Household solar $9 billion upside down in Australia...

Costs are $9 billion more than benefits and will be paid by those who didn't install the cost ineffective solar panels. Sounds like Australia needs a political revolution.

The cost of installing and maintaining more than one million household solar power systems has outweighed their benefit by more than $9 billion, a new report has found.
And by the time generous federal and state government subsidies run out, households without solar will have subsidised those that have made the switch to the tune of $14 billion.
The Grattan Institute report, to be published Monday, says government incentives and rebates that have encouraged the uptake of household solar have "created a policy mess that should never be repeated".
It argues Australia could have reduced greenhouse gas emissions for much less money if governments had focused more on commercial and large-scale solar power, instead of household subsidies.

Tweet of the Day: Islamic flag displayed at hostage-taking in Sydney...

Look for Obama to issue a statement claiming the hostage taker isn't really Islamic.

Here's a photo of a flag being displayed by hostages in the Sydney cafe, photo via @morningshowon7 pic.twitter.com/LjU7NrSTrR
— BuzzFeed Australia (@BuzzFeedOz) December 14, 2014

Why you should never order bacon at a KFC in Australia...

KFC Muslim Employee Screams Insults At Customer Asking For Bacon 

 

Australia calls climate taxes and fees: "socialism masquerading as environmentalism"

Climate change has always been primarily about money, not climate...

Via The Australian:

FEDERAL cabinet has ruled that Australia will not sign up to any new contributions, taxes or charges at this week's global summit on climate change, in a significant toughening of its stance as it plans to move within days to repeal the carbon tax. Cabinet ministers have decided to reject any measures of "socialism masquerading as environmentalism" after meeting last week to consider a submission on the position the government would take to the Warsaw conference. - See more here... 

Conservatives take the reigns in Australia...

Six years of liberal Labor Party rule has ended. The main issue was the hated "carbon tax." Obama and democrats want to do that here, but can't get it past Congress. Obama is trying to implement as close as he can get to it by executive order.

CANBERRA, Australia — Australia’s “unelectable” and gaffe-prone political leader, Tony Abbott, confounded critics Saturday by becoming the country’s latest prime minister, leading the opposition to a sweeping election victory and ending six years of Labor Party rule.
Abbott, the leader of the conservative Liberal Party-led coalition, rode a wave of public bitterness over a hated carbon emissions tax, worries about a flagging economy and frustration over government infighting to win the election.
The result was a stunning turnaround for Abbott, a 55-year-old former Roman Catholic seminarian and Rhodes scholar who has never been particularly popular and was once dubbed unelectable by opponents and some of his own supporters.

Australian foreign minister warns Romney: "America in decline"

If Obama gets four more years, America will be completely destroyed....

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Australian foreign minister has privately warned Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney that foreign leaders see "America in decline."

That's according to Romney, who says he met with Foreign Minister Bob Carr in a San Francisco hotel Sunday evening shortly before a Republican fundraiser.

Even the dead can't escape Australia's carbon tax

A Melbourne family was charged an extra $55 to bury their relative.

(Herald Sun) — A Melbourne family who claim they were slugged an extra $55 “carbon tax charge” when burying a relative were told “even the dead don’t escape the carbon tax”.

Erica Maliki and her family were burying her father-in-law at Springvale Cemetery when she was told the price per burial plot had increased because of the carbon tax.

Her father-in-law died on June 30, the day before the carbon tax was introduced, and was buried early last week.

“I thought to myself, ‘What carbon could possibly be used by putting a man in a grave?’” Ms Maliki said.

“All they did was put the dirt back in. How can they charge us a carbon tax for burying someone?”

Ms Maliki’s son Zaid said the cemetery’s receptionist told his sister-in-law “even the dead don’t escape the carbon tax”.

Carbon Tax Blow-back: Labor Takes a Drubbing in Queensland

Australia prime minister Julia Gillard’s Labor party stood with a “no carbon tax policy” during last years election. After the election Gillard and Labor proved themselves liars and changed their position. Labor passed a unpopular $23 a ton carbon tax in November of last year. Now, the voters are speaking.

Via The Australian: 

JULIA Gillard has been warned she faces electoral annihilation in Queensland after voters mauled Labor in Saturday's state election, ousting 43 MPs and slashing the party's representation to single figures in its worst result on record. 
 
With the Campbell Newman-led Liberal National Party smashing nearly 14 years of Labor rule with a devastating 16 per cent swing, former Labor premier Peter Beattie yesterday declared his party was in crisis after the worst electoral drubbing since Federation.[...]

While Ms Gillard avoided commenting on the Queensland rout, Tony Abbott said Labor was "toxic" nationwide and Queenslander and Nationals Senate leader Barnaby Joyce said federal Labor was following the Greens "into the abyss" and faced "absolute annihilation".[...]

Mr Abbott said Labor could restore its standing at the federal level if it was prepared to be truthful and economically prudent.

But he said he believed the government had already established itself as incompetent and untrustworthy.

"And there's the carbon tax lie which will haunt this Prime Minister right through until the next election," he said. Keep on reading...

Green Fail: Too Many Solar Cells May Cause Electricity Costs to Rise in Australia

Rooftop solar panels in Australia are overloading the electrical infrastructure and causing load swings. In order to prevent this, costly upgrades will be needed.

THE runaway take-up of rooftop solar panels is undermining the quality of electricity supplies, feeding so much power back into the network that it is stressing the system and causing voltage rises that could damage household devices such as computers and televisions. 
 
Power distribution lines and home wiring were designed for electricity to flow from power stations to appliances, but households with solar panels do the reverse of this.

One of Australia's biggest electricity network providers, Ausgrid, yesterday warned that there was a "significant likelihood" that costs would have to rise because of the impact of the solar photovoltaic cells.

In a letter to the NSW pricing regulator, obtained by The Australian, Ausgrid warns that in areas with a high concentration of solar cells, voltage levels can rise and this can have "consequences for appliances and equipment in customers' homes". It can also cause solar systems to switch off....

Mr Hart said the size of conductors and cables in the streets would have to be upgraded "so it can handle lots of solar, versus times when there's lots of load and no solar".

"If you get a very, very hot night and there's obviously no solar, the mains voltage is going to drop a lot," he said. "If your wires aren't up to it, you've got a problem."

The network companies say measures such as retrofits and battery storage can stop the "tripping" but can be cost

Australian Officials Engage in “Christian cleansing”

The terms BC and AD are being removed from textbooks because they are too religious.

(Fox News Radio/Todd Starnes) — Christians in Australia are accusing national education officials of “Christian cleansing” in response to pending changes in school books that would remove references to the birth of Jesus Christ.

The government would replace the terms BC, Before Christ, and AD, Anno Domini, with non-religious language. The new terms will be BCE (Before Common Era), BP (Before Present) and CE (Common Era).
A spokesman for the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority told The Herald Sun that the new terms were an increasingly common standard for the representation of dates.

Peter Jensen, the Archbishop of Sydney, told The Daily Telegraph that taking references to the birth of Jesus Christ out of school books was an “intellectually absurd attempt to write Christ out of human history.”

Australian Carbon Taxing Scheme Forcing Quantas to Raise Airfare Prices

The really sad part is it won't make a drop-in-the-bucket difference. The scheme is projected to cut 159 million tons of carbon pollution from the atmosphere by 2020. While Australia is doing this, China will increase their carbon emissions by 496% by 2020. If Australia completely eliminated carbon emissions today, it would only make a 15 thousandths of one degree of warming (0.0154 °C) difference by 2050.

Washington Examiner – Australia’s tax on carbon emissions will cost Qantas 110 million to 115 million Australian dollars ($118 million to $123 million) for the 2013 financial year and lead to an increase in passenger fares, the airline said Monday.

The flagship Australian carrier is one of the first of the nation’s major companies to release details of the financial impact of the tax, which will force the 500 worst polluters to pay AU$23 for every ton of carbon they emit.

The government released details of the tax on Sunday, saying it would help Australia lower its massive carbon emissions. Australia is one of the world’s worst greenhouse gas polluters because of its heavy reliance on coal for electricity.

Global Warming Insanity: Australia Plans to Kill Flatulent Feral Camels for Carbon Credits

I am beginning to think belief in climate change anthropogenic global warming is a form of insanity. Australia has a plan to kill flatulent feral camels for carbon credits. Last year, climate change believers suggested we eat our pets.

(Herald Sun)- THE world's association of camel scientists fought back angrily over Australian plans to kill wild dromedaries on the grounds that their flatulence adds to global warming. 
 
The idea is "false and stupid... a scientific aberration", the International Society of Camelid Research and Development (ISOCARD) said yesterday, adding the animals were being made culprits for a man-made problem.

"We believe that the good-hearted people and innovating nation of Australia can come up with better and smarter solutions than eradicating camels in inhumane ways," it said.

The kill-a-camel suggestion is floated in a paper distributed by Australia's Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, as part of consultations for reducing the country's carbon footprint.

The scheme is the brainchild of an Adelaide-based commercial company, Northwest Carbon, a land and animal management consultancy, which proposes whacking feral camels in exchange for carbon credits.

H/T @Limey98

Australian voters abandon carbon tax

Australian PM Julia Gillard campaigned on a promise there would be no carbon tax under the government she would lead. Now the election is over and she is making a carbon tax deal with the Australian Greens Party. 60% of Australia's voters oppose the plan.  Never trust a liberal.

VOTERS are overwhelmingly against Julia Gillard's carbon tax after a sharp fall in support in the past two months among the young, families, women and even Labor supporters. 


As Tony Abbott continues to campaign against the tax, the latest Newspoll survey reveals 60 per cent of voters are opposed to the government's plan to put a price on carbon next year and only 30 per cent remain in favour.
Since the election last year, opposition to a carbon price has been rising and jumped after the Prime Minister announced in late February that she planned to introduce a carbon tax from July 1 next year ahead of a full emissions trading scheme in three to five years.

Australia Fails To Pass Their Cap and Trade Bill

In the shadow of Climategate, the Australian Liberal Party has revolted against expensive legislation to limit CO2 emissions and implement carbon trading. There was a forced change of leadership over this issue.

The Liberal Party last week agreed to back the carbon laws, but climate change skeptics forced a leadership and policy change on Tuesday. "We won't have an ETS as part of our policy going to the next election...," Liberal leader Tony Abbott said Wednesday.

Without Liberal support, Australia's Cap and Trade Legislation failed to pass. Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard will be going to Copenhagen empty-handed.
Reuters UK reported:

Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the government would re-introduce the carbon trade bills in February to give the opposition Liberal Party one more chance to support the scheme, adding the government was not looking at an early election.

"Today the climate change extremists and deniers ... have stopped this nation taking action on climate change," Gillard told reporters.

Obama wants to send Gitmo terrorists to Australia

I seriously doubt Australia will be putting any shrimp on the barbie for these terrorists anytime soon. They have previously turned down a Bush administration request to take some of them. President Obama has come to the realization that bringing any of them here is political suicide, but he boxed himself into a corner by promising his left wing supporters he would close Guantanamo Bay by next January. Make some popcorn. This could get interesting. Reuters is reporting:

SYDNEY (Reuters) - The United States has made a new request for Australia to accept a group of detainees from Guantanamo Bay for resettlement, a government spokeswoman said on Saturday.

The request is the first by President Barack Obama's administration, which plans to close down the detention camp in Cuba within the next year.

Media reports have said the request involves a group of Uighurs from China's largely Muslim western province of Xinjiang. Beijing has reportedly been pressing Washington to return them to China, but U.S. officials have expressed concerns about their likely treatment there.

Earlier requests for resettlement in Australia late last year by former president George W. Bush's administration were turned down by Canberra in January on "national security and immigration" grounds.

A spokeswoman for Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith confirmed the new request had been received.

The joys of socialized medicine

A doctor threw a baby and left an elderly patient to die in a hallway of an Australian hospital. A nurse, also, reported falsifying records to hide lengthy waiting times in the emergency department. Triage cases were also downgraded because of staffing. These aren't the only problems reported with Australia's universal health care system. Hospitals have long waiting lists. Babies needing heart surgery sometimes wait for more than six months. These things are common in countries with universal socialized medicine. Do we really want that here?

Angry doctor threw baby, staff claim
Article from: The Courier-Mailjavascript:void(0)

DES HOUGHTON

February 04, 2009 01:15am

AN ANGRY doctor allegedly threw a baby and twisted its arm and an elderly patient was left to die in a hall way at Bundaberg Hospital, staff claim.

Three hospital staff have sought whistleblower protection after detailing allegations of gross medical neglect and incompetence, overcrowding, bullying, intimidation and cover-ups to the Crime and Misconduct Commission.

A highly qualified nurse who spoke to The Courier-Mail told how she was repeatedly made to falsify records to hide lengthy waiting times in the emergency department.

She said triage cases were improperly and dangerously downgraded because of understaffing. (excerpted) read more at news.com.au