Random Note #189,542 – Electricity and a thumb on the scale.
If, or perhaps when, it is put to Malcolm Turnbull that the government should acquire compulsorily or otherwise, Liddell Power Station in 2022 or before, it occurs to me that he can hardly use the excuse (as I’m predicting) that the government is not in the electricity business, doesn’t fix or interfere with the private market or pick winners.
With the $3 billion government subsidies to renewables annually, the government IS in the electricity business, the government IS fixing and interfering in the private market and the government IS picking winners with a thumb on the scale to advantage renewables and to the detriment of and to the disadvantage of cheap coal and electricity consumers. (ie) every single Australian
The government should follow the lead laid in the Hippocratic oath, Primum non nocere.
That is “first, do no harm.” In other words in certain cases, it may be better to do nothing rather than intervening and potentially causing more harm than good.
That’s exactly what the government has done with energy policy in Australia, interfering unnecessarily and doing more harm than good and totally and unnecessarily wrecking, trashing and vandalising the industry.
As Ronald Reagan said, “government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”