Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Maybe it was Sir Edmund Barton

And , it would have been 3 votes for Little Johnny except a vote for Johnny meant we would getting Peter "the clown grin" Costello .

That's alright Chappo... after Monday the choice might be (supercilious clown grin) Abbott...

Lord helps us.... and the only other contender... who wont run unless he has to at the moment... is Hocky.... John Howard on steriods....

I'm definately running out of people I consider good enough to recieve my vote ,, Hmmm maybe I should move ,, Obama looks ok:)

I think you mean John Howerd on Big Mac's

My 2c:
Little Johhny didn't even recognise Global Warming until public opinion went above 50% - so he's an idiot (or more likely just a politician).

We SHOULD pay more for our electricity and water. This will drive people to use LESS and actually care about how much they use.

The Carbon Trading Scheme is a sham - if those kickbacks are given to the coal industry it'll cost us a bomb to get it back off them. It won't do anything towards fixing the problem either.

In my experience most baby boomers are climate change denialists because it would mean lifestyle changes.

I agree gemmell
The only way to discourage power use it to increase costs
... and have incentives to produce goods with low energy use.
That ignorant mob of n00bs on the other side of the house sold so many dividend companies,
you know the ones that were making our country affluent, that our parents paid for
and now we are paying for their infrastructure

I'm with Gemmal, increasing the price of energy causes people to use less of it. Encouraging people to drive more fuel efficient vehicles wasn't nearly as effective as a small increase in the price of fuel to make people actually drive something better...the same logic applies to electricity. All the ranting you hear about the price of electricity is the anguished cries of people resisting change. If prices go up by 20% reduce your consumption by 20% and bob's your uncle.

I don't mind an increase for the home, but the business is another thing.

the problem is that these kinds of changes hit people who can least afford it the hardest.
lets get real for a second, do you really think that someone like me who works in the mining industry is going to be worried about a 20% rise in his power bill?! i'll laugh at your 20% rise and buy a new big television and fridge.

The people this is REALLY going to affect is pensioners and low income earners with families, who have ALREADY cut their use as far as they can. to them this is just going to mean more expensive power.

It's flawed logic to think people can just keep reducing consumption in response to higher prices, there is a minimum base useage that's required to live.

in a nut shell this is an extra $600 in tax per year the goverment is milking us for, with no clear result. have they even proposed a way to measure if this scheme is a success?

+1

I remember my high school driving instructor's logic in relation to car safety. If cars were made of dynamite, people would drive really, really carefully and there would be no accidents. Increasing car safety makes people drive more recklessly and causes more accidents than it prevents because survivability increases.

Applying similar logic, if electricity was $5 per kwH instead of 15 cents then people would find ways of using next to none. As the price increases people will start to always think twice about opening the fridge door to gaze at the contents, or about leaving the fan running in the bathroom because of some smell or leaving the air conditioning on because the cat finds it more comfortable when you're not home.

I don't think that pensioners and low income earners will be substantially affected, I believe compensation is already on the cards for them. No, those that will be most affected will be those that don't qualify for government handouts...the middle class for whom $600 isn't going to break the bank but is just going to be another thing preventing them from retiring.

As far as AP is concerned...expect to see more people in this forum learning as they go. Everyone that steps foot on my places gets the tour and they are all interested. Some have even started making their own plans.

ha, my g/f would leave our aircon going for the dog even if the cost was $20 k/watt/hr
agreed with middle class comment, though i doubt anyone of my generation will be able to retire or be allowed to access our super.
super will be stolen by the government, poured into paying back krudd's debt and repaid to us as a pension. mark my words.

Power and water still needs to be more expensive, most things need to be, and as a minimum wage earner I'm happy to pay more. Unfortunately the scheme has lost all of it's teeth, it's gone soft on the big polluters.

Make the big buggers pay, then give the kick backs to the pensioners instead who really need it to pay the increased costs..

Those that just laugh at it all and use more because they are earning lots and don;t care will NEVER change their attitudes no matter what you do. But if we stop making concessions to the coal industry, mining industry, oil n gas, power industry etc, perhaps some of those people within the industry on ridiculous amounts of money, won't be getting those insane amounts of money any more. Maybe then they might start caring....

Is change always a good thing? If change is causing anguish does that make you happy?

If temporary anguish results in permanent environmental benefits....yes.
Do you feel sorry for those people on Australia's Funniest Home Videos...their temporary anguish gives me lots of happiness on occasion.