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  • Preferential Voting in Australia.

    I am republishing this for the benefit of those who may not understand Preferential
    Voting in Australia.

    This will fuilly explain what Joe Ebono is saying in one of his campaign speeches.

    Neville Gillmore

    May 12, 2010

    Preferential Voting in Australia

    At the request of political science colleagues, I have updated an article I wrote for the ABC’s 2004 federal election site that dealt with the history of preferential voting in Australia. In the article I tabulated how preferences have changed results at elections since 1949.

    As politicians and political scientists in the UK scramble for information on the ‘alternative vote’, it turns out my article is the only attempt in decades to analyse the operation of the alternative vote at Australian elections. So I have updated the article with data from the 2004 and 2007 elections.

    There is a remarkable conclusion to the artcle. In the high period of the DLP between 1955 and 1972, the Coalition won a total of 34 seats at seven elections after trailing Labor on the first preference vote. In the same period, Labor came from behind to win in just one seat.

    Since 1980, the operation of preferential voting has had the reverse political impact. At the 11 elections since 1980, the Coalition has won only five seats where the combined Coalition vote trailed Labor on the first preference count. In the same period, Labor has won a total of 61 seats having trailed the combined Coalition vote on first prefernces.

    Indeed, Labor won 11 seats from behind the combined Coalition vote at the 2007 election, nine after finishing second on the first preference vote. The Labor Party would not have won a majority of seats at the 2007 election had the election been decided on first past the post rules.

    Given this record, it is a wonder that hard-heads in the Coalition haven’t realised they are being beaten by compulsory preferential voting, and perhaps optional preferential voting might be worth a try.

    Continue reading “Preferential Voting in Australia” »

    Posted by Antony Green on May 12, 2010 at 02:56 PM in Federal Politics and Governments, Psephology | | Comments (10)

    May 07, 2010

  • Back me on climate, says PM as emission trading stays on ice

     

    The government allocated $652.5 million in the budget to new renewable energy and energy-efficiency programs.

    ”I have consistently said … climate change is real, it’s caused by human activity. We will as a nation need a price on carbon; to get there we need community consensus,” Ms Gillard said.

    Mr Abbott told Brisbane radio yesterday he would like to see emissions reduced but the economy should not be turned upside down to do it. ”The problem with some of the more zealous emission reducers is that they would do enormous damage to our economy without necessarily improving the environment. In the end we’ve got to be pragmatic and we’ve got to be scientific about this, and the scientific consensus is not nearly as solid as the climate-change zealots would have us believe.”

    Early next week cabinet will consider energy-efficiency program options proposed by department heads in a report handed to the government last Friday. Several options are said to be in the mix, including targets or obligations for business and the community to increase their energy efficiency over time.

    A proposal to impose pollution standards on electricity generators was considered at one point. The United States, China and Japan are all considering similar standards. Modelling seen by the Herald shows a low pollution standard for electricity generators would increase prices by 14¢ a week in Victoria and 1¢ a week in NSW.

    It also shows pollution standards on power plants would halt the growth in greenhouse emissions from energy production until 2040, but would not decrease emissions as much as a carbon price would.

    The opposition is also preparing policies on top of its $3.2 billion climate plan, with announcements on power generators and community involvement in reducing emissions expected.

    The Greens leader, Bob Brown, said yesterday he was disappointed with Ms Gillard’s time frame for reviewing a decision on a carbon price, saying the Greens would ensure that better climate policies are developed no matter which party was in power.

    An Australian Conservation Foundation spokesman, Tony Mohr, said: ”The decision to leave the emissions trading scheme on ice … will bring about an abrupt end to her honeymoon.”

    The head of AGL Energy, Michael Fraser, will argue today for a price on carbon to address uncertainty facing investors in the energy sector.

    with Clancy Yeates and AAP

     

  • Researchers win grant to use algae to make fuel

     

    “It’ll take us ’til the first quarter of next year to put all the equipment in place,” he said.

    “What we’re trying to do there is grow algae at the power station, modify the system and run it through a trial period through next year to understand exactly how the algae grows and how it responds to the flu gas emissions.”

    Mr Lawson says the project is the first of its kind in the world.

    “It’s really the first anywhere and the other project in Spain is connected to a cement kiln and there’s a similar sort of approach in Israel, so this is the first one of its scale at a power station,” he said.

    Tags: alternative-energy, energy, research, research-organisations, maroochydore-4558, tarong-4615, toowoomba-4350

  • Solar plane completes night flight

     

    “It’s the first time ever that a solar airplane has flown through the night,” said team chief Bertrand Piccard, the Swiss adventurer who achieved the first round-the-world balloon flight in 1999.

    “That was the moment that proved the mission was successful, we made it,” he told journalists.

    Alighting from the plane after sitting day and night in the narrow cockpit, Borschberg said he felt that he was “floating”.

    “I have the impression that I’m still in the air,” the 57-year-old said on the tarmac, as he was showered by congratulations and slaps on the back form the 70-strong team.

    “I feel very pleased, really happy. It was crucial step. Now we’ll go even further, we’ll do long missions.”

    The high-tech single-seater aircraft had taken off from Payerne in the early hours of Wednesday, in the first ever attempt to use solar energy alone to keep a manned flight aloft for a day and a night.

    Flight director Claude Nicollier said that the flight had gone well overnight just as Borschberg guided the experimental aircraft towards a landing after dawn.

    “It went better than that,” Mr Nicollier said.

    The plane’s flight during the overnight hours of darkness was powered by the charge its batteries had stored during the 14 hours of daytime flight thanks to an array of 12,000 solar cells on wings the size of an airliner’s.

    “It’s a super flight, better than nominal,” added Mr Nicollier, a former space shuttle astronaut.

    As darkness fell there were fears that a sudden burst of strong high altitude winds at dusk had deprived Solar Impulse of some of the stored energy to last the night.

    But Borschberg seemed unflustered by the 26-hour experience, dismissing “one or two little difficulties”.

    “The flight was really zen. It’s very peaceful, during this time you have the time to think and to concentrate,” he explained.

    Piccard revealed that Solar Impulse had emerged from darkness with three hours of energy left in its batteries, a far bigger margin than expected.

    The first prototype, shaped like a giant dragonfly, is clad with solar panels across a wingspan of 63 metres, the size of an Airbus A340 airliner.

    The solar cells and nearly half a tonne of batteries provide energy for four small electric motors and propellers – the “power of a scooter”, as the crew put it – and weigh little more than a saloon car.

    The team is driven by a desire to demonstrate that clean energy is technically feasible and should be developed and used more widely for transport, in the household and at work.

    – AFP

  • Economist warns Gillard on carbon price delay

     

    Professor McKibbin says the Prime Minister has it wrong and uncertainty is costing the Australian economy.

    “We need to have investment in energy infrastructure,” he said.

    “Companies are postponing that investment, that means that energy prices will be higher and in fact at some point there could be serious problems with delivery of energy on a consistent basis.”

     

    Policy under fire

     

    The Federal Government is yet to announce the full details of the climate change policy it will take to the election, but Ms Gillard has hinted that could involve a boost to alternative energy.

    The head of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, Ellen Sandell, says the Prime Minister has made a mistake.

    “We saw that young people were moving away from Rudd after he shelved the emissions trading scheme, and then when Julia Gillard became Prime Minister, people looked to her and said is this a fresh start?” she said.

    “But her comments last night really worry us because it looks like it isn’t actually a fresh start, just another delay.”

    The Australian Conservation Foundation’s Tony Mohr says even a massive investment in renewable energy will not be enough to meet Australia’s emissions reduction targets.

    “We would need seven policies the size of the existing renewable energy target just to get to the 5 per cent reduction in our national greenhouse gas pollution,” he said.

    “We have a very pollution dependent economy and we need to be tackling all the areas in the economy when we’re tackling this problem. That means making sure that there’s rewards for companies who are doing the right thing to reduce Australia’s pollution but also there’s a price tag for companies who aren’t.”

    Carbon price or not, Australian businesses may soon be under more pressure to address climate change.

    Australian Ethical Investment and the Climate Institute have joined forces to launch the Climate Advocacy Fund.

    The institute’s business director, Julian Poulter, says the fund will target Australia’s biggest companies.

    He says the idea is to invest in these companies and then get shareholders to force them to change their ways.

    “The climate advocacy fund will invest broadly across the ASX200, and one of its objectives is to raise shareholder resolutions,” he said.

    “In fact we’ll be raising Australia’s first climate change shareholder resolution later this year.”

    Mr Poulter says the fund is the first of its kind in the world.

    Tags: business-economics-and-finance, environment, climate-change, government-and-politics, elections, federal-government, activism-and-lobbying, environmentally-sustainable-business, emissions-trading, federal-elections, australia

    First posted 14 minutes ago

  • Green Loans debacle continues as audit reports reveal extent of wrong doing

    Green Loans debacle continues as audit reports reveal extent of
    wrong-doing

    Thursday 8 July 2010

    There are more questions than answers remaining about the Gillard
    government’s household energy efficiency programs after today’s
    announcement by Minister Penny Wong.

    The changes to the Green Loans program, rolling it into the already
    planned Green Start program, come as the Minister released damning audit
    reports into the management of Green Loans. Patricia Faulkner’s report
    found that 96% of procurements breached proper practices and there were
    ‘repeated and systematic breaches’ of financial management regulations.

    “The thousands of small business people who have been left in the lurch
    by the extraordinary mismanagement of this program will feel vindicated
    by these incredibly damning audit reports,” Australian Greens Deputy
    Leader, Senator Christine Milne, said.

    “But feeling vindicated does not pay the bills. These people need
    solutions and today’s announcement still leaves them in limbo, with
    little clarity about the future.

    “Even today’s announcement was botched, with little information provided
    on the changes to the scheme and the audit reports released, then
    removed from the Department’s website before finally being replaced over
    an hour later.

    “The audit reports make for deeply troubling reading, with systematic
    breaches of procurement policies and basic financial management
    regulations.

    “Unlike the understandably rushed insulation roll-out, Green Loans was a
    long-planned election promise. You have to ask how the training,
    accreditation and seemingly every other process went so badly wrong.

    “It is important to note that the ‘new’ Green Start program is not new.
    It has been long planned. The Minister has not made it clear how the two
    previously separate programs will interact, or revealed basics such as
    how many household assessments they intend to procure through the new
    grant administration arrangements.

    “Thousands of assessors are still in limbo, with no clarity as to how
    their numbers will be culled and no news on whether compensation will be
    forthcoming. All those who have been accredited but not yet contracted
    to the department are still waiting for any change.

    “Regardless of the problems with both the insulation roll-out and the
    Green Loans scheme, energy efficiency remains by far the fastest and
    cheapest way to reduce emissions, and the Greens have positive and
    constructive ideas for how to make it happen.

    “The Greens will continue to work with assessors and others to attempt
    to convince Minister Wong to support their desire to help Australian
    householders save money and energy.”

    The audit reports are available at:
    http://www.climatechange.gov.au/media/whats-new/green-loans.aspx

    Tim Hollo
    Media Adviser
    Senator Christine Milne | Australian Greens Deputy Leader and Climate
    Change Spokesperson
    Suite SG-112 Parliament House, Canberra ACT | P: 02 6277 3588 | M: 0437
    587 562
    http://www.christinemilne.org.au/| www.GreensMPs.org.au
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