Whilst many posters express all sorts of idealistic and romantic
notions of how Australia could or should be, its seems to me that
nearly all are refusing to accept the reality of here and now,
which is not going to go away, because you hope that it will.

Fact is that Australia still runs a huge current account deficit
of around 5.5% of GDP. In simple terms, if nice lenders like
Japan and China, don't lend us the money each month to pay our
bills, we are stuffed basically. That is the reality.

So all those of you who suck on the Govt purse for your living,
should thank your lucky stars that areas like the Pilbara exist,
where people go to sweat and toil, under difficult conditions,
for it is due to them, that you can enjoy your cushy lifestyles.

Yes, rents are sky high and conditions rough. Thank our Govt
officials for refusing to release enough land for housing
developments, refusing to invest more $ in infrastrastructure
for the region, prefering to treat the NW as a cash cow of funds,
to finance various hairbrain schemes in the cities, where
politicians can gain votes. Politicians acting out of short
term self interest is fairly common. That is the case here once
again.

WA is not overpopulated, quite different from more crowded areas
of Sydney, Melbourne, the Gold Coast etc. The State covers
a third of this country and 10% of the Australian population here
are producing 50% of our exports, to pay your bills. Thank your
lucky stars!

Given that many Australians have it so good, that they have no need
to move anywhere for a living, it stands to reason that if areas
like the NW are to move forward and keep producing export dollars,
to finance your cushy lifestyles, then migrants are the only option
for those areas.

Notions of solar and other energy are all wonderful, anyone is free
to develop them, if they please. Meantime, Australia can't afford
to give up the day job just yet, as we continue as a major debtor
nation

“FIRST OFF, PLEASE EXPLAIN HOW EXTEND THE NORTHERN TERRITORY INTERVENTION ………..”

Sowat: You just have to read in the press of the disgraceful behaviour in some communities in respect to treatment of women and children. Excesses due to alcohol and drug abuse to find more then sufficient justification

“GIVEN THE PROVEN NEGLECT AND INDIFFERENCE TOWARDS THE 'FELLOW CITIZENS' IN QUESTION BY THE NUMEROUS MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR PRIVATE MINING COMPANIES……” WHO DO YOU THINK IS LIKELY TO FUND " .

If you have specific examples in mind you must make them public. In all fairness companies* should have the right of reply to specific allegations. Failure to do this means you are just indulging in meaningless rhetoric.

“…. THE DEVELOPMENT OF LARGE TOWNS IN RELATION TO THE ORD AND FITZROY RIVERS.'?”

I do not know about you, but most people buy their homes usually by mortgage. They also pay rates to local councils etc. Therefore the simple answer to your question is the inhabitants of the towns. Industry and commerce provides the employment so that the inhabitants get an income to pay for services.

“PROVIDE A RELIABLE AND PLENTIFUL SUPPLY OF CHEAP ENERGY. THIS MEANS GIVING 100% SUPPORT TO THE NUCLEAR INDUSTRY.”

I quote from Cost of Generating Electricity – Royal Academy of engineering .March 2004.

Base Load Power in pence/kWh#

Gas fired CCGT 2.2; Nuclear fission 2.3; Coal fired (pulverised steam) 2.5; Coal fired circulating fluidized bed 2.6; Coal-fired integrated gasification combined cycle 3.2.

Selected renewables with standby generation in pence/kWh.

Poultry Litter 6.8; Onshore wind farm 5.4; Offshore wind farm 7.2; Wave and marine 6.6.

[To be continued]

“CORPORATE (INCLUDING GOVERNMENT) SPIN REGULARLY INFORMS….. A RELIABLE AND PLENTIFUL SUPPLY OF CHEAP ENERGY', IE, THE HUGE RESERVES OF NATURAL GAS . …..) “

It is important to have a mix of power generation including nuclear. By the way is “green spin” ok.

“……AMPLE OPPORTUNITY FOR WIDESPREAD EMPLOYMENT OF SOLAR ENERGY CAPTURE AND USE. ………ADVANCES IN WIND POWER TECHNOLOGY ARE ALSO…….. “

I think you are calling for what some call boutique power and others piddle power. Expensive and unreliable power sources with low capacity

“NUCLEAR POWER IS NEITHER CHEAP NOR SAFE, DEMONSTRATED BY GOVERNMENTS WORLDWIDE TURNING TO READILY AVAILABLE ALTERNATE ENERGY SOURCES …….”

Expense has been considered above.

Safety see the Switkowski report chapter 6. Direct Fatal accidents expressed as deaths per GWe/year.

Coal 0.876; Oil 0.436; Coal (excluding China) 0.690; Natural gas 0.093; LPG 3.536; Hydro 4.265; Hydro ( Banqiao/Shimantan dam excluded) 0.561.
Nuclear a low 0.006.

For a list of new and proposed reactors see
http://www.uic.com.au/

”ENCOURAGE’ IS A EUPHEMISM FOR ‘SUBSIDISE”.

This is a matter of interpretation. Many Green groups claim tax exemptions on the basis of non profit making charities. Governments do subsidise wind and solar etc. Personally, if public money is to be spent in subsidies then I would like too see a maximum community return. I have no idea if a subsidy is paid to Woodside for instance. In fact I would think it most unlikely.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

*I have no connection with any mining or other commercial enterprise.
# I am not an engineer. I can not describe thee different types of coal plants. Can you help?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Ludwig. I must be brief. I suspect our disagreement is in detail and not in objectives. I doubt very much if the earths resources are anything like exhausted. The relation of resource use, population and standard of living must in detail, be complex. I am not suggesting that there should be no public health and industrial regulation. As far as I know Scott Ludham is the only person talking of turning a vast area into, “an industrial sacrifice zone.”