And while Rome burns, let all of Australia concentrate on what really matters, gay marriage.

Yesterday, Malcolm Turnbull, unveiling the plans by Pratt for new investment in containers said, "You know everything my government does is designed to encourage Australian businesses to invest." The absurdity of this was underlined by Anthony Pratt informing us, "Our cost of energy in America is 2½ times lower than Australia.''

That pretty much sums up the stupidity of Turnbull and of Australia itself. While we have the current dropkicks we do have in parliament, we will be lucky to level out at Third World status.

“It is very difficult to think back to history for examples of when governments engaged so fully and comprehensively in acts of vandalism to destruction the economy of a nation whose prosperity they were charged with promoting”.

Totally true. Thank you Alan Moran

Yes, and I remember when we, with non privatized, non corporatized, publicly owned power and supporting coal mines, were around 2.5 times cheaper than America?

But that was before folks, who would be challenged to run a chook raffle, allowed themselves to be advised to, sell our energy provision down the river. And or use it as their personal ATM or gift that never stops giving to internal revenue.

And madness, when as every schoolkid knows, every western style economy rest solely on just two support pillars, energy and capital!

And while I absolutely believe in free market capitalism, those two can never evner allowed to become part of it, except as cooperative constructs.

You know where the folk who own the shop are the same ones who man it; and indeed compete with all others for your business!

And as the most efficient lowest costing free market, private business model, survived the Great Depression largely intact.

And hardly ever grow too big to fail!

And completely unpalatable to "blind" conservatives, who see their fellow drones being deprived of the usual free ride/free lunches, supported by the lowest common denominator, virtual slavery, highly exploitative, parasitic, that is their preferred, always grows too big to fail, business model.

This is where government of all political persuasion have failed, given they're invariably engrossed in the banal power struggle! They've completely taken their eye off the ball and the very make a difference, reason why a few of them opted for thankless politics?

Someday walk away safe (molten salt) thorium will be proven as the lowest costing, safest, cleanest power. That day has been and gone, Aiden, without so much as a single accident or incident, way back between the fifties and seventies. And only held back by green fundamentalists and intransigent recalcitrant morons posing as halfway intelligent politicians/humans!
Alan B.

Gawd here we go again,more rubbish from a bloke who has never done a hard physical days work in his life,he like most of the political class never worked just uni,then into the IPA.
Now for the IPA, funded by unknown mysterious people is a registered Charity which to me is a bit rich, pack of over paid bludgers who have no idea what its like to live on a low wage & pay bills as well.
If you can BS with a straight face like all IPA/Liberal Politicians, because they are one & the same,a secretive bunch of so called fellows of the IPA of whom we now have a number of clones into Federal Parliament as Libs I,m not sure what exotic Uni you have to attend to be one of them but most strike me as being thick as two planks.
Like the party they own along with the chief backer one Murdoch,they blame Labor for everything,what we need say the IPA paymasters is Austerity,lower wages,less tax on poor bastards like the wealthy,tax is terrible,sounds like they are pinching the ideas of the anti tax crowd in the US.
In reality the IPA ideas are straight out of the robber baron era in US in the late 19th early 20th Century,where Jack knew his place, well chaps that's as near as your Govt will get they & you will gone sooner than you think

An excellent article.

It is State governments that set excessive energy floor prices to keep power campanies profitable. This was part of the deal years ago when State Governments sold electricity networks (for big bucks) to profit making private companies (Origin Energy etc).

Yet State and Federal politicians know the political equation:

Spurious Renewable claims = More Votes from the political center

many regressives sit in Government offices all day being overpaid and flying around the country at tax payer expense. They then lecture on cutting back on emissions knowing the fraudulent dogmas will keep their own jobs safe. Little do they care about the pensioner struggling to pay heating and cooling costs. Never have we had such a dumbed down community so as to believe the gw scam. Maybe we deserve what we are getting by allowing these socialist to infiltrate the schools and universities. No wonder fake science is on the nose with so many.