Rent-seeker profits? The answer, stupid, is blowing in the wind
Rent-seekers. Peter Hannam, The Sydney Morning Herald, August 27:
Alex Turnbull blamed “rent-seekers” backing the coal industry for felling his father Malcolm Turnbull … saying it’s “impossible” to vote for the … Coalition … (He said) the Liberal Party faced being hijacked by financial interests that stood to make windfall profits … (adding that returns could be “100 to 1” and that the) “Liberal Party … has no money … I hope they find corruption, then I don’t have to believe it’s all stupidity … My father fought the stupid and the stupid won” … (Keeping) ageing coal-fired power stations going … (was) “like trying to keep crappy cars — like a 1994 Ford Laser — on the road” … (and) “could create ‘human wontons’ of any staff” … He predicted … (after) two terms of federal Labor … Australia’s electricity sector “would have crossed the magic line” (exceeding 40 per cent from wind and solar). “They’re not going to be able to go back.”
Which rent-seekers? Angela Macdonald-Smith, The Australian Financial Review, March 1, 2016:
The Turnbull government’s support for … getting about 23.5 per cent of Australia’s electricity from renewable sources by 2020 has sparked a rise in the prices of renewable energy certificates … Infigen Energy managing director Miles George says that after a “two-year drought” in investment … interest has surged … thanks to the changed government rhetoric … Shares … which reached a low of 22c last August, have … more than (doubled) … Investors … include Keshik Capital, the Singapore-based hedge fund of … Alex Turnbull …
Ka-ching! Windfall profits? Macdonald-Smith, The Australian Financial Review, August 27:
Infigen Energy … posted a 41 per cent jump in full-year profit …
Ka-ching! Carbon tax profit? Emma Alberici, abc.net.au, August 28:
(Alex Turnbull) spent five years at Goldman Sachs … during the Rudd-Gillard governments, when the prospect of a carbon price depressed the … prospects of those energy generators. … Turnbull … bought the debt cheap. But when Labor decided to provide generous compensation … the investment bank made loads of money …
Ka-ching! John Stensholt, The Canberra Times, February 15, 2016:
Shareholders are angry that … Alex Turnbull … (is) one of only three secured creditors in PlayUp, the failed sports technology company … Alex … took a small stake … as did his father … Sources said Alex … negotiated a secured debt status with PlayUp management … when former NSW premier Nick Greiner was chairman … the Turnbull family … extracted more money … than just about all of the high-profile shareholders …
Their guy! Jacqueline Maley, The Sydney Morning Herald, August 24:
And at the very end, we got our guy back … Why, he even boasted about his commitment to renewable energy … He exuded the relaxed attitude of a man who has a large … soft pillow of wealth to fall back into … Whether you blame … Tony Abbott … (the) idiocy of the Liberal Party chookyard or … his own flaws … Turnbull’s gone … taking his fine art collection with him.
Don’t waste rents on defamation? Myriam Robin, TheAustralian Financial Review, August 29:
Alex Turnbull … (slagged) off … those in political parties … “selected for low-empathy, narcissistic-spectrum personality disorder” … (but) asked why the Coalition was so wedded to coal-fired power … (he is) uncharacteristically cautious … saying he’s worried about a defamation suit. And that interest capture … (isn’t) illegal …