Sometimes living in Australia is like living in a country of slow learners.
Once again, an industry is in chaos because a government has panicked and changed course as a result of the public’s enthusiastic adoption of policy measure – in this case the NSW gross feed-in tariff from domestic photovoltaics.
Governments of all stripes have done this – can you remember back to the ill-fated Greenhouse Gas Abatement Scheme?
Since then, we have seen the renewable energy target with its design that magically transformed solar hot water heaters into mini power generators, a home insulation scheme that fostered shoddy work, as well as the gross feed-in tariff that became too expensive.
These schemes have a few of things in common.
First, they have been widely adopted and then either abandoned or drastically changed, leaving businesses and consumers confused and with a bitter taste in their mouths.
Second, all the mess-ups were predicted, but governments or their officials just didn’t listen or succumbed to the crass politics of the day.
Third, the schemes are designed to move the economy towards clean green energy but are, in fact, a proxy price on carbon. And they produce very expensive carbon, at that.
You would think that after one or two experiences we would learn, but we seem to be slow learners.
What is more astonishing is that if we look within Australia and then across to Europe, we find plenty of evidence that emissions trading does, in fact, work. The European Trading Scheme about to go into its third phase has worked much as people said it would and has resulted in less greenhouse gas being emitted and at least-cost.
Closer to home the Greenhouse Gas Abatement Scheme has also worked and has successfully shown how sinks can be built into a trading scheme.
But as I said Australians seem to be slow learners, we appear to want to try fancy schemes, government hand-outs and anything other than a broad-based cap-and-trade scheme.
Slow learners indeed!
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