The Australian Federal Election action is well and truly in full swing, with Labor keen to “move forward” from the past, and Liberals wanting to Stand Up for Real Action on a variety of issues.
Over the next few weeks, I think it is worth doing some analysis of what each party will be offering in terms of value back to the Environment. Today, I want to focus on Solar Power.
The Liberal party has put together some major information in their policy statement (available at http://www.liberal.org.au/~/media/Files/Policies%20and%20Media/Environment/The%20Coalitions%20Direct%20Action%20Plan%20Policy.ashx ) and key platforms are investment in renewable energy for Schools, Towns and a new One Million Roofs Solar Program, which will see the federal government provide an additional $1000 per home to Solar Power _or_ Solar Hot Water.
“To achieve the goal of one million additional solar energy roofs by 2020, the Coalition will provide an extra $1000 rebate for either solar panels or solar hot water systems. The program would be capped at 100,000 rebates per year and would therefore be capped at a total cost of $100 million per year. The rebate will be on top of existing incentives and will replace the current solar hot water incentive when it ends. It is intended that the rebate will remain in place until 2020.”
Sounds OK…
Off to the ALP website. Type in “Environment” <search>, then stare in Awe and Wonder at the latest article posted – over 2 months ago. OK – they have a tag word cloud, and click “Environment”. Cool – June 7, Peter Garret marks 2010 National Whale Day. (http://www.alp.org.au/tagresult/?tagname=Environment)
Not awe inspiring at all really – and search as I might, nothing directly on policy is readily available. Link to http://australia.gov.au/ and see the current departments, but again, nothing up to date. I am certain (or at least I hope) that more will be forthcoming in the weeks ahead.
Off to the Greens – Climate Change and Energy Policy at http://greens.org.au/sites/greens.org.au/files/C1%20ClimateChange%20Nov%202009.pdf has some good reading – and shilst it is somewhat curious to note the specific absence of the word “Solar” anywhere in their policy, they do state that they are committed to measure that will “ensure that renewable electricity provides 30% of national demand by 2020 by increasing the renewable energy target (RET) and by introducing measures such as feed-in tariffs and regulations to support a range of prospective new renewable energy technologies.”
Overall a good plan…
So, so far the Coalition seems to be the only party with specific Solar Power measures which have been clearly articulated and identified that go beyond what is currently provided. I am certain that we will hear more, and more will be posted as any major election sweeteners are announced.
I have one request though of all political parties, whether in power now or not – if you are going to make a change to the way things are done, make sure that the changes are introduced gradually, and not with a knee-jerk kick. The industry has had enough of those to date.
A.
Enviromate Australia 