Barnaby Joyce

[Geoff Dean]

SilentC, I whole heartedly agree with you.

Don't do that, he'll have no one to argue with.

[Wongo]

I notice that if you own a pool (I don't) there's going to be some sort of concession on your power bill so there goes my CO2 savings

I agree, that is just crazy. If anything they should be paying more.

[Geoff Dean]

I agree, that is just crazy. If anything they should be paying more.

Nope, less suits me just fine. (I only put my pool in last year )

[silentC]

We would like to get solar but apparently you also need to get a smart meter

Is that the case in QLD? We had to get a new meter but only because the one we had couldn't handle solar. The new one is much the same as the old. It's digital and it reports usage in three blocks, so it is a "smart meter", but so was our old one. Our energy supplier charges us a fixed amount for the lot, irrespective of the period. I think we could elect to go on the smart metering scheme, but I don't think it's a good idea.

[Ian Smith]

I agree, that is just crazy. If anything they should be paying more.

I think it has something to do with peak vs off-peak loading and they'll probably put the pool pumps in the same category as your off-peak Hot water system.
That'll run the bloody things in the dead of night and off the neighbours.

Wouldn't it be a strange turn of events if, because the entire East Coast is essentially drawing of a common grid,in an effort to spread the load and reduce the peak, they introduce some time zones and Queensland ends up on some sort of daylight savings regime.

Ian

[ColW]

there was a Festool sale coming up to, but you guilted me out of it.

I think festool is exempt from the sh#t category

I was recently talking to lady who was returning from shopping for a new mixer
her old one, a kenwood, received as a wedding gift 51 years ago just died, she bought another kenwood knowing it would outlast her, anyway she said she'd used the old one at least twice week for the half century it was functioning.

On solar, here in Vic we don't get a choice on having a smart meter, it just gets installed, apparently i'm already paying for the one I don't have, there's also no income from PV input to the grid, it comes as credit to power bills, so if you're generating more than you use, the power company seems to have a free supply of power to sell off, a sly handed dis-incentive, the alternative I suppose is to expend even more and use batteries and power yourself, not independant of the grid but it seems fairer under the current system.

The State gov is also looking to install legislation to create a 2km buffer zone around wind farms, effectively if you live within 2km you get a say on whether one can be built (in your backyard) yet if it were a coal/gas generator you would have no say whatsoever, there's still a lot of resistance to change.

[mic-d]

Is that the case in QLD? We had to get a new meter but only because the one we had couldn't handle solar. The new one is much the same as the old. It's digital and it reports usage in three blocks, so it is a "smart meter", but so was our old one. Our energy supplier charges us a fixed amount for the lot, irrespective of the period. I think we could elect to go on the smart metering scheme, but I don't think it's a good idea.

I dug a bit further and found the opposite, you don't need to get one. I don't know who to believe so I'm going to call my sparky and find out if he knows and can do an installation.

I think festool is exempt from the sh#t category

I was placing it more in the deserve/want category than the crap category

[damian]

The new kenwoods aren't anything like the old ones. I own a mk2 and a mk3 and I've got my partners mk4 in the kitchen at the moment. The 4's went to italy and I think they are now chinese.

If she hasn't chucked her old one she should keep it. Parts are horrendous but they are worth repairing.

[damian]

When we were travelling through Turkey and Greece a few years ago I could not help but notice the number of solar hot water system, especially in Turkey. I remember thinking how this put our boasts about "leading the world in solar technology" to shame.

There are no susbsidies there to help people out, at least according to our tour guides.

Makes you wonder about our attitudes and expectations, does it not?

In Spain I made a comment on the number of places, particularly new buildings, that had PV panels and solar hot water systems. In Spain it is mandated that you have these on all new buildings. Again no subsidy.

Are we greedy out here or have we missed something??

I agree with that outcome. Whether it should be subsidised is a valid discussion we as a community should have, along with the fact that we have had incentives to do these things and now as we are told renewables are imperitive those incentives are being cut.

I am not saying we SHOULD have incentives, or should not, but I do find it somewhat ridiculous that they are run down as the rhetoric is ramped up.

[silentC]

If you live in NSW and you have solar panels, the topic is a bit of a sore point at the moment. In selling it's retrospective legislation, the NSW government has managed to turn solar panel ownership into something that is frowned upon by the average punter, almost something to be ashamed of. It has been painted as a scheme that is bringing "windfall profits" to greedy parasites. I think you would have to have rocks in your head to go ahead with solar power at present. If I'd known how it was going to turn out, I would never have done it.

[mic-d]

If you live in NSW and you have solar panels, the topic is a bit of a sore point at the moment. In selling it's retrospective legislation, the NSW government has managed to turn solar panel ownership into something that is frowned upon by the average punter, almost something to be ashamed of. It has been painted as a scheme that is bringing "windfall profits" to greedy parasites. I think you would have to have rocks in your head to go ahead with solar power at present. If I'd known how it was going to turn out, I would never have done it.

When did you start worrying about what people thought of you?

[damian]

Is that the feed in tarriff issues ?

I always thought those levels were unsustainable. I have been wishing for years that the state and federal government could just come up with a simple scheme and leave it alone.

Trouble is, and this is another malais of modern australian politics, is government by announcment. They just make the same announcment over and over to get their heads on TV, but even if the initiative is implemented at all it gets done once and once only. Shifting rebates up and down every 6 months gives them something to announce.

Sigh.

[rrobor]

For me, the political sytstem has always been incorrect. You vote for some silly begger in the hope he or she has sense, Why not have a council to elect our pollies and if they dont perform you vote em out. At least you get the pick of the crop not some chosen oaf.

[jimbur]

For me, the political sytstem has always been incorrect. You vote for some silly begger in the hope he or she has sense, Why not have a council to elect our pollies and if they dont perform you vote em out. At least you get the pick of the crop not some chosen oaf.

Exactly, the ones we vote for have already been vetted by their party and I mean vetted as in emasculated so they'll toe the party line.
Cheers,
Jim

[damian]

You don't have to vote for someone who's in a party. Anyone can run for parliment or council. The real issue is that the very great majority of voters don't put any effort in. If they did then in each seat there would be face to face public meeting with candidates and we'd elect people who properly represent the views of the voters and if they don't they would be out next time. That isn't what happens.

I would like to recount an event that happened about 9 months ago. I was at the train station, I'd just missed a train so I wandered to the timetable to see when the next one was due. Ahead of me were two people, a young man and a woman, both caucasian, both well dressed. He looked at the timetable for a while and wandered off looking confused, she looked at it with increasing alarm waving her hands over it up and down and across then gave me a startled look and wandered off. It was quite clear neither had been able to determine when the next train was comming.

The point is you have to remember that a substantial portion of the population can barely read write and add up. There are MANY people who can't budget, more again who don't understand contracts economics etc. You have to remember that there are just as many people of below average intelligence as above average intelligence, and they all vote.

This isn't meant to be nasty, it's just a fact of life that a lot of the electorate just drift along through life, they are not sophisticated voters. A very great proportion of Australian voters vote for a party all their life and never change.

Ask 10 random people how the parliment works, or the stock market. You might be surprised....