The United Nations' World Heritage Committee, meeting in Doha, rejected the Government's application to reverse protection for 74,000 hectares.

The area was part of 170,000 hectares added to the WHA last year under Tasmania's forest peace deal enacted by the former state and federal Labor governments.

News of the decision was quickly welcomed by conservation groups, including former Greens leader Bob Brown who described the decision as a "global diplomatic humiliation" for the Abbott Government.
The Coalition had argued the 74,000 hectares were degraded by previous logging and should be unlocked for the timber industry.

But opponents to the move said only 8.6 per cent of the forests had been disturbed, with the rest being pristine old-growth rainforest.
Speaking from Doha, delegates from Portugal said "accepting this delisting would set an unacceptable precedent".

Wilderness Society campaign manager Vica Bayley said the decision showed the world was behind preserving the forest.

Being a PM does not exempt you from governing responsibly, as our fuThe United Nations' World Heritage Committee, meeting in Doha, rejected the Government's application to reverse protection for 74,000 hectares.

The area was part of 170,000 hectares added to the WHA last year under Tasmania's forest peace deal enacted by the former state and federal Labor governments.

News of the decision was quickly welcomed by conservation groups, including former Greens leader Bob Brown who described the decision as a "global diplomatic humiliation" for the Abbott Government.

The Coalition had argued the 74,000 hectares were degraded by previous logging and should be unlocked for the timber industry.

But opponents to the move said only 8.6 per cent of the forests had been disturbed, with the rest being pristine old-growth rainforest.
Speaking from Doha, delegates from Portugal said "accepting this delisting would set an unacceptable precedent".

Wilderness Society campaign manager Vica Bayley said the decision showed the world was behind preserving the forest.

Just because you are PM does not exempt you from governing responsibly, surely Mr Abbott must come to notice he can't go around shooting from the hip and expect to get his way.

TONY Abbott says he will call a double dissolution election if he is unable to repeal the carbon tax in government.

Speaking on Sky News's Australian Agenda program the Opposition Leader said the Australian public was "sick of governments which procrastinate on important policy commitments".

He said an incoming Coalition government would "move quickly" to repeal the carbon and mining taxes and restore effective border protection if they received a mandate at the next federal election to do so.
"I don't believe the Labor Party is going to commit suicide twice over the carbon tax. A Labor government which is decisively rejected by the public over the carbon tax is not going to persist with an electorally suicidal policy," Mr Abbott said.

"Having said that, if I'm wrong, if an incoming Coalition government can't get its carbon tax repeal legislation through the Senate, well, we will not hesitate to go to a double dissolution.

Here is an article from the Economist which gives a dispassionate assessment of the state of renewable generation in Germany. P.S. note that this is almost exclusively direct action.

http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21594336-germanys-new-super-minister-energy-and-economy-has-his-work-cut-out-sunny-windy-costly

"German consumers and voters like these targets. But they increasingly dislike their side-effects. First, there is the rising cost of electricity. This is a consequence of a renewable-energy law passed in 2000 which guarantees not only 20 years of fixed high prices for solar and wind producers but also preferred access to the electricity grid. As a result, Bavarian roofs now gleam with solar panels and windmills dominate entire landscapes. Last year, the share of renewables in electricity production hit a record 23.4%.

This subsidy is costly. The difference between the market price for electricity and the higher fixed price for renewables is passed on to consumers, whose bills have been rising for years. An average household now pays an extra €260 ($355) a year to subsidise renewables: the total cost of renewable subsidies in 2013 was €16 billion. Costs are also going up for companies, making them less competitive than rivals from America, where energy prices are falling thanks to the fracking boom."

There is no comparison of the US grid to the AU grid and is stupid to try and take US as an example of anything.

I admire your Credentials and expertise in the inner workings of power generation.

I will say one minor thing about fracking. It has no influence on the US grid what so ever.

I am not disclosing my credentials on this site.

Electricity prices generally reflect the costs to build, finance,
maintain, manage, and operate power plants and the electricity grid (the complex system of power transmission and distribution lines), and to operate and administer the utilities that supply electricity to consumers.
Some utilities are for-profit, and their prices include a return for the owners and shareholders.

Some key factors that affect the price of electricity include:

Fuels — Coal is relatively inexpensive while natural gas tends to be more costly.
Power plants — Construction and maintenance costs are greater for some kinds of power plants than others.
Transmission and distribution lines — Maintaining and using the transmission system to deliver electricity contributes to the cost of electricity.
Weather conditions — Rain and snow can provide water for hydropower generation. Extreme heat can increase the demand for electricity for cooling.
Regulations — In some states, prices are fully regulated by Public Service Commissions, while in others there is a combination of unregulated prices (for generators) and regulated prices (for transmission and distribution).

Electricity Prices Are Usually Highest in the Summer

The cost to generate electricity actually changes minute-by-minute. However, most consumers pay rates based on the seasonal cost of electricity. Changes in prices generally reflect variations in electricity demand, availability of different generation sources, fuel costs, and plant availability. Prices are usually highest in the summer because more expensive generation is added to meet the higher demand.

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"I will say one minor thing about fracking. It has no influence on the US grid what so ever."

You would appear to be at odds with every economist in the world.

You said "Electricity prices generally reflect the costs to build, finance, maintain, manage, and OPERATE power plants and the electricity grid"

The key word being OPERATE.

While for solar, wind and nuclear generators the recovery of capital costs may dwarf fuel costs, for coal and gas fired plants, the opposite is true, and a drop in gas prices leads to a lower OPERATING cost that lowers the price the generators can sell power to the networks.

While for domestic consumers whose cost of electricity is 90%+ composed of network costs, the change is small, but for industry whose proportion of generation costs is from 25% to 60% the change is considerable.

The advent of plentiful and cheap energy from fracking is attributed substantially for the relatively rapid US economic recovery.

Gas fired generators are the last port of call. First priority is nuclear, second is Coal, third is wind and solar, forth is gas.; WHY
Because gas can be switched on and off at a minutes notice.
Gas normally used at times of peak consumption.
Neuclear and coal are a 24 hour a day generator.
Wind is a 24 hr generator
Solar is a daylight generator.
Gas is backup.
AU has some 60 gas fired generators. Mostly sit idle during autumn winter and spring. Otherwise used during maintainence shutdowns.