Post Federal Budget

Another beautiful day in Sydney town today makes you appreciate this time of year in this part of the world, with the bright sunny days overseeing cool, comfortable temperatures.

Today Australia awoke and began digesting the Federal Budget that was handed down by the Rudd government, their first. Predictably the Liberals poured shit all over it and made themselves look like the incompetent brainless pricks that the rest of Australia voted on a few months ago.

The Budget looks like it’s taking a decent stab at helping the lower wage earners while hitting the rich a little harder, and so it should. Tax cuts, means testing of the baby bonus and an increase in the Medicare Levy Surcharge were the main points.

But the part of the Budget I want to talk about is the money set aside to combat climate change. What a complete disappointment! Australia has some of the greatest potential renewable energy sources in the world with solar, wind, geothermal and wave power available for the taking. Instead, the government seems content to ignore the prospects of these clean technologies and continue to pour money into the polluting coal-based power.

The government has announced $2.3billion in climate change measures, but these amount to funding changes such as introducing a standard 1-watt power limit on appliances on standby, $500 million for scientists to develop a low-emission car, $13.3 million on research into how a trading emission scheme will affect industries.

But here’s the real kick in the teeth for the solar, wind and geothermal industries in Australia. $500 million has been set aside for a “National Clean Coal Fund” to reduce the emissions from Australia’s coal industry. To which I can only throw up my hands and say, You fucking idiot politicians, there is NO SUCH THING AS CLEAN COAL!!! The only way we can clean the coal industry is by developing major renewable energy projects that will generate power to replace power created by dirty, filthy coal burning power plants. Clean coal is a concept devised by the coal industry to save their sorry asses. It's about as believable as the cigarette industry telling us that smoking doesn't cause lung cancer!

Unfortunately, when it comes to the climate, I fear Australia is still a third world nation. What kills me is that $150 million is being budgeted so that Australia can help other countries in the region prepare for and tackle their climate challenges. Our government’s demonstrating that they’ve got no idea how to address climate change and then they’ve got the gall to suggest they’ve got the goods to advise others!

Look, let's put this in perspective, while the Australian government are kowtowing to the coal industry and trying to convince us that clean coal is a viable climate control option, the US government thorugh the US Department of Energy have announced that by 2030, 20% of the country's energy needs can be handled by wind power.