Australian manufacturing and productivity

So it's been a while (OK, a couple of years!) since I posted here.

So here goes.  I was surfing the web, as you do, jumping from work mode to "hey - a putt-putt course", when I landed on an Aaron Swartz post - Fix the machine, not the person, which led me to this Wikipedia page, where this jumped out at me;

Team production

On a related note, Drago and Garvey (1997) use Australian survey data to show that when agents are placed on individual pay-for-performance schemes, they are less likely to help their coworkers. This negative effect is particularly important in those jobs that involve strong elements of "team production" (Alchian and Demsetz 1972), where output reflects the contribution of many individuals, and individual contributions cannot be easily identified, and compensation is therefore based largely on the output of the team. In other words, pay-for-performance increases the incentives to free-ride, as there are large positive externalities to the efforts of an individual team member, and low returns to the individual (Holmstrom 1982, McLaughlin 1994).

Bold is my emphasis.

Hmmm, I thought, could this be part of the reason why we currently have here in Australia, what the pollies and "business" are so fond of calling, "poor productivity", when we could be a dynamic economy again, if only "the workers" were "more productive"?

"More productive", for most workers, is employer speak for individual work contracts, unions busted, reduced conditions, reduced entitlements (the age of which we're apparently over now), and lower real wages than your parents enjoyed.

These titans of industry also wail that manufacturing (inherently a team production sphere), just isn't viable in Australia anymore, because of the high dollar, high electricity costs, the Carbon tax, the mining tax, high wages, lack of skilled workers, their poor productivity, blah blah blah, wah wah wah.

Well, you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.  (No disrespect intended to our fellow Simians, who've already mastered learning by tablet.)

And funnily enough, by visiting the blog today, and catching up on a few of my favs, it got me to this Peter Martin post about an excellent presentation by journo Tracey Spicer, who stripped down to her underwear to make a point, at a recent TedXSouthBankWomen confab in Brisbane.

Play the video, and wait for the punch line. It relates.

Johnny Diesel and the Injectors- Please Send Me Someone to Love

This track needs no explantion.  Superb.

Square Kilometre Array

Australia's getting (fingers crossed) a BIG telescope!  Woohoo! 

From the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator the Hon Kim Carr 11/11/08.

Australian square kilometre array industry consortium >> Press Release

 ...

The Commonwealth is totally committed to Australia’s SKA bid, and it’s not hard to understand why.

The SKA is a huge economic opportunity – a $2 billion opportunity – and we’d be foolish to ignore that.

But it is also a great scientific opportunity, a great innovation opportunity – an opportunity to revolutionise Australia’s technological capabilities and the world’s understanding of the universe.

This is a project to fire the imagination, and I have no doubt that your presence here says as much about your spirit of adventure as it does about taking care of business.

The SKA is one of the largest mega-science projects ever conceived:

• comparable to the Large Hadron Collider outside Geneva

• comparable to the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor under construction in France.

It has ambitious scientific goals, ambitious technical requirements, and an ambitious lifespan.

Are the times right for this kind of ambition?

I think they are. ...

Australian square kilometre array industry consortium >> Press Release

Automotive help and greenhouse gases

Why do I get the feeling that the media is just parrot reading the first couple of par's from the press release, and even then, not recognising and including the big WIIFM for the average Aussie car buyer interested in doing their bit for the environment?

A $10.5 million expansion of the LPG vehicle scheme, to start immediately, that doubles payments [from $1000 to $2000] to purchasers of new vehicles using LPG technology.

Didn't hear a peep about it.

And the second most important thing, well actually, the MOST IMPORTANT thing,  "A better-targeted, greener, $3.4 billion assistance program, the Automotive Transformation Scheme (ATS), running from 2011 to 2020", which was mentioned, but with no context for treehuggers like me.

I have to come online and go and look for it myself.  Is this what it means?   From the Automotive Review Final Report

The Australian car industry has announced a voluntary target of reducing fuel consumption of new petrol-engined passenger cars to 6.8 litres per 100 kilometres by 2010.

Is this what some of the ATS money will be spent on?  Who knows?  No context.

But speaking of the Final Report, here are some interesting tidbits ...

8. Environment

In 2006, road transport accounted for 68.9 million tonnes (or 12 percent) of Australia’s net greenhouse gas emissions.  This was 14.5 million tonnes (or 26.7 percent) higher than in 1990.

Passenger cars were the largest source of these emissions, contributing 42.6 million tonnes. This was 7.4 million tonnes (or 21 percent) higher than in 1990.[2]

Fuel consumption

The Australian car industry has announced a voluntary target of reducing fuel consumption of new petrol-engined passenger cars to 6.8 litres per 100 kilometres by 2010.

The average rate of fuel consumption across all Australian-registered vehicles in the year ended 31 October 2006 was 13.8 litres per 100 kilometres, which means the average of the vehicle fleet was less fuel efficient than for the year ended 31 October 2004, when it was 13.6 litres per 100 kilometres.

This can be explained by the growth in the sports utility market, which has largely offset
improvements in engine technology as far as fuel efficiency is concerned.[3] Given this trend, the voluntary 2010 target presents a very difficult challenge for the automotive industry.

Lowering levels of fuel consumption will assist Australian motorists with the rising costs of fuel. The Australian Conservation Foundation’s submission to the Review noted that, at a petrol price of $1.50 per litre, a 6.8 litres per 100 kilometres standard could save the average Australian driver around $1,000 on petrol each year.[4]

Given that at least 2 passenger vehicles on the Australian market are already performing at lower than 6.8l/100klm (Audi A6 range and Hyundai i30), this should be a doddle. And even if we don't - let's say we get to 7.5l/100klm, then it's still a huge improvement in performance, with the flow on benefits to local hip pockets, environmental ambience, health care budgets and you'd think, international sales.

Hey!  Maybe we'll even be able to sell cars to China.

But not a mention in the coverage by the mainstream broadcast media.  And they wonder why eyeballs are looking elsewhere and profit margins are falling.

Frankly, I think improving the fuel efficiency of the vehicle, coupled with tighter emissions standards,  is the way to go.  Satuaration public transport would be even better.  And tax the gas guzzlers!

But we (humanity collectively) are in the end game - 5 minutes to midnight, and given we don't seem to want to forego any of our luxuries anymore, instead we have to throw everything we can at reducing our emissions as quickly as possible to avoid catastrophic (i.e. extinction level event - ELE) global warming.

I guess this is a start, even if it is 10 years too late.

Additional Related Links:

• California’s Motor Vehicle Global Warming Regulations >> Main Page
  
• The Role of a Low Carbon Fuel Standard in Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions >>White Paper
• Gov. Schwarzenegger Signs Executive Order Establishing World's First Low Carbon Standard for Transportation Fuels >> Press Release
• Emissions standards - Global (Wiki)

$1 a day to save the planet!

Kevin Rudd's emissions trading scheme: $1 a day to save planet

theaustralian.com.au. Lenore Taylor, National correspondent | October 31, 2008

THE Rudd Government has moved to ease fears about the impact of its emissions trading scheme, releasing Treasury modelling showing the scheme is affordable, with households paying up to $7 a week more for electricity and gas, and no industries forced offshore.

>> Full story

Rudd Government launches Australia's Low Pollution Future - The Economics of Climate Change Mitigation >>Press Release  (links to PDF documents only.)

Apparently, we're not going to reduce greenhouse gases, we're going to reduce carbon emissions.  The methane and nitrous oxide* emissions can look after themselves.

(*No wonder we're all acting as silly as drunk ducks ready for the Christmas dinner chop.)

And you'd think with all the talk of emission trading schemes and the imperative to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, that a story about an electric car network for Australia - well, Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, would get a bit more traction.

Plan for electric car network

theage.com.au, Mex Cooper, October 23, 2008

Australia will become the third country in the world to have an electric car network in a bid to run the country's 15 million cars on batteries powered by green energy under a plan announced today.

Thanks to Kwoff for the heads up on the electric car.

AIM Emissions Trading Scheme Survey  1st July 2008

The Australian business sector is largely unprepared for the introduction of the Federal Government’s emissions trading scheme according to the findings of a new survey of top level executives conducted by the Australian Institute of Management.

Only 36 per cent of those surveyed were aware the Australian Government’s emissions trading scheme, the centrepiece of the nation’s greenhouse reduction efforts is to commence in 2010.

The view from here: US Presidential Election

After watching the first Presidential debate live*, thought some quickie links with the view from here, would be useful:

ABC News Tag: US Elections
ABC TV: Insiders: Meltdown a challenge for Obama and McCain
ABC TV: 7.30 Report:  Clarke and Dawe on Wall Street's Woes; (Satire, Humour: BRYAN DAWE: President Bush, thank you very much for your time; it's a great honour.  ...)
SBS TV: Insight, Jennie Brockie in America:  McCain & Obama.  Insight transcript.  Interesting comments from would be voters.

JENNY BROCKIE: OK, anyone else like to join in here? What are you looking for? The people who are still deciding, what are you waiting for? Gentleman over here:

MAN: The thing I'm looking for is competence and competence is not experience, it's having the wisdom and the curiosity to consider an issue from all sides and then come up with the smart solution, not the ideological solution or not the sound-bite solution or not the politically expedient solution.

* Presidential Debate:

McCain would put a price freeze on to solve the financial crisis!?  That thinking went out the window even in the Shakey Isles with Rogernomics (wiki), back in the '80s!

Obama kept hitting the mark on the economy.  95% of tax payers would get a tax reduction.  Noticed he constantly referred to the "middle class".  Isn't there a "working class" in the US?  (Or do they still believe they're all "living the great American dream"?)

And while it's nice to keep the level of disagreement down, he said that McCain was "right" a few times too many times for my liking.

Number one rule of sales:  Don't mention/disparage the competition, but when you do, make sure you come back with an even stronger feature/advantage/benefit of your own product/service.  Obama may have kept to the rule, but all I heard was that McCain was right.

And just for another view altogether: Chrsitian Science Monitor Campaign 08:  How the US Presidential debate played overseas;

Pakistani political scientist Hasan Askari Rizvi is of two minds about Friday night’s presidential debate in the United States.  On one hand, he flinches at Barack Obama’s swashbuckling comments about taking out Al Qaeda leaders on Pakistani soil – with or without Pakistan’s consent. No policy could make him more unpopular in Pakistan, Mr. Rizvi says.

Then again, Rizvi acknowledges, he cannot rid himself of the idea that, despite his nuanced arguments Friday, Republican John McCain will be “George Bush III.” 

>Full Story here

Baza distractions

Usually a dreary, overcast, drizzly day, (which I'm sure the earth is very thankful for - drought and all that), offers me the opportunity to get some serious work done.

No excuse to keep looking out the office window at the sunshine and blue sky, wishing I was there instead of here; it's head down bum up, shoulder to the wheel and nose to grindstone (now where did that phrase come from?!). Well, that's the theory.

But today, try as I might, Mother Nature has other plans, and a Pacific Baza keeps grabbing my attention, gliding into my line of sight from my peripheral vision, as it catches all manner of frogs, spiders, tree snakes and other wee morsels, in the canopy of trees outside my window.

What a handsome looking bird! The crest, bright yellow eye and distinct chest barring really stand out against the gunmetal blue/grey plumage when viewed through binoculars, even if the magnificent rufous colouring is somewhat dulled by the damp conditions.

Whoops, gone again. Time to get back to it ....

It's nice to know I'm not alone

I was going to post about Germaine Greer appearing on ABC TVs Q&A last night (one of the best so far, always has a lot to do with the calibre of the guests), but others have beaten me to it, so ....

OK, I could embed the cartoon here, but then you wouldn't visit the page and read all the comments, would you? (Thanks to Stilgherrian for the throw, it usually depends on whether I read your RSS or Andrew Bartlett's first! ;-)

Crikey - First Dog on the Moon - Why does everyone hate Germaine Greer?

Dare I say - the thinking man's pin-up girl?

Besides as MOH said, she is totally Australian; opinionated, rowdy, unimpressed by rank, wealth, possessions or any of those other modern yardsticks of "success", funny when she wants to be, and doesn't give a (Tawny) hoot about what other people think of her.

Our carbon footprint - we're megawatt performers!

Our 1.1kW grid connect PV system ticked over the 1 megawatt hour of energy generated a month or so ago, a bit under a year after we installed it under the former Howard Government's solar rebate system.

Based on figures from DEUS (NSW), that means we've saved more than 1 tonne of greenhouse gas emissions from going into the atmosphere. Woo Hoo!

It hasn't reduced our power bill by that much, because our supplier has brought in a "daily connection" charge, so the excess we've produced above our household demand and fed back into the grid, is chewed up by that. (Thanks Morris, can't wait to see how our environmentally minded privatised electricity providers will handle the greenhouse challenge, and pass that cost along.)

Anyway, reducing our electricity bill wasn't the motivation for getting the system installed, we've always (as much as the budget would allow) factored in reducing* our carbon footprint in our lifestyle activities and choices, so this was more about doing our bit to save the planet, than saving money.

This year we installed a solar hot water system. It came online when we had unseasonal rain, so we had to fire up the booster for the first two weeks, but the offpeak meter has only ticked over 14kW or so since it was installed more than 4 weeks ago. It will be interesting to see how much more this will bring our household carbon footprint down.

So, all this got me wondering. Instead of building new coal fired or nuclear powered stations to satisfy "demand", how about we (collectively) reduce waste, improve efficiency and increase household market share of renewables to reach the 60%-90% greenhouse gas reduction target?

It cost about $13,000 to create a "point of use" 1.1kW power station on our roof. It produces about 1MW of power per year, sends some juice back to the grid, and forestalls about 1MW of greenhouse gas per year going into the atmosphere from our household activities.

There are approx. 1.6 million private dwellings in Victoria (VIC) and 6.6 million in Australia (2001 census: Separate house and Semi-detached, row/terrace etc.). The new coal fired power station mooted for VIC is going to cost a minimum of $150 million, apparently a nuke could cost USD$1B, ... can someone please do the math?

As the Stern Review and Garnaut Climate Change Review have already pointed out, the economic "ROI" bean counting, will soon be far outweighed by the environmental, social and economic costs of doing nothing.

The sooner we (collectively) start, the cheaper the solutions are, and the faster we get to our 60%-90% of 1990 greenhouse gas emission levels target. (And maybe save the planet.)

And don't use "China and India ... blah blah blah ...", as an excuse. We were primarily responsible for our greenhouse gas emissions in the past, we're responsible for our contributions now, and we'll be responsible for them in the future. Time to collectively get to work, because the clock is ticking.

Links:

• NSW ceiling insulation rebate
• Solar Homes and Communities Plan Rebate
• Solar Hot Water Rebate Program - Home Page
• Your Home - Design for lifestyle and the future
  

* If we hadn't already insulated the ceiling and all external and internal wall cavities when we built our house, we'd be getting that done too!

Ooooh quick - jump out the window dag NAB it.

From the International Herald Tribune ...

National Australia Bank, the top lender in that nation, booked another 830 million Australian dollars in losses from its exposure to U.S. mortgages, sending its stock plunging on Friday to its biggest single-day percentage drop in nearly 21 years. ... more ...

Yes, because an interim half yearly profit in excess of $2 billion, just isn't good enough, is it?

Maybe I'm cynical, or just been around long enough to have "been there seen that", but honestly, all this angst over the US sub prime and global "credit crisis" from supposed experts, would be laughable if it wasn't so potentially serious. (Bolting horses and all that.)

Anyone reading this old enough to remember when companies used to announce a half year or annual loss, with barely a ripple in the markets?

Ah yes, the good old days, when people used a thing called perspective (wiki).

Feed the world ... with the ever so 'umble Spud

Well, who'da thunk it?

And, I understand that there is very little, if any, international trade in potatoes. They're all home grown!

So, one of those "win-win's" for the local economy and global environment.


Landline - 13/07/2008: Handy Andes. Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC aka "Aunty")

Handy Andes

Reporter: Pip Courtney

First Published: 13/07/2008

ANNE KRUGER, PRESENTER: Climate change and even carbon emissions may still have their sceptics but there's no denying the impact the spiralling cost of staple foods is having right now on the world's poor.

The United Nations, the World Bank and the leaders of the eight biggest industrial powers have all pledged to do their bit to increase production of rice, wheat and corn. But what about the humble spud? Pip Courtney went to Peru for this special report to mark the International Year of the Potato.

Features full transcript, link to resource and segment videos in hi and low res bandwidth for download.

Olympians & Spectators Offered Support In Speaking Up In Beijing

Monday, 14 July 2008

Australian Olympian Michelle Engelsman joined Simon Bradshaw, ATC’s Campaign Coordinator, for the media launch of the Beijing 2008 Tibet Resource Pack, aimed at athletes and spectators heading to next month’s Olympics in Beijing.

...

With tough regulations in place to discourage athletes and others heading to the Games from speaking out, the options for those wishing to show their support for Tibet without facing consequences are limited. The educational resource, T-shirt and badge in this pack have been carefully designed in accordance with restrictions imposed by the Olympic charter and the Australian Olympic Committee. However, individuals need to be aware that they may not be permitted to carry certain other items in the pack to Beijing.

Blow up the pokies

It will be interesting to see what impact Nick Xenophon will have in the Federal Senate, and whether the states can be weened off pokies revenue.

Blow Up The Pokies, The Whitlams. (You Tube)

"And I wish I could shine you the right words, to blow up the pokies and drag them away.
Because they're taking the food off the table, so they can say that the trains run on time".

I think the pokies should have another series of motivating sounds and audio effects, rather like the voice overs in computer games like PGA Golf; you know, things like "ooh - that must've hurt", "this is a run of bad luck, isn't it?", and more pointed "LOSER!", "Have you eaten yet?", "Shouldn't you go home now?", included along with the happy tinkly fun sounds.

Oh, and the sound of maniacal laughter after each losing hand. And an occasional syrupy "Thank you for your generous contribution to the state's revenue base" whenever the mug punter feeds more credits into the machine.

Helen Thomas - First Lady of the White House Press

"We briefly interrupt this Q and A session for an advocacy moment."

The news media walks a fine line these days, between reporting (we hope frank and fearless), and the now much more pressing interests of the bottom line, and keeping their own jobs.

But I recall the moment vividly when local Aussie media showed the White House administration belittling a journalist who was never afraid to ask the hard questions.

Helen Thomas was sent to the back of the room after more than 40 years in the front row, when a private note that "this President was the worst ..." became public.

It was as public an expression of censorship of the White House Press Corp, as any gesture that could be made.

Know your place, ask the "right" questions, and you won't be sent to the back of the room.

Helen Thomas wasn't backed up by her colleagues, no-one else in the room stepped up to the plate (to use a favoured US sports analogy) and you knew there wasn't much hope for the US media at that point.

When she returned to the front row, and in 2008, asked another hard question, her colleagues again abandoned their duties, and left Helen standing there, openly asking as she looked around at them "Where is everybody?"

ANDREW DENTON: You've said that your heart bleeds every day for the timidity of the White House Press Corp.

HELEN THOMAS:
I am shocked at their complicity with the government, ah the fact that they have gone along with a censorship of photos from the war.

Everyone remembers from Vietnam the little girl, you know, a flame in Napalm and so forth.

If the American people don't see what we've done, what we do when we drop a missile on a house in Sadr City, then wh-what is it? Why are they being shielded? Why do editors and reporters shield us?

It isn't reporters, it's the editors. They don't want to offend. It's better to have Britney on the front page, you get more play.

Such was and is, the state of US media reporting during this presidency. I hope there will be at least one more "Thomas moment" before George W. Bush departs the scene, and that we will see it reported.

Read the full transcript, and view video excerpts from last nights' episode of "Enough Rope with Andrew Denton - Elders", series.

Elders Part 4 - Helen Thomas (07/07/08)

Night visitor

We caught a Northern brown bandicoot in our cat trap last night. Apparently the exotic delights of rotten sardine was too much temptation. It was very relieved to be set free, and bounded off quickly into the natural undergrowth beneath our monstrous Monsteriosa [Monstera deliciosa]* plant behind the house.

Our first native critter since setting the trap to catch the feral cats which we've seen around the house and property, lately. Hopefully, this signals no more ferals for the next while.

*Correction and link 26/08/08

In the still of the night

I often walk outside at night, usually during the ad breaks on telly (getting more frequent and interminably longer on the commercial free to air networks), to see how many meteors I can spot (7 in 15 minutes last night), how many different frog calls there seem to be (5), and generally just to "commune with nature".

It's fortunate that we live on acreage far enough away from "civilization" to not have much in the way of light, air or noise pollution, but at this time of year, with the inversion layer, sound travels more easily, so I usually get treated various neighbours' taste in music ('60s and '70s folk rock this time), diesel generators, dogs barking and vehicles returning home along the network of gravel roads.

In between human activity, I can make out nature sounds from native critters like flying foxes chattering noisily when they've discovered some blossoms or seeds, bats - with their echo location (which is pretty amazing when one zooms past close to your head!) owls, frogmouths and other nocturnal birds, possums scooting along the branches in the canopy, and padymelons and bettongs foraging in the undergrowth and keeping the grass short.

But every now and then, there is no sound .... not even the wind blowing through the leaves.

It is completely and utterly still. Completely and utterly silent.

There is only my breathing and heartbeat, or tinnitus. Instinctively, I begin to breathe more evenly, deeper, relaxing into calm.

Then .... the wind picks up, a bird calls, a dog barks. The spell is broken. I return indoors.

Steve Carell turns gay for George Clooney

Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway were guests on Rove last Sunday (22/06/08), to promote their new film, having attended the premier of the Get Smart movie on the Gold Coast earlier in the day.

Steve Carell is a funny guy, but you'd expect that from a man who has already made his mark in the genre. And he seems to have successfully straddled that curious divide they have in the US, where you're allowed to be a leading man on TV or in movies, but not both.

He appears to be down to earth, no attitude to speak of showing, and knows how to go with the flow: a good thing when you're being interviewed by a bunch of Australian stand-up pros, all trying to impress the Hollywood man that they're funny too.

The "dry heave" improvs between Steve and Rove were entertaining, and a close thing, given Steve was probably jet lagged and tired from the whirlwind of the publicity tour, so I'm not being parochial here, but I think Rove won that contest. Could be a different story if Carell was in top form.

Anne Hathaway on the other hand, even when she's obviously feeling the effects of the schedule, is seriously funny, and seriously smart. Not that you'd have picked up on it, from the impession I got, with the host and leading man talking over her, trying to one-up each other in the dash to the funny.

When she did manage to get a few impeccably timed words in ("that's what she said"), it was easy to see why she got the part of "99". From the brief glimpse I saw, she has comic timing and delivery up there with the best (Madeline Kahn immediately sprang to mind).

I especially liked her modest put down about her appearance being due to the work of the "pretty committee" rather than any natural traits. And after a kangaroo hop across the big pond, premier launch, and a round of promos, she looked totally glamorous. I'd need a salvage job from the crew at Renovation Rescue to look a tenth as good.

Of course the highlight with guests on Rove, which to my mind, can provide some interesting insights into their head space, is the challenge of "20 dollars in 20 seconds", and the coup de grace, "who would you turn gay for?"

You'd think minders would give them a better briefing on what to expect, given the reactions of some previous guests (Kevin Rudd anyone?); but Anne and Steve both handled it with aplomb, Anne even pondering that "when in Australia..." and deciding she'd turn gay for Cate Blanchett, while Steve opted for a fling with George Clooney.

So they won their $20 bucks each, with MOH commenting that he thought Steve had "palmed" the Aussie $20 and replaced it with another note. Didn't notice myself, but if so, nice job. Anne gave her $20 to an audience member on the way out. See the interview (You Tube).

All that remains to be seen now, is whether their visit was worth it. I was sufficiently amused, so might even go see what all the fuss was about.

It's full of stars

MOH bought me a telescope from Dick Smith Electronics for Xmas. We think we got it amazingly cheap, less than $130 for 75mm Celestron, but we didn't have much of a chance to use it until recently, because of the weather; overcast, grey and dreary.

But now the crisp, clear winter nights the north east coast is known for, are more frequent, we take it outside after dark, to get a close up views of all our favourites. It works a treat.

The moon - Tycho crater - WOW.

It's one thing to get a squiz through binoculars, it's another to get a steady view through a telescope. So cool! We are now skywatching with enthusiasm.

The rings of Saturn - what a buzz! Seeing them with my own eyes!

And last night, Jupiter rising, with 7 moons visible, in an almost straight line from the five o'clock mark. I've only ever been able to see the Galilean moons before.

Then a quick look at galactic centre before walking out into the paddock and pointing at the Southern Cross, just visible over our tree line, before getting cold and heading back inside to warm up.

Yahoo ... Love it!

The sky isn't going to fall after all

On LateLine last night, a commentator appeared, to my jaundiced ear, to make out that a carbon tax of $185 per household would be a burden on consumers, after the introduction of the Australian Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). MOH* and I rejoiced.

Our household is not living the high life by any means, we do need to watch the pennies - closely; but if all us Aussies are going to end up paying, is just $185 per year in increased charges at the five year mark (2015), I reckon we've got away with our greenhouse gas belching ways cheap at twice the price!

Carbon tax nothing to fear - report | NEWS.com.au
NSW Business Chamber: Building and sustaining business

* MOH My Other Half

Bellinger Birdsong, morning bird calls in Australia

My first attempt at a YouTube video.
Bird song from Winter Solstice, 21 June 2005.