfast, cheap broadband everywhere, preventing new
entrepreneurs from running a global business from the
back of Bourke and breathing new life into struggling
communities, or the failure to teach foreign languages
in every school in the country, so future managers can
say more than "yam cha" when they are trying to set up
business in booming China, Australia seems willing to
give away even the most obvious opportunities.
For 10 years, some of the most senior Australian politicians
have called themselves "global warming sceptics". And they
are still proud Kyoto-bashers. So it comes as no surprise
that their sudden call to action fails to convince not
only many observers, but experts too.
A strong focus on so-called "clean coal" and the suggested
construction of nuclear power plants look more like
"greenwashing" the status quo. The solar power plant
planned for Victoria, the so-called "Solar Cities"
and the taxpayer-funded brochures asking us to switch
off the flat screen TV — they look suspiciously like
public relations exercises geared towards increasingly
alarmed voters. Such projects certainly are important,
but they are hardly the urgently needed kick-start to a
fundamentally new way of thinking in a society addicted
to plundering and wasting resources.
Meanwhile, Australian businesses wanting to grow by being
part of the solution rather than the problem continue to
be attracted by countries such as Germany and China.
According to new research, solar technology companies are
in the top league of Germany's businesses when measured
against a set of indicators such as equity ratio and return
on investment. Having to use cloudy Germany as an example
for the success of solar power policy is quite bizarre.
Practically overnight, a government incentive system has
created a new industry that is now top of the world.
Last year, approximately 10,000 German companies were
developing and manufacturing components for the photovoltaic
and thermal solar energy market, employing 54,000 people.
According to industry sources, this figure will climb to
up to 200,000 by 2020. Thirty-five per cent of production
goes into export markets; 70 per cent by 2020.
The Germans themselves are ferocious buyers of solar systems.
Why? Owners can sell excess power back to the grid. That's
how the average system is paid off within seven to eight years.
Yet in Australia it takes between 15 and 20 years. Despite
subsidies, the cost of solar power systems remains prohibitive.
"Why doesn't every house in Australia have to have solar
power on the roof?" a 14-year old girl from Switzerland
recently asked, uncomprehending. "It would make sense."
Of course. The failure of the world's sunniest country
to create irresistible economic stimuli for the renewable
energy industry in order to become the world leader
puzzles many observers. Not least because federal and
state governments rightly spend billions for the
development of other economic opportunities.
They certainly know that investment always flows in the
direction where it is welcomed. But some politicians
willingly allow hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs to
be exported. Is it due to the "comfortable, lazy security
of sitting on enough fossilised but dirty resources for
hundreds of years", as one correspondent colleague thinks? Is
it the iron grip traditional industries have on Australian
politics? Or is it short-term thinking, the wish to be
elected at the next election, at all costs?
Perhaps it is the triumph of ideology and ignorance over
reason and responsibility?
The decision to build a pulp mill in Tasmania's Tamar
Valley indicates that it is probably a mixture of all of
these elements. The damage the project and the continuing
logging of native forests will do to Tasmania's highly
valuable, sustainable environmental tourism, is an
opportunity lost for future generations. Tasmania's
reputation as a destination for business is already a
victim. For international journalists who visited the
island recently, it felt like being in a third world
country where major aspects of public life are corrupted
by an incestuous relationship between a merciless business
and a morally bankrupt political class.
Even if the mill is as clean as Malcolm Turnbull asserts,
why would European eco-tourists fly around the globe if
there is even only a perceived possibility that they will
swim in water containing dioxin, drink wine tainted with
chemicals and breath air polluted with toxins? They can
do that at home, much cheaper, on their balcony,
overlooking the autobahn.
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Prime Minister Rip Van Winkle;
"Well, I don't, I, I, I, I don't know. I, I mean, I, I "
- John Howard asked about his plans.
Sure John we will all just go get a coffee while
you find your mind and then make it up! B^D
http://www.geocities.com/wmds_r_us/climate_coma.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGqTayhu5QM
"After a successful few years as a junior minister in
Malcolm Fraser's government, Howard was promoted to
treasury, where his five years in the job can only
be judged as an unmitigated failure.
Take a look at the statistics.
When Howard left the treasury in March 1983, the
budget deficit was forecast at $9.6 billion, inflation
was 11 per cent, unemployment was 10.2 per cent,
the economy was in recession with negative
0.4 per cent growth, and housing interest rates
were 13 per cent.
And, despite the 1982-83 recession being the worst
since the Great Depression, Howard still managed to
increase the federal tax take from 25.1 per cent of
GDP in 1977 to 27.5 per cent of GDP by 1982-83.
Howard then spent 13 years in opposition, during
which - when he wasn't leader himself - he spent
a lot of time conspiring against the three leaders
he served under: Andrew Peacock, John Hewson and
Alexander Downer."
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"THE polls show John Howard is likely to be beaten
by Labor, now under its sharpest leader in a decade.
Facing defeat, the Prime Minister yesterday changed
not only his team but its tone." -Andrew Bolt 24/1/2007
http://www.geocities.com/wmds_r_us/team_howard.htm
http://www.geocities.com/wmds_r_us/howard_backs_costello.htm
http://www.geocities.com/wmds_r_us/trust_me.htm
http://www.geocities.com/wmds_r_us/team_lieberal.htm
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http://geocities.com/fairdinkum_trueblue/faq.html
The true-blue Homestead;
http://geocities.com/fairdinkum_trueblue/
The true-blue Hall Of Fame;
http://www.geocities.com/trueblue_hall_of_fame/index.html
The Tuckerbox;
http://www.geocities.com/true_blue_tucker_box/index.html
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