Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters chair James McGrath has floated another reform bubble, this time proposing that parliamentarians should be prevented from resigning from their parties under pain of either facing a by-election or being replaced by the nominee of the party for which they were elected. The Australian helpfully summarises recent situations where this would have applied: “Jacqui Lambie and Glenn Lazarus from the Palmer United Party, Cory Bernardi and Julia Banks from the Liberal Party, Fraser Anning and Rod Culleton from One Nation and Steve Martin from the Jacqui Lambie Network”. University of New South Wales constitutional law expert George Williams is quoted noting potential constitutional issues, particularly in relation to the lower house.
The proposal brings to mind the passage in New Zealand last year of what is colloquially known as the “waka jumping bill”, insisted upon by Winston Peters of New Zealand First as part of his coalition agreement with Labour after the 2017 election. This requires a constituency MP who quits their party to face a by-election, while party list MPs must vacate their seats and have them filled by the next candidate along from the list at the election. The move was poorly received by academics and the country’s Human Rights Commissioner, as it effectively gives party leaders the ability to dispense with troublemakers. It was also noted that Peters himself broke away from the National Party to form New Zealand First in 1990, but changed his tune after a split in his own party in 1998. However, the McGrath proposal would seem to be quite a lot less pernicious in that it would only apply to those who leave their parties of their own volition.
In other news, I had a paywalled article in Crikey on Tuesday regarding the YouGov methodological overhaul that was discussed here on Sunday, which said things like this:
Of course, transparency alone will not be sufficient for the industry to recover the strong reputation it held until quite recently. That will require runs on the board in the form of more-or-less accurate pre-election polls, for which no opportunity will emerge until the Queensland state election still over a year away. It’s far from certain that YouGov will prove able to get better results by dropping the telephone component of its polling, notwithstanding that phone polling is less conducive to the kind of detailed demographic parsing that it apparently has in mind. Nonetheless, the movements the pollster records over time within demographic and geographic sub-samples will almost certainly offer insights into the shifting sands of public opinion, even if skepticism will remain as to how it sees the numbers combining in aggregate.
I’m not sure when exactly we will see the fruits of YouGov’s approach, but we’re due some sort of Newspoll result on Sunday or Monday, and the fortnightly Essential Research falls due on Tuesday – we’re still waiting for the latter to resume voting intention, but I was told a little while ago it would happen soon.
guytaur says:
Wednesday, September 25, 2019 at 8:59 pm
AE
Greta Thunberg was talking to you too.
So was Sir David Attenborough
You cannot be for the environment and for coal.
The voters know it.
Yes, they know it.
Voters in the resource seats chose jobs ahead of the environment in the election in May. This is undeniable. This will get worse. I used to think that nature was campaigning against the Liberals. But this was an error. Nature is campaigning against Labor and the Greens and for the Liberals.
The Liberals’ message is they will do ‘whatever it takes’ to create jobs, including trashing the environment if necessary. This resonates with voters who have high anxiety about their jobs and incomes. Every time voters see stories or hear news about environmental stress, they know there is an implicit threat to the economy and therefore to their economic security. The Liberals have positioned themselves as the Defenders of the Economy. As the environment worsens, their role as Defenders will become more valuable to them. They will attract more votes rather than fewer votes. The stampede we saw in Queensland will be repeated and accentuated.
This is escapist. But it is working for the Liberals. It will get better and better for them.
“The transformation to Trump is complete”
UI
“The Liberal message is they will do ‘whatever it takes’ to create jobs, including trashing the environment if necessary”.
The Liberal Party will do whatever it takes to appear to create jobs, which is the lie perpetuated to distribute the spoils disproportionately throughout the economy.
The Liberal Party has not created jobs as the employment figures indicate and it actively contributes to the elimination of jobs.
Personal debt is soaring and the Liberal Party is hoping for a hyper inflated house price recovery!
Australians have an aversion to reality. Poker machine addiction continues to rise.
Polling is a measure, that being measured keeps moving.
Scomo says “Australian PM says debate replete with disinformation and he wants to give children confidence they will have ‘an economy to live in” without a hint of irony.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/sep/25/morrison-responds-to-greta-thunberg-speech-by-warning-children-against-needless-climate-anxiety
I thought we needed an environment to live in, and jobs to work in. Scomo does not have good form at providing either.
The 16 year olds will see through him much faster than the 60 year olds. The former know there is not much point studying for a job where they will barely repay their HECs fees, let alone a mortgage. They can’t all get jobs as overpaid ministerial staffers.
Yeah well I did a survey for Essential the other day and I told them I wasn’t fussed about them asking for voting intention again. However, for the people that probably did the survey and said that they wanted Essential to bring it back it’s likely a vanity project, or like betting on a horse to see if it gets up.
And about as much use, frankly.
I remain to be convinced that any pollster can engage the disengaged.
Goll
Yes, the Coalition will continue to play on the fear of being unemployed while they exaggerate their ability to provide jobs, and insist that any fight against global warming will “push up energy prices”.
Slavery was a job too, I guess. 😐
lizzie @ #2 Thursday, September 26th, 2019 – 6:40 am
We who are about to die, salute you.
What an honour to be represented by this Prince, this Force of Nature, this Gladiator completely unafraid to appear before the crowned heads of yerp or the assembled great and mighty and make bald faced statements devoid of any semblance of truth.
Chant, Scott, Scott he’s our man — la la la la ❗
Coffee for 2 please Muriel. Ta ❗ ☕☕
I had intended to write a piece about Karl but a passing “Eff you Karl” will have to suffice.
For Trump, this is business as usual..
TRUMP: Good because I heard you had a prosecutor who was very good and he was shut down and that’s really unfair. A lot of people are talking about that, the way they shut your very good prosecutor down and you had some very bad people involved. Mr Giuliani is a highly respected man. He was the mayor of New York City, a great mayor, and I would like him to call you. I will ask him to call you along with the Attorney General. Rudy very much knows what’s happening and he is a very capable guy. If you could speak to him that would be great. The former ambassador from the United States, the woman, was bad news and the people she was dealing with in the Ukraine were bad news so I just want to let you know that. The other thing, There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it … It sounds horrible to me.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/the-full-transcript-of-donald-trump-s-phone-call-with-ukraine-s-president-20190926-p52v0d.html
We’ll see. He has a remarkable capacity for simply lying and blustering his way through any drama or scandal.
Talking about fake news and frightening the kiddie, I assume that Mr Morrison has bragged about his efforts to increase Australia’s emissions.
Some interesting points here if it is factual:
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/tipping-point-energy-regulator-says-electricity-grid-won-t-cope-with-more-solar-20190925-p52uvv.html
Australia has the greatest uptake of rooftop solar with > 2 million or 20% of houses having a system. Given our climate this should not be unexpected.
Wind and solar went from 9 to 12% of the mix in 2018 (i have difficulty believing this). “Exponential” growth indeed
Despite several states spending a fortune on gold plating the grid, it can not cope with the enormous number of input points from domestic solar
It is the market which will be the determinant of coal generated power and Greens pants wetting and eco-porn is largely irrelevant.
The people have made their decision but governments have been slow to accommodate that decision.
Good morning Dawn Patrollers.
Matthew Knott tells us that senior Democrats are saying they feel increasingly emboldened to impeach Donald Trump after a summary of a phone call between him and the Ukrainian President showed him repeatedly prodding his counterpart to investigate his potential 2020 rival Joe Biden.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/a-mafia-shakedown-phone-transcript-shows-trump-pushed-ukraine-for-biden-inquiry-20190926-p52v0l.html
Professor of American Politics Timothy J Lynch describes right reasons why impeaching Donald Trump is a big risk for the Democrats and three reasons why it’s not.
https://theconversation.com/8-reasons-why-impeaching-donald-trump-is-a-big-risk-for-the-democrats-and-3-reasons-why-its-not-124154
The SMH editorial explores Trump, Brexit and the need for checks and balances on executive power.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/trump-brexit-and-the-need-for-checks-and-balances-on-executive-power-20190925-p52uvh.html
David Crowe explains Morrison’s speech to the UN in which he stridently defended his government’s record on emissions.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/scott-morrison-defends-his-climate-change-record-in-un-speech-20190926-p52v0g.html
And he writes that Morrison has warned against fuelling “needless anxiety” among Australian children following a scathing judgment from Swedish activist Greta Thunberg about the danger of climate change.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/morrison-warns-against-needless-anxiety-after-thunberg-climate-speech-20190925-p52uma.html
Michelle Grattan wonders what Morrison might say to his own kids about Greta Thumberg.
https://theconversation.com/view-from-the-hill-what-might-lily-and-abbey-say-to-scott-morrison-about-greta-thunberg-124179
As 16-year-old Greta Thunberg mobilised a generation, Trump and Morrison bonded over their shared climate denialism, writes Michelle Pini.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/trump-and-morrison-to-mars-one-giant-leap-for-mankind,13143
The AAP reports that Morrison has accused climate activists and the media of spreading “completely false” information about Australia’s action on climate change.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6406993/morrisons-fake-news-moment-on-climate/?cs=14231
Lambasting China over their emissions might impress the US but it could be costly for Australia says The Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/sep/25/lambasting-china-over-their-emissions-might-impress-the-us-but-it-could-be-costly-for-australia
John Hewson says that we should get serious about mental health and humanising PTSD in particular.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/we-need-to-humanise-the-way-ptsd-is-treated-in-australia-20190925-p52up3.html
Greg Jericho writes that as interest rates go down and down it is the RBA that is doing the government’s work.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2019/sep/26/down-and-down-go-interest-rates-as-the-rba-does-the-governments-work
In similar vein Michael Pascoe writes that the RBA governor has signalled that his organisation is in a political hole.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/money/finance-news/2019/09/25/reserve-bank-in-difficult-political-situation/
Nicholas Stuart explains the difficult task ahead of Albanese and Labor with respect to winning an election.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6402983/the-confronting-truth-anthony-albanese-must-face/?cs=14258
Alexandra Smith reports that abortion is set to be decriminalised in NSW today, after the contentious bill passed the upper house following a marathon debate over amendments to appease conservative MPs.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/conservative-mps-reach-an-agreement-over-abortion-bill-20190925-p52usv.html
More Brexit confusion, impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump and his belligerent address to the UN have added volatility and combustibility to financial markets writes Stephen Bartholomeusz.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/brexit-impeachment-and-china-trigger-a-combustible-moment-for-markets-20190925-p52ur1.html
According to the AFR editorial the establishment is hitting back over Trump and Brexit.
https://outline.com/knR5P2
Tony Wright dishes out a heck of a parody of Morrison’s visit to the US.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/great-scott-morrison-finds-his-place-in-history-20190925-p52uvy.html
Sarah Martin reveals that, under the guise as work as drought envoy, Barnaby Joyce took $2,600 charter flight just to stand alongside Nationals candidate at regional show.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/sep/26/barnaby-joyce-took-2600-charter-flight-to-stand-alongside-nationals-candidate-at-regional-show
And he spent $675,000 in expenses but less than three weeks on ground while he was the drought envoy.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/sep/25/barnaby-joyce-spent-less-than-three-weeks-on-the-ground-while-drought-envoy
Mascot Towers owners say they were “absolutely gutted” after Better Regulation Minister Kevin Anderson suggested displaced residents devised a scheme to secure taxpayers’ money.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/absolutely-gutting-mascot-towers-owners-slam-minister-s-claims-20190925-p52uwj.html
The Catholic Church in Victoria is facing at least 800 new legal actions for child sexual abuse in the wake of landmark legislation allowing victims to sue the church and revisit unfair settlements made under in-house compensation schemes.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/catholic-church-swamped-with-hundreds-of-new-sex-abuse-claims-after-legal-change-20190925-p52uwn.html
Meanwhile New Zealand’s troubled royal commission into abuse in state care has been dealt another blow, with commissioners revealing survivors unwittingly spent time with a convicted child sex offender tangentially connected to the inquiry.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/25/new-zealand-royal-commission-victims-in-shock-at-paedophiles-access-to-inquiry
Catholic school enrolments: are trending down while Australia’s population booms.
https://theconversation.com/five-charts-on-catholic-school-enrolments-theyre-trending-down-while-australias-population-booms-121616
Documents have recently surfaced which cast some doubt over citizenship claims made by Josh Frydenberg’s family, writes Trevor Poulton.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/past-documents-raise-further-questions-over-frydenbergs-citizenship-case,13137
The three years since the vote for Brexit and the election of Donald Trump have produced a virulent struggle for supremacy in Western democracies. Now it’s come to a head writes Jennifer Hewett.
https://outline.com/JWpajk
John Williams explains why trotting out the old “drought proofing” remedies is a simplistic reaction that will destroy Australia.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/sep/25/we-are-talking-about-drought-proofing-again-they-are-simplistic-solutions-that-will-destroy-australia
Norway delivered its oil & gas riches to its people, Australia delivered the profits into foreign hands, having done the exploration, spending years and billions proving up giant gas fields. As the gas cartel rakes in the profits exporting LNG at the expense of local consumers Clinton Fernandes presents a timely reminder of the enormous public subsidies for large corporations.
https://www.michaelwest.com.au/gas-how-australia-privatised-the-profits-and-socialised-the-losses/
The AFR reports that Frydenberg has pushed back against regulators being too stringent in their enforcement of responsible lending rules, saying it could hit the economy and working families.
https://outline.com/LrU7w2
Three Australians died from an opioid-related overdose each day in 2018, while suicides among Indigenous people have increased in all states except for the Northern Territory, new figures show.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/two-thirds-of-drug-induced-deaths-last-year-linked-to-opioids-20190925-p52uwu.html
China has rejected Australia’s new stand on reforms to global trade rules to treat the rising superpower as a developed nation, putting the message directly to Foreign Minister Marise Payne in a meeting at the United Nations reports David Crowe.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/china-tells-australia-you-re-wrong-on-trade-20190925-p52uuh.html
Mitchell Adams explains why Greta Thunberg is a true leader by every definition.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/greta-thunberg-is-a-true-leader-by-every-definition-20190925-p52uqd.html
Jess Irvine gives us a view of what life in a negative interest rate regime could be like.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/weird-a-glimpse-through-the-negative-interest-rate-looking-glass-20190925-p52uua.html
Netflix is masquerading as a small business in Australia, allowing it to avoid tens, or possibly hundreds, of millions in tax each year, a tax investigation has found.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/money/finance-news/2019/09/25/netflix-dodging-tax-australia/
John Setka has published a full-page news advertisement to accuse Senator Jacqui Lambie of trying to blackmail him and to spruik his performance in his role but it is unclear who paid for the ad.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/setka-takes-out-full-page-ad-blasting-jacqui-lambie-but-who-paid-20190925-p52un9.html
Australia’s ageing electricity grid risks being overwhelmed by solar panels unless the government and companies take urgent action. Eryk Bagshaw and Rob Harris write that we are reaching a distribution tipping point.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/tipping-point-energy-regulator-says-electricity-grid-won-t-cope-with-more-solar-20190925-p52uvv.html
Marcia Langston, who backed the cashless welfare card in its infancy has changed her mind, accusing the government of running a “brutal” program that has become little more than a “big stick to punish the poor”.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/brutal-marcia-langton-early-backer-of-welfare-card-savages-its-roll-out-20190925-p52utw.html
Nick Miller writes about an unrepentant Boris Johnson’s return to an angry parliament. He says that Johnson took the opportunity to launch an attack on his country’s highest court of law, and to try again to goad the Opposition into calling an election.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/this-is-a-dead-parliament-angry-scenes-as-house-of-commons-reconvenes-20190926-p52v0c.html
And he says that Boris Johnson has lost every battle, but thinks he can win the war.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/boris-johnson-has-lost-every-battle-but-thinks-he-can-win-the-war-20190925-p52umj.html
Johnson faces political disgrace, but that will play well with some voters writes Katy Balls.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/sep/25/johnson-political-humiliation-parliament-brexit
A UN human rights body has been urged to investigate human organ harvesting in China.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/un-human-rights-body-urged-to-investigate-organ-harvesting-in-china-20190925-p52ust.html
Cartoon Corner
David Rowe and the current state of politics.
David Popa at his best here.
Cathy Wilcox in the palace.
A nice one from Andrew Dyson.
Matt Golding at a White House working dinner.
Mark David and an anxious moment for Morrison.
Zanetti in full flight!
From Alan Moir.
Jon Kudelka with Trump and Johnson.
https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/d5a80be2853e556a251ec7c6bdd3ffc8?width=1024
From the US
Thanks BK. Today’s Rowe is a beauty, but what a shocker depiction of Pelosi!
Confessions @ #10 Thursday, September 26th, 2019 – 7:17 am
Because nobody ever challenges him on any of it!
The Democrats running the impeachment hearings had better remember that perjury is a crime too.
OC,
None of it should be so surprising. The growth rate of PV installations worldwide was 24% from 2010 to 2017. Although this started from a low base, it’s now hitting big numbers, and prices are still falling.
Wind and solar went rom 9 to 12% of the mix in 2018 (i have difficulty believing this). “Exponential” growth indeed
Australia business jumped into the market in 2018, and commercial rooftop PV took off – so your local Bunnings, Coles and Woolworths have got in on the act. They have lots of big roofs.
Worldwide, PV panel production capacity rose dramatically in the five years to 2019 has maintained its size at almost 1/4 the size of the total stock of existing PV installations – the very definition of exponential growth!
Despite several states spending a fortune on gold plating the grid, it can not cope with the enormous number of input points from domestic solar
Yes and no. The distribution networks were ‘gold plating’ (sort of, some of them) in response to changes in regulation. They still delivery power, but not within the tightly-defined spec they are compelled to provide.
The bigger problem is with large-scale renewables on the transmission networks, esp in northwest Victoria and Nth Qld.
I wonder if child ScoMo ever took responsibility for his own misdeeds.
Morning all
As more information comes out about Trumps crimes, some of His fellow travellers will realise that they will no longer be able to defend the indefensible
Meanwhile Boris Johnson and his fellow travellers are continuing with the playbook of being the ones on the side of the people and against the establishment. We truly are living in bizarro world.
Definitely!
The symbiotic relationship of the Brexit and Trump imbroglio has been one of the most fascinating aspects of this saga
The U.S. and Israel – places where the person with fewer votes gets to win the election anyways. 🙄
LOL
Impeachment requires 2/3 of the House AND Senate to vote yes.
The Dems do not have 2/3 of the House.
The Republicans control the Senate and will vote no.
No impeachment.
Fess
Of course Tulsi Gubbard would say that……….
No, it requires a simple majority in the House to start impeachment proceedings, and then a two-thirds majority in the Senate to convict.
The House will vote yes, the Senate will vote no. Which means an impeachment, but no conviction (exactly like Bill Clinton).
Impeachment does not require 2/3 of the House to support it. It simply needs a majority, which the Democrats clearly have.
Conviction in the Senate requires 2/3 of Senators to support it. This will not happen.
Barnaby apparently employed two staffers to assist his drought work. Were they his partner and a child?
UI: “Voters in the resource seats chose jobs ahead of the environment in the election in May. This is undeniable. This will get worse.”
Its not as if labor was spruiking an unambiguous pro-climate, pro-renewable message during the election. The result may have been a lot different had they did. No major political leader is taking a clear leadership stance in the name of climate change. The last time a leader did was in 2007, and his party won in a landslide. Thats not to say Rudd’s climate stance won him the election, but it certainly didn’t harm it.
I would argue that the voters in resource seats are defaulting to the perceived ‘economy’ party – not because they are necessarily being frightened away from a pro-climate change message – but more because no one is giving them the opportunity to be swayed by the climate change arguments – simply because no major leader is taking up the climate change mantle. Not seriously. If they did, who knows, they might just be inspired and be able to see through the hollow coalition pledge of saving their jobs through sticking it to the climate activists. Especially if an unambiguous and clear pro-climate action message was combined with an optimistic economic message about the sea of job opportunities in the renewable sector, and a pledge for government assistance in reskilling away from the dead-end coal industry.
Or, if the voters in the resource seats really can’t be swayed, then screw them. There are enough non-resource seats to easily win government.
Meanwhile, unfolding….
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-ukraine-controversy/2019/09/25/9390e9b8-df82-11e9-b199-f638bf2c340f_story.html
This McGrath is an attention seeking menace.
Fess
The strategy of Nancy Pelosi cannot be underestimated. She has been waiting for the right time to proceed. The momentum is now building and lots of further information will be exposed with laser like focus. This is to enable them to show the public exactly what Trumps grift is
The telephone conversation with the Ukraine is not the main game. Lots of other stuff to be exposed elsewhere. Russia and Saudia Arabia will also feature.
Vic:
Some have noted that his more unhinged than usual press conference earlier is indication he won’t make it through the impeachment.
“Tulsi Gabbard is the rare Democratic presidential candidate who doesn’t support an impeachment inquiry. “Impeachment at this juncture would be terribly divisive for the country,” she said.”
In years time, I hope someone comes up to Tulsi Gabbard and asks “so you had control of congress when you were presented with damning evidence that The President abused his office for personal gain – and you did what?”
Fess
Trump knows what he has done. So far he has had William Barr and others cover for him, and Teflon don has muddled through. They will continue to do so, but it isn’t going to work this time. About time. It is taking a heck of a lot longer than I believed or wanted.
Oakeshott Country says:
Thursday, September 26, 2019 at 7:43 am
Some interesting points here if it is factual:
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/tipping-point-energy-regulator-says-electricity-grid-won-t-cope-with-more-solar-20190925-p52uvv.html
Thank heaven people are starting to talk about reality. It is not about Gas, Nuclear or stop adani.
Money has to be spent on the transmission system to deal with the changes that renewables bring, if we want reliability the government will have to stop wanking on about coal fired power stations and let the things that need to happen, happen. All the rest is as you put it, ecoporn.
Vic:
I hope you’re right.
Fess
I was always confident that he was a malignant narcissistic sexual deviant, mobster, who would be a traitor to his own country.
But my timing has been totally wrong from the get go. I seriously felt that he would be out on his arse in the first year. Yet he is still there. Sigh.
And will Trump ever put himself through testifying at any impeachment hearings. I can’t see him doing so. This is probably when he decides to finally walk away.
Vic:
What’s surprised me about all this is the rank hypocrisy of the Republicans, and just how much they are cowed by him, putting self interest before the interests of the country.
Fess
The rank hypocrisy is par for the course, especially with Republicans.
But Trump being beholden to foreign adversaries whilst President,is a bridge too far even for the GOP.
Victoria @ #42 Thursday, September 26th, 2019 – 9:01 am
Why walk away? He can just refuse to show up to testify in the “Democratic witch-hunt”. Force the House to try and subpoena him. Then it will end up in the Supreme Court, which he’s already stacked with supportive justices.
a r
It may very well play out as you suggest.
The relevations to be exposed in this shit show,won’t require the Supreme Court to finish off Trump. Trying to defend himself will be shown to be indefensible.
Practical solutions.
I actually think there is more…
Mark Elliott
@markmobility
Yo, there’s a second whistleblower, who alleges Trump tried to interfere with the IRS audit of his taxes.
Donald Trump Actually Has 2 Whistleblowers To Worry About
Don’t forget the whistleblower alleging possible interference with the IRS audit of the president’s tax returns.
huffpost.com
7:03 AM · Sep 26, 2019·Twitter Web App
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Dandy Murray @ #18 Thursday, September 26th, 2019 – 8:14 am
One could wish some people here would learn to differentiate facts from spin. Or at least learn to read the articles they post with a slightly more critical eye.
It is solar and wind that has risen from 9% to 12%, although I can see why you were fooled. The article you posted uses RenewEconomy’s favourite trick of having a headline and first couple of paragraphs that mentions only solar, with wind only getting a mention later in the article (if at all – often such articles just revert to the term “renewables”) when most people will have stopped reading. If you look at the actual figures (which this article doesn’t), they show that most of the growth in renewables is from wind, not solar.
And the growth is only “exponential” if you allow an exponent of one – i.e. it is linear, and has been linear ever since we have been recording the numbers. Sure, the rate of growth stepped up in 2018, primarily due to growth in commercial-scale solar (not domestic solar, as this article erroneously implies) but it is now essentially linear again. There are good reasons why it stays linear, which I’m sure you could figure out if you bothered to think about it.
And you clearly missed the key point of the story, which is this …
This is what it is really about – the companies that support the grid now want to charge domestic users more for access to the grid (rather than just charging primarily for the power itself) even though the grid problems are primarily being caused by commercial-scale renewables, not domestic. And I’m sure that most Australians, who already have the most expensive electricity in the world despite it being generated from the cheapest (and often the dirtiest) options, will just meekly cop it, as they always do 🙁