Consultant Dan
14 May 2011
Martin Ferguson rejects our criticism of Budget cuts to solar programmes
Solar politics in Australia is heating up. The public loves solar so it is hard for Governments to make cuts to programmes without upsetting people. It is coming to a head because last week the Federal and NSW governments reduced support for the solar sector.
Paddy Manning quoted me in his article on the NSW cuts , for the Sydney Morning Herald. (Which the Brisbane Times also ran.)
On Thursday, Federal Resources and Energy Minister, Martin Ferguson, responded to criticisms that had been aired by Greens Senator Christine Milne, John Grimes of the Australian Solar Energy Society and I. Ferguson issued a press release, which was sent out to industry bodies. Individual journalists were emailed the key points.
The Minister’s defense is that all the funds have been kept in the programmes, just pushed out beyond the furthest date for which Treasury makes projections. He said
It is time to end the campaign of misinformation and recognise that despite significant economic challenges and fiscal pressures we are doing more to promote renewable energy than any other Government in Australia’s history.
It would appear that in reading the Budget papers some have – wilfully or otherwise – failed to understand the difference between a cut to funding and a simple change in the timeframes for expenditure of funds.
This ploy, known as ’re-phasing', was a favorite of PM John Howard. It works like this. Government makes an exciting billion dollar announcement for a programme that it does not want to do, but has to be seen to do. Headlines are generated and the public is happy.
The Billion dollar programme is then progressed so slowly that little if any of the money is spent. If this becomes so embarrassing that it requires a cover-up, then the Budget will explicitly take the money out of the next 4 years of spending and have it ‘restored to the program beyond the Forward Estimates’.
Watches of the Hollowmen or Yes Minister will know that, in most cases, ’re-phasing' means axing.
Paddy Manning responded to the Minister today:
The budget was dismal for the renewable energy industry and the Energy Minister just doesn’t get it. …
Pushing spending more than four years out – beyond the budget’s forward estimates period – is a cut, to all intents and purposes. …
Solar energy advocates in particular are dismayed because the budget cuts come as solar policy is in turmoil, as feed-in-tariffs, introduced over the past few years to support the installation of rooftop solar, are set to be wound back or abolished.
I stand by the point I made on ABC RN on Thursday morning (you can listen here). As I wrote in Crikey on Wednesday,
This budget reflects the pessimistic view of solar and wind industries held by Martin Ferguson, Minister for Resources and Energy.
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