Energy Matters Forums

[EnergyMatters]

The Australian National Solar Schools Program (NSSP) that provided grants of up to $50,000 for schools to install solar power systems was abruptly suspended without prior notice by the Rudd government today.

According to Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Water, Greg Hunt:

"This afternoon the Government suspended the program until mid 2010, effective immediately. But Shadow Environment Minster Peter Garrett didn’t have the guts to announce it himself..... There is a pattern here. Peter Garrett and Kevin Rudd are solar frauds."

Read more:

http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.p ... cle_id=627

[Alex Morrow]

"Shadow Environment Minster Peter Garrett didn’t have the guts to announce it himself"
One thought is that Greg Hunt, the Shadow Minister who apparently made the statement above might know that Peter Garrett isn't a Shadow Minister for anything, but is the Environment Minister.
Another thought is that the Climate Change Minister Penny Wong might also have had some part in the announcement.
Apart from those two thoughts, it's disappointing to see that the program is limited by budget rather than by preparedness of schools and communities to take part by spending considerable amounts of their own money.

[Gordon-Loomberah]

... it's disappointing to see that the program is limited by budget rather than by preparedness of schools and communities to take part by spending considerable amounts of their own money.

Indeed... some might see it as a lack of committment to do anything unless someone else is paying for it.

In the old days (ie, when I was at school ) if the school wanted to raise money for a project they would hand out books of raffle tickets to the students and we'd visit all the neighbours selling tickets. Do schools still have raffles, annual fetes, etc to raise money? I'm sure they could easily raise sufficient for small grid connect systems.

Gordon

[EnergyMatters]

Hi Alex,

I just checked the press release emailed to me yesterday in case I misquoted - it does say "Shadow". Either it's an attempt by Mr. Hunt at some wry humour, some wishful thinking on his part or more likely the that the announcement from DEWHA occurred pretty late in the day from what I understand and Hunt's office was in a bit of a rush to crank something out .

Regarding the fundraising issue, I can certainly understand your points - but I think many schools are flat out these days just trying to keep delivering services. I remember the walkathons and raffles too from my school days - but nowadays parents are hesitant to let their kids to roam the neighbourhoods canvassing.. and rightly so. Many parents also don't have the time they used to have to assist in these fundraisers. Granted, there's certainly a problem with a sense of community these days; and there's some private schools around that I'm sure are rolling in cash, but that's another topic altogether .

That issue aside, there were a lot of schools in the process of negotiating for systems and they were given no warning of the axe falling, albeit temporarily, and they've been left high and dry. The other concern is - will the program actually reawaken, or will something else "happen" between now and next year to prevent that occurring? Will it be reintroduced with a stack of extra conditions that will turn many poorer schools away?

This is the third time in 4 months that solar rebates programs have been changed without notice and many people have been affected, not to mention the ramifications for the industry.

Additionally, schools that install solar power are fantastic promotional vehicles for triggering more solar installations in the wider community and provide hands on educational opportunities for students - the educational aspect was an important part of schools being able to get the cash - renewable energy needed to be woven into their curriculum. These systems provide inspiration for the next generation who will be working in the field.

Michael

[relaxedcamper]

Perhaps the Gov has now realised that all that money that they injected into stimulating the economy had to come from some where. And so now this project is being disbanded to reduce government outgoings.???

Perhaps the Gov pockets are almost empty!!!!

[bpratt]

Hi Alex,

This is the third time in 4 months that solar rebates programs have been changed without notice and many people have been affected, not to mention the ramifications for the industry.

Additionally, schools that install solar power are fantastic promotional vehicles for triggering more solar installations in the wider community and provide hands on educational opportunities for students - the educational aspect was an important part of schools being able to get the cash - renewable energy needed to be woven into their curriculum. These systems provide inspiration for the next generation who will be working in the field.

That's the thing, get the school kids involved with solar power, and learn about what can be done, and how they can promote these sorts of things at home, which in turn gets the parents considering solar power at some stage.

The kids grow up, and having some solar experience means they'll be wiser with how they chew up the power.

[zzsstt]

This actually follows a pattern that has become quite apparent. Announce something with a grand flourish, tell everyone how it will make a difference, gain support from the press and those people who don't bother to look too hard at the details. Then, a while later when "the man in the street" has forgotten about the specifics and simply retains the general belief that good things are being done, quietly cancel the entire thing, or on-going funding or whatever. Of course (and this is the point) by then the only people who even know the funding was pulled are the people involved, and the press aren't generally interested in telling anyone else.

There are numerous examples, including solar power, free internet filtering for kids, various health issues, and apparently now a lot of the "stimulus" funding to schools has been cancelled and many schools that had buildings approved have now had the funding pulled.

It follows similar lines to the purchase of non-existent water, the instigation of counter productive land clearing laws, the creation of National Parks and any number of other "green" projects. Many of these idea's have merit, but only when handled correctly (though some are just plain stupid and would never achieve anything). Unfortunately when the aim is to make headlines and gain short term support from people who will never see all the facts or understand all the issues, the environmental and social results are rarely beneficial, frequently detrimental - but those they were intended to impress will never see the actual results, so they worked!

It's the problem of being governed by people interested in personal status and polls, rather than the long term good of the country, I suspect. It's also a sad reflection on "us" that we never look beyond what the press tell us, and on the press who no longer have any interest in informing people of the truth, but simply manipulating people's beliefs to suit their own agenda.

[relaxedcamper]

Zzssti, nicely worded!!!. When you look at one thing in isolation it may appear as a single event, but as you have highlighted, it's more a case of "Indian Giving".

Cheers.

[plaz]

ZZssti, you have hit the nail on the head - it is so frustrating that this sort of thing is happening repeatedly. It makes me wonder whether there is cynical manipulation going on from the get go, or whether good people with genuine good intentions become worn down by forces that they did not predict and cannot withstand - I like to think that Rudd and Garrett at least started with good intentions.

As for schools raising money and having a sense of community I have two kids in primary school and have been genuinely and pleasingly suprised at what a high level of parental involvement there is and what a strong sense of community exists within the school. Being of an age where many of my friends have kids it is clear this is not limited to the school I am involved with. Money is raised in quite large sums - I live in a middle class area and I imagine the demographics of the local population influences fundraising - and at present the P and C at the school is purchasing about sixteen thousand dollars worth of computer equipment. Personally its not what I would do with the money, but it shows that money can be raised. I think parents are keener to spend it on things which they perceive will directly benefit their kids - educational resources - rather than community goods like solar systems.

[sharyn70]

Isn't this just typical of what has happened over the last couple of months of this government. Yep they sound all green but their just vote grabbers and now they let down the people that really want to make a difference in their lives and we believed them when we cast our votes.

Firstly we moved into a house with no grid connected electricity this is ok we planned to connect a offsite solar system, we have a diesel generator this will do for the meantime. So that's ok, my husband and I had saved up for a system large enough for our family (we are a green minded family so not over done), we had gained a couple of quotes for the new system, only a matter of days later the rebate was pulled over night on the monday morning. It was a $60k system which would have cost us $30k, that we could afford, but 60k now, I think not. We could get a half the size system but we would still have to run the generator during times of clothes washing and power tool use. We have now due to the uncertainity of any of the rebates decided to keep running our house on diesel until we see something sorted that looks after the rural communities, at least diesel credits are still going (but don't hold your breath it might be next).

Now the schools, we will live in a small community, our primary school only has 55 kids enrolled from Prep to Year 7. Our school would have benefited a lot from this programme, fundraising for us is very limited as we don't have many parents (some families have 3-4 kids), so this is out of the question. So what next Rudd and that try hard pollie Peter Garrett ? Stop promising what you can't deliver !!!