Greens launch Senate inquiry against endless population growth, Liberals back it (2 Viewers)

[Riet]

would you go without rice too? And just wear hemp clothing? like seriously the world can support many more people if we use the most efficient crops possible but it is a pretty shit existence. Relative comfort is an issue.

 

[zombie omie jay]

no m8 im saying there is land being used for cows that could be used for vegies
and land being used for N/A that can be used for goats

we can eat so much roast goat and vegies and everyone will be happy

 

[Riet]

just kill all the moslems and then there will be ample food

 

[zombie omie jay]

m8 australian farmers are getting rich as nazis, selling FERAL goats to live export markets in muslim malaysia and iraq and shit, cant wait to get in on that, dumb muslims

 

[Riet]

good work m8 give em lead poisoning for me

 

[supercalamari]

I'd be fine with it, but I doubt meat-eaters would.

I heard that if American cut its' red meat consumption by 10% we could feed everyone starving in third world countries. Not sure if its true.

 

[SylviaB]

I heard that if American cut its' red meat consumption by 10% we could feed everyone starving in third world countries. Not sure if its true.

even if 10% of America's meat consumption would be enough to feed Starving nations, the reason these nations aren't getting the meat is not because the Americans are eating it instead of them

 

[Slidey]

I heard that if American cut its' red meat consumption by 10% we could feed everyone starving in third world countries. Not sure if its true.

There is already enough food in the world to feed these people, even ignoring Western consumption patterns (so while less meat more plants/grains would significantly alleviate the problem, let's ignore it in this case). Most of the problems of starvation in the world's poor nations stem from government corruption and/or civil war.

 

[banco55]

We gain very little from population driven by large scale immigration (and stand to lose a lot). Time to lock the gates.

 

[aussie-boy]

the fact of the matter is for the free market to adopt renewable energy we need a carbon tax. Most people are too selfish/apathetic to want to switch and so while coal is the cheapest form of electricity, will keep using it.

This is BS, simply because the Gov owns and operates all fossil fuel generation in Australia. The Gov also sets the wholesale price... there is no competition in the market.

If the Gov decides to turn off all the coal power stations and build renewable energy stations (obviously gradually) then that is exactly what will happen.

For your argument to work, a private company would then have to go and fund a $4-5bn coal power station (and who in this day in age is going to do that? - when increased use of renewables will eventually lead to massive price drops)

 

[Riet]

umm that's only because they aren't allowed to because of unionist pigs, if NSW had privatised electricity you think someone like BHP wouldn't be able to build power stations? The cost to provide a large number of people with renewables isn't exactly low and coal is still the cheapest per kW.h

 

[Graney]

the Gov owns and operates all fossil fuel generation in Australia.

That's not true at all.

 

[jb_nc]

the fact of the matter is for the free market to adopt renewable energy we need a carbon tax

lol

 

[jb_nc]

for the free market to function properly, we need government intervention

 

[aussie-boy]

umm that's only because they aren't allowed to because of unionist pigs, if NSW had privatised electricity you think someone like BHP wouldn't be able to build power stations? The cost to provide a large number of people with renewables isn't exactly low and coal is still the cheapest per kW.h

lol, so...

the Government has the potential to easily make the switch to renewables,

and this is bad because they are "pigs"/we want private corporations to be able to build environmentally destructive generators

BUT we actually want renewable energy to be used, so lets screw these private companies with a carbon tax, in order to get to the same situation we would have been in had the Gov just built the damn power stations

 

[aussie-boy]

That's not true at all.

You're kind of right... Vic and SA have privatised power generation.
It holds true for all the other states/territories however.

 

[Riet]

lol, so...

the Government has the potential to easily make the switch to renewables,

and this is bad because they are "pigs"/we want private corporations to be able to build environmentally destructive generators

BUT we actually want renewable energy to be used, so lets screw these private companies with a carbon tax, in order to get to the same situation we would have been in had the Gov just built the damn power stations

How do you suppose the government raises the funds for new powerstations?

 

[aussie-boy]

How do you suppose the government raises the funds for new powerstations?

If the private sector has the financial capacity to build a power station, than the Government (with an increased capacity to borrow) certainly does

In any case, this goes beyond your original argument - I've already shown that there is an alternative that can easily be instituted with sufficient political will

This is why Abbott's idea is not so far fetched, except for the fact that he wants to throw money at geo-sequestration rather than renewables - which is absurd

 

[Riet]

Oh I see so the government will borrow money and then they will pay it back with?

My point is that the government is going to paying for it with taxpayers money anyway.
As with most other services electricity is one that can be provided significantly more efficiently by the private sector.
The problem is that there is no reason why one would stop using coal in Australia unless the government makes it less competitive to do so, as the general population can't tangibly see the benefits of using green energy and so won't pay more for it. The money from a carbon tax could be used to subsidise the high capital cost of construction CSP and Nuclear power plants. By putting an artificial cost on coal and making it cheaper for smaller companies to start renewable electricity production we would see the springing up of many more small providers as is the case in places like Germany.

 

[SylviaB]

Fuck the average Australian. They don't own this country, or have any more right to access it than any other human being on this planet.

Should any consideration be given to the fact that some of these individuals have criminal records etc? Or not?

Obviously not including drug/other victimless offences