I’ve had quite a lot of time to contemplate tonight’s federal budget, having spent four hours in the Treasury lock-up with papers open to pages numbering into the 300s and a confused look on my face shouting: “WHAT? … HUH? … OK, so it’s $100 coming from this department, but only allocated after the first two years of operating under this fund under another name and topped up by additional allocations from this other… WHAT?!?!?!?!”
I’ve spent more time in police station cells after nonviolent direct actions and have still walked away with a greater sense of sanity, compared to the four hours I spent this afternoon trying to unravel the detail of the budget papers with the same elegance as a cat unravelling a newly-knitted scarf.
It is not easy to get clear answers to questions about where the detail of our tax dollars are going in the budget (hence the “Part 1” … I’ll write again). But, in the all the flurry and excitement of rushing to analyse and make comment, the main points on budget night are about the big announcements.
It is now 1.55 am on the morning after budget night and so I might not have much deep analysis for you, but when I’m tired and feeling a bit overwhelmed, I tend to focus on hope. So that’s what I’m going to write about.
OK, so we didn’t get the “green new deal” we’ve all been hoping for in this year’s budget. Nor did we see a single dollar of the $7 billion in annual taxpayer handouts to fossil fuels get redirected towards climate solutions.
But for the first time, I’m seeing my tax dollars put towards something that will make a real difference in relation to climate change: support for renewable energy at a scale that can replace polluting coal-fired electricity.
The government allocated $1.5 billion to building four solar power stations up to a total of 1000 megawatts (which, for those of you who are not energy geeks like me, equates to 3,000,000Mwh, or enough renewable energy to power 400,000 Aussie homes).
Public funds being put genuinely towards the public interest on climate change?! Hallelujah! And when I say “the public”, I mean it. I’ve been growing sick of poll after poll, hammering home the point that Australians want government to spend their taxes on renewables and energy efficiency rather than dirty, polluting fossil fuels.
It’s true: if we’re going to get an Energy [R]evolution that reflects the urgency of climate change, it will mean a fundamental restructuring of our economy, gearing it to expressly support renewable energy and efficiency. And we should keep pressure on government to end “polluters’ welfare”; the billions of dollars of our taxes that needlessly are used to drive fossil fuel use.
But for now, let’s take a moment to savour the fact that large-scale solar energy is finally coming to Australia. And I’ll leave it until tomorrow to tell you all what a joke the money for “clean coal” is.
