Hello world...welcome to the blog...two weeks into the 'official' election campaign and only 10 days to go to the actual vote...and I ain't Robinson Crusoe in struggling to give a damn...again during last night's debate I found myself 'drifting off' and even channel-surfing...
It's hugely problematic when you don't trust and/or believe what either Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd or opposition Liberal leader Tony Abbott have to say...Labor have a demonstrated capacity to lie about policy direction and/or implementation and to get things horribly wrong, eg, Budget and Surplus claims vs the realities...
And the Liberals have already flagged a 'Review Committee' whilst still not fully disclosing their costings and 'savings measures'...(which is code for Cuts, yeah?-Ed)...pretty much...and unfortunately can use Labor's erroneous Fiscal forecasts and policy announcement roller coaster to justify holding back...'we can't say until after the election and see the actual numbers'...
A Partial Correction and Full Apology: In a previous post I stated that Federal election candidates only get their Nomination deposits returned if they garner 4% of the primary vote, which is true, but there is also the allowance for 'Electoral Funding' once a candidate meets that 4% criteria, and this is calculated per first preference vote.
I originally thought that this 'Funding' only applied to formally elected members, but it does apply to all candidates as above...I apologise unreservedly for this unintentional error, and it makes no difference to my attempt to nominate because I never expected to receive even 4%, I was simply trying to be part of the Democratic process...(so much to learn-Ed)...indeed...
Which reminds me that I have still not received any response re my letters to the Electoral Commission.
Quick Notes: 1) Adelaide gets 5th behind Melbourne at no1 for world's most livable cities...but you know that doesn't consider the economic and social implications for the rest of the state...(and it wouldn't surprise me if they stood on North Tce to do their calculations-Ed)...
2) National's leader Warren Truss launches 'Fair Share Fund' of $1billion to be invested in Regional Australia plus $100m for research and Labor candidate for Barker Phil Golding says $1billion has already been invested by Federal Labor over recent years.
3) Uni SA states that it will increase services in Mt Gambier and other regions, but this could be mostly 'online', and TAFE continues to axe courses and jobs at their Mt Gambier campus, the most recent being Arts courses.
The Turbine Stuff: Rather than completely repeat previous posts re Wind Turbines, please review if unread...the issues remain the same...and have yet again been trotted out following windy conditions in South East SA, this time by the Conservation Council.
Mr Tim Kelly of the CC was on ABC Afternoon making extraordinary claims about energy production figures, electricity costs, etc, off the back of another report/press release/whatevs from the Clean Energy Council...(the CEC is a 'Renewable Energy' Industry lobby group, ie, officially pro-Turbine-Ed)...indeed...and Mr Kelly may be completely genuine in his intent, but his information is grossly biased and incorrect...
And this continues the pattern of behaviour where these organisations, developers, Labor government, etc, make outrageous unsupported statements and then furiously cross-reference each other as being factual and even scientific proof and/or support of their intensely biased pro-Turbine agenda...
Mr Kelly was gushingly congratulatory about the "record amounts" of electricity allegedly generated across SA during 'windy days in August', including "55% to 80%" of the states needs on certain days...but he neglected to mention how we generated our power on the several still, frosty nights that occurred in late July/early August...
This remains the fundamental and most critical failure of Turbines...they produce some energy when wind conditions are suitable, but if there is no wind...(or even if the wind is too strong-Ed)...less frequent but true...no wind means no production and that demands immediately available 100% Back-up Generation, eg, coal fired power stations, or as in Britain, huge banks of heavily subsidised diesel generators sitting idle until needed...
Liberal supporter 'shock-jock' Alan Jones is absolutely rabid about Turbines, frequently criticising them for a range of reasons, and while I don't particularly agree with his base motivations, eg, scepticism on 'Climate Change', his 'factual commentary' is fairly accurate...only days ago he cited the situation in SA where we have a coal-fired power station at Pt Augusta on permanent standby for when the wind stops.
Mr Jones didn't mention the 'Exporting/Importing Agenda' where we send electricity across to the Eastern states when windy, and then have to import Victorian coal-fired power station electricity when the wind stops, another aspect of the undeniable non-reliability of Wind generation...(and he also acknowledges this gross non-reliability with his own figures-Ed)...how so?...
(Well, when he says "55%" on some days and "up to 80%" on other days, he is specifically quantifying the daily, massive fluctuations in generation that are completely at the mercy of the weather, and that put a huge strain on distribution infrastructure with this 'Surge and Purge' generation, and also creates the demand for 'back-ups'-Ed)...well put sir...
Mr Kelly also failed to relate this "record" production to the increasing number of Turbines in SA...more Turbines more power... it ain't rocket science...
He then went on to claim that Turbines are the cheapest electricity available, which is just ludicrous...they receive massive taxpayer funded subsidies, we pay for their 'poles and wires' infrastructure, and SA currently has the second highest electricity prices on the planet...there are several reasons for this, eg, price gouging by generators and wholesalers, contractual obligations with Victoria, etc, but it is the reliance on Turbines that underpins most of the cost.
At one point he stated that SA already has 33% production from Turbines, but then said we need to work toward our 20/20 obligations (20% by 2020) and increase to 30% by 2030...I'm sorry, but I didn't follow this part at all...he seemed to be just throwing around 'factual numbers' but not in the relevant context and/or in conflict with each other...(he might have been confusing National and State figures and aspirations-Ed)...possibly, don't know...
What I found most concerning was his enthusiasm for "the next 30%" of generation that was directly linked to his (some one's) call for extensive Turbine development on the Eyre Peninsula...this would be a disaster...
This raises all the issues of 'remote generation' and associated losses through distribution, etc, and the most fundamental problems of increased reliance on 'part-time production' as above.
Again, this is only a small part of the problems with Turbines so please review my previous posts, and again I apologise for the error re 'Electoral Funding'.
Tomorrow: Drugs and Corruption in Sport
Increasingly sport has become part of the 'main stream' news cycle, and nothing drives that more than a bit of drugs, corruption, and/or other controversy...lovely...
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers...
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