Is John Howard a CEFC fan?
Just when you thought the gathering of the dark clouds of the new government’s blitzkrieg against renewable energy initiatives was complete, a tiny ray of sunshine bursts through the gathering gloom. Or has it? I speak this week of the uncertainty over the dumping of the showcase Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC).
The ray of sunshine, if it is such, comes in the unlikely form of Arthur “Svengali” Sinodinos, who many will remember as being one of the inner cabal that served John “carbon tax” Howard, noted PM and Australia’s worst off spinner.
Now this may be grasping at non existent straws but…
On ABC Radio this week, the now-Senator Sinodinos said he was happy (in his capacity as Assistant Treasurer) to:
“review” the work of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. His exact words were that he would “…go through the CEFC’s annual report and have another look’”,
The review comes at the request of Jillian Broadbent, the chair of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, who has, in essence, asked the government to take look at the CEFC figures. Broadbent said on ABC Breakfast this week that the CEFC had acted as a “catalyst” to raise $2.2 billion of private capital on 39 clean energy investment programs that have the potential to reduce carbon emissions by 4 million tonnes. Not bad for 18 months work!
Now my (admittedly) imaginative theory runs thus:
There was no more pragmatic a prime minister than Johnny Howard. Indeed his hesitant moves towards a price on carbon were quite radical for the time. Of course if he were a Cabinet Minister now and proposed a similar heretical tax, the Mad One would have him strong-armed out of the Cabinet room by Bronnie “The Beehive” Bishop as a dangerous leftie (the image is delightful).
There was no staffer that Howard listened to more than Sinodinos. He served as Howard’s chief of staff from 1997 to 2006 where he is credited with enormous clout in the make up of Coalition policy. (Lowers voice in conspiratorial whisper). Therefore it may not be beyond the realms of possibility that Johnny is using Sinodinos to reverse the CEFC scrapping.
The reason the latter day PM may be pulling a few strings behind the scenes is simple: the CEFC turns a profit and attracts important investment into Australia.
It must be stressed that I have not a shred of Queen’s evidence that any, or part of the above, speculation is true. But as Coalition elders, movers and shakers like Johnny well know, Tony “The Mad One” Abbott is, while keen, not the sharpest knife in the political draw. He therefore may require “guidance” in certain areas such as the retaining of the profit-making Clean Energy Finance Corporation.
Sinodinos, now the Assistant Treasurer, is best placed to channel the feared Johnny. Hence the comment about “reviewing” the decision.
Or not.
Have the press incorrectly seized on this statement? The office of the Assistant Treasurer hastily announced that all vestiges of the Rudd/Gillard carbon tax will be airbrushed from history faster than you can say Rudd/Gillard: including the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.
More importantly, if you listen to my wild theory, Howard has made no public comments supporting the CEFC. Indeed the Sinodinos statement went on to insist that all Coalition election promises (ahem) will be honoured.
Still we can dream can’t we? Is the ancient Howard/Sinodinos alliance a silver lining with regard to the Clean Energy Finance Corporation? Or just part of the oncoming storm? Please add your thoughts below or over at our Facebook Page.
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I would like to know how many billions if not trillions have been sunk into renewable energy with little or no progress made to actually replace nuclear or coal/gas power. Sure we hear about this and that little item that seems to impress the gullible but no real action. Wind farms are a disaster in most countries with maintenance allowing most to fall into disuse, solar has such a long way to go before it becomes even a standby for the usual power and tide/wave power is so insignificant that it hardly registers on the scale of interest.
I would also like to know when people are going to wake up to the fact that most renewable energy schemes are great holes in the universe that suck money in but give so little back time and time again.
Cheer up kimalice! It is the 21st century now, and all that investment in renewable technology is paying off.
Just one example from my home state. The “disaster” that is wind power, powers 27% of South Australia according to the AEMO.
In fact SA will soon be 50% renewable powered.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/south-australia-heads-to-50-renewables-within-a-decade-21296
I’d dearly love to install a wind generator however there are a few ‘issues’ here. Firstly the number of BIG trees means the wind is rather ‘dirty’ requiring a vertical shaft device & those are prohibitively expensive in the size needed to be worth having. secondly, the local council doesn’t like wind generators claiming that the greenies hate them. Funnily enough, I am on good terms with all local tree-huggers & they have no problem whatever with eco-friendly power sources. In any case, the council would almost certainly require engineering work that would render such a project unviable.
A few months before the Howard government decided to bring carbon trading into their policy settings, I and a few associates put a very detailed presentation together for cabinet to consider with a particular slant on the issue. Rather than look at emissions reduction as an economic cost load, we went for the potential economic benefits from adopting clean energy principles, ratifying the Kyoto protocol and exporting carbon credits. Generation of future carbon credits was expected to be derived from massive take-up of commercial PV Solar, wind power and extended hydro capabilities as well as a large number of potential engineering innovations which could arise in chilling and heating systems. A lot of those innovations have been developed and assisted by grants and other clean energy programs. One could not be certain, but a current review of policy in this area just might be sound political and economic options at this point of time. It must be sound on both planes, or it has no legs for the future. Dreams fade in a relatively short time, but the economic effects can linger for several election cycles. Ask Labor if their knee jerk environmental policies hurt their government. It sure looks that way. I see a good future for renewable policies for Australia, albeit, with some constant fine tuning.
Mr Sinodinos comes across as a very calm, rational and honest man. He seems to be an oddball in the current govt line up. Then again, I’m a pretty poor judge of character.
Interesting ideas Colin Spencer. A review of renewable energy along the lines of which you speak would be interesting as well as practical. Politically of course it may be difficult for the conservatives to alienate their fossil fuel lobby base, but they would undercut a great deal of criticism from the left. As Stop These Thingies points out Sinodinos is a rational man, much admired in political circles. A review of policy led by Sen. Sinodinos? As the ad says: “I’d like to see that!”.
Yes, Rich. You have to stand in the shoes of the people who generate power and distribute it. I imagined that the retailer provider would be the place of most resistance. But in our case, it is SP Ausnet holding things up. More than six months now, and they still haven’t re-programmed the smart meter. Last excuse was that our Inverter type was not on the clean energy list. An old list perhaps. Time to have a chat with the minister, perhaps. 8 cents feedback is half of what I think it should be, so that is another point to raise. I read somewhere that a relatively new coal fired power station in Qld was shut down, and the reason seems to have been the enormous take up of domestic solar pv in that state.
Very nice article, if there is someone with some common sense in the Federal Government, and I do not doubt it, they would hopefully not allow to shut what is a clearly a very interesting open door/ future option for the welfare of the country. If not really a good energetic option, why are the subsidised lobbies try to kill and give bad reputation to every good renewable option or success? Competition? As Finn, I am very happy to defend Australia’s forward thinking with the excellent example of South Australia!
As I’ve said ad infinitum & ad nauseum, the political animal is almost exclusively a bloodsucking parasite with no redeeming features. The vast majority of these bottom-feeders quite obviously owe their allegiance to someone or something other than their constituents and furthermore, the majority are failed lawyers with all the bad features endemic to that breed. Given the aforementioned, its hardly surprising that the interests of their big business cronies takes precedence over the welfare of the sheeple. When we see something as blindingly obvious as the dismal failure of privatized essential services, its clear that politicians have a totally different agenda to what we expect of them. What really got my blood boiling was a recent discussion with a supposedly top level muppet running a renewable energy office within the Queensland Department of Energy or whatever. Said clown advised me that it was government policy to oppose establishment of solar farms because they would detract from Energex / Ergon profits. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
That gives a pretty accurate guide to the attitude of the present dictatorship.
Tassie’s also aiming to get a huge percent of its energy from renewable sources Isaac. Mostly hydroelectricity from memory but with an increased emphasis on solar and wind.
Hurrah for South Australia and alternative sources of energy. If it’s so good then why do the people who can’t afford (and there’s plenty of them) or live in a building that prevents solar energy have the most costly energy in Australia?
Hi Andy,
Wind and solar have actually reduced the wholesale cost of electricity in SA. The retailers have passed that on to the bill payers.
Best Regards,