Foxy. "Nine coal power stations have closed
in the last five years in Australia. That should tells
us a great deal".

Yes Foxy it does tell us a great deal. It tells us that Labor governments will do the most destructive things, like wasting billions on hugely expensive wind power, to buy green preferences.

This is not only disgusting, but has resulted in my first ever over $1000 for a quarter electricity bill. $1214 actually. That is up 240% in just a couple of years.

Thanks ratbag greens, & lefty vote buyers.

Dear Hassie,

I don't know who you're with but we're quite happy with
our provider. Our bills are very reasonable. But then
of course we also have solar panels.

Foxy,

It is complete rubbish that Hazelwood has not been maintained. I have been through their maintenance program in detail, and their plant availability was > 90% which compared to the period of state ownership when availability was 70-80% is vastly superior.

The safety upgrades required were for the existing plant to be modified to meet safety standards for which they were never designed, which for a plant which would cost about $10bn to build today. The plant was profitable, but in the face of arbitrary new design standards and a tripling of the fuel tax, the closure of the plant was inevitable especially since the surge in electricity prices would more than compensate Engie's other generation plants.

As for the deaths to which the Morwell fire "contributed" these patients were in the last stages of respiratory collapse, their deaths were inevitable, and no direct link has been established.

SM,

It appears that Environment Victoria in the
link I cited earlier gives a different story
to your spin.

Remember there is a fire burning underground for the past thirty years or more in the brown coal belt.
They know it's there because the ground continually subsides.
I have no trouble with power also I put solar panels on in 2008.

I remember when people were getting all worked up about China commissioning new coal-fired power stations "every 3 minutes".

Maybe they brought several on-line within the same hour or so but the media deliberately didn't make that clear, otherwise there must be tens-of-thousands of them by now!

Meanwhile they've scrapped plans for 104 new plants because of over-capacity so Australian coal miners are going all-out to promote local coal use.

The defence of Hazelwood (along with deliberately promoting fear over potential shortages and blackouts) is part of a public softening-up strategy by the Federal Government to allow the construction of new domestic coal-fired plants.

Meanwhile the Snowy Mountains 2 announcement seems to have fallen flat and I suspect there will be great public resistance to a return to coal.