It’s surely strange that the Albanese government would crow about ramping up the Safeguard Mechanism on our largest greenhouse gas emitters and then complain about the Trump administration imposing a 25 per cent tariff on steel and aluminium?
If you believe Chris Bowen, green hydrogen in Australia is not dead or deceased or bereft of life. It’s just resting, pining for fields of solar panels and wind turbines.
Donald Trump sees his threat of tariffs as a powerful lever to use in negotiations with other countries. It’s all about parleying, not economics.
The air is going out of the net-zero tyres across the world. They’re not completely flat, but broadbased government and corporate support for achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 is fading.
The inflation rate is good news for the government, but it does not guarantee either an interest-rate cut or Labor’s re-election.
How did this bizarre situation come to pass? How is it that a country so blessed with resources, including large reserves of natural gas, can achieve such a ridiculous and costly arrangement?
The brutal truth is that successive Labor governments have failed to adequately control government spending or restrict the accumulation of debt for over two decades.
Benefits become part of people’s points of reference, including the middle class, and therefore any reduction in entitlements is deeply politically unpopular. It’s the principal reason governments find it so hard to control spending.
The US is racing ahead of Europe with very strong gains in productivity and employment. It’s shown that affordable and reliable energy is the bedrock of economic prosperity.
The reality is that the government-funded and owned NBN Co was never a good idea. It has been a commercial disaster.
Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/judith-sloan/page/3