After cake, can John Hewson tell us why solar power needs our taxes?

Former member for Wentworth and Liberal Party leader John Hewson speaks to the media at the Bondi Markets in Sydney earlier this month. Photo: AAP

A drubbing will force change. Anne Davies, The Guardian, October 10:

Former Liberal leader John Hewson … wants voters in his former seat of Wentworth to … give the Liberals “a drubbing” … to force the party … to ­respond to “the urgent challenge” of climate change.

What change? Solar energy is so cheap. Sophie Vorrath, Renew­Economy.com.au, June 7, 2016:

The ambitious … $1.2 billion project (for a solar thermal power plant in Port Augusta) was officially launched … on Tuesday by Solastor’s high-profile chairman, John Hewson, who said he was confident the technology could produce the lowest-price 24/7 solar power in the world.

Cheap? So, why does he need taxpayer money? Michael Owen, The Australian, August 18, 2017:

The federal government’s $110 million promised for solar thermal technology in South Australia may be shared … Former Liberal leader John Hewson … chairman of Port Augusta Graphite Energy (formerly Solarstor) said his company’s project would seek to access some of the federal money.

Hewson explains birthday cake GST to Mike Willesee. A Current Affair, Nine Network, March 3, 1993:

Well, it will depend on whether cakes today in that shop are subject to sales tax … Let’s assume they don’t have a sales tax … then that birthday cake is going to be sales tax free. Then of course you wouldn’t pay — it would be exempt, would, sorry — there would be no GST on it under our system. If it was one with a sales tax … then the difference would be the difference between the two taxes … how it’s decorated, because there will be sales tax perhaps on … decorations

Hewson explains why GST on birthday cake lost him the 1993 election. Enough Rope with Andrew Denton, ABC TV, August 7, 2006:

Well, I answered the question honestly … I should have told …(Willesee) to get stuffed!

Who read the report on the dud aid project? ABC’s Q&A, October 15:

Senator James Paterson: The questioner (asked), ‘How do we solve poverty?’ and I think it’s Jeffrey’s friend Bono put it best when he said that “Entrepreneurial capitalism has reduced poverty far more than foreign aid ever will” …

Jeffrey Sachs: It’s fine, entrepreneurship … But let’s not sloganeer when the question is getting kids in school … basic healthcare … basic water …

Paterson: It’s not a slogan …

Sachs: Well … (it’s) not going to save those kids next year … so it’s a slogan.

Paterson: … Lots of things you have recommended haven’t worked either.

Sachs: … What I have helped to lead has been a massive decline of poverty … what you’re saying is a glib slogan …

Paterson: Jeffrey, you should know … about what some of the limitations of foreign aid … a UK government review of your recent Millennium Villages Project in Ghana showed that after five years and … £11 million of UK taxpayers’ money … virtually no progress was made on poverty and hunger.

Sachs: … You read the Daily Mail!

Paterson: No, I read the report …

Host Tony Jones: Frankly, I read the report also and it said that multi­dimensional poverty was cut sharply, and that incomes went up, so you read a different report.

What the report said. Impact Evaluation Millennium Villages Project in Northern Ghana, August:

The project … did not meet its stated goals … The evaluation observed no impact … on the level of poverty or hunger … child mortality, immunisation rates, antenatal care, access to drinking water … the results could have been achieved at significantly lower costs.