The more aware Yourpeans are starting to get annoyed at the Australian Coalition plans to stop the carbon tax in Australia. They make a strong case that the carbox tax in this country would actually work well locally and also encourage other countries such as China to follow suit. I believe that China is more than ready to tackle climate change in a big way, though it has already started to do renewables. My informants in China have alerted me to an "unprecedented" in scale drought in the south of the country with failure of crops while the north is being drenched by massive pourdown. Meanwhile Typhoon Talas is about to make a landfall on Japan... There again, like the winds of Irene along the coast of the US a few days ago, the wind speed is quite "moderate" but the amount of water carried is enormous. Since the beginning of the year, humidity in the air (and/or the lack of it) has had devastating effects around the globe, from Queensland to the Philippines. The atmosphere creates some larger eddies that suck the increase in humidity and leave other parts dry... Most of these events are often, singularly, one-in-a-hundred years events but as a cluster of happenings IN A SINGLE YEAR, the chances are one in a million. And the year is not finished yet. Some parts of Europe has been suffering from "unprecedented" drought, after having had two "storms of the century" — one in 2000 and another (storm of a millenum — "never seen one so fierce before") in 2010. Meanwhile the winter snow in the US were quite severe, while areas near the Artic Circle were enjoying "balmy" minus one degree Celsius when they should have had at least minus twenty.

Global warming is happening... and faster than we think.

The editor of a science journal has resigned after admitting that a recent paper casting doubt on man-made climate change should not have been published.

The paper, by US scientists Roy Spencer and William Braswell, claimed that computer models of climate inflated projections of temperature increase.

It was seized on by "sceptic" bloggers, but attacked by mainstream scientists.

Wolfgang Wagner, editor of Remote Sensing journal, says he agrees with their criticisms and is stepping down.

...

Roy Spencer, however, told BBC News: "I stand behind the science contained in the paper itself, as well as my comments published on my blog at drroyspencer.com.

"Our university press release necessarily put our scientific results in lay language, and what we believe they mean in the larger context of global warming research. This is commonly done in press statements made by the IPCC and its scientists, too, when reporting on research which advocates the view that climate change is almost entirely caused by humans.

"The very fact that the public has the perception that climate change is man-made, when in fact there is as yet no way to know with any level of scientific certainty how much is man-made versus natural, is evidence of that."

Dr Spencer is one of the team at the University of Alabama in Huntsville that keeps a record of the Earth's temperature as determined from satellite readings.

He is also on the board of directors of the George C Marshall Institute, a right-wing thinktank critical of mainstream climate science, and an advisor to the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation, an evangelical Christian organisation that claims policies to curb climate change "would destroy jobs and impose trillions of dollars in costs" and "could be implemented only by enormous and dangerous expansion of government control over private life".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14768574

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Global warming is happening... and faster than we think.

Contrarily to what that godzealot "scientist" says, one of the man made major element of global warming can be quantified easily from scientific studies of CO2 in the atmosphere back from the end of the 19th century till now. The increase of CO2 due to human activity is presently between 2 and 3 ppm per year. Since say around 1890, the increase of human created EXTRA CO2 has nearly double that of the total CO2 atmospheric content. The "base" natural CO2 content in the atmosphere is around 180/200 ppm. Since the industrial revolution, the CO2 atmospheric content has increased to more than 350 ppm. Other greenhouse gases have also been released by human activity, including CFCs and methane.

But in reality, humans production of CO2 is greater than 3 ppm (about 4.5 ppm) since quite a lot of human created CO2 is absorbed back into the oceans turning them acidic.

Beware.

NEW ORLEANS — A slow-moving and soggy storm that has been dawdling in the Gulf of Mexico for days is expected to come ashore this weekend, bringing rainfall so heavy that officials say excessive flooding is all but inevitable in areas along the coast.

While it is still parked offshore and may not make landfall until Sunday, Tropical Storm Lee has already brought about tropical storm warnings from Pascagoula, Miss., to the Texas-Louisiana border and state of emergency declarations by Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi.

Though winds are projected to strengthen to just below hurricane level, the most pressing worry is the amount of rainfall the storm is bringing, a problem exacerbated by its leisurely pace.

“The bottom line is the longer it stays, the more rain we’re going to get,” Ken Graham of the National Weather Service forecasting office in Slidell, La., said in a conference call with reporters.

Rainfall of 10 to 15 inches is expected on the coast from Alabama through Louisiana by Sunday evening; in some areas up to 20 inches of rainfall could accumulate.

The potential for flooding is alleviated somewhat by the drought conditions that have left much of southern Louisiana bone dry this summer, allowing the ground to absorb rainfall more easily. But with so much water coming at once, and with tides running two to five feet above normal, the water piling up in inlets, rivers and bays will have nowhere to drain, potentially resulting in extensive inland flooding, forecasters said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/03/us/03storm.html?hp=&pagewanted=print

see meanwhile in yourp above...

Hurricane Katia is continuing its trek across the Atlantic Thursday, Sept. 1, 2011, with little change in strength. The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami says some strengthening is expected and Katia could become a major hurricane by the weekend.

http://www.chron.com/news/article/Tropical-warnings-for-Gulf-heavy-rain-expected-2151843.php

The google earth view of Katia makes Katrina look like a big cuddly toy... We'll see..

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia-pacific/typhoon-talas-causes-landslides-moves-north-off-japan-6-dead-20-reported-missing/2011/09/03/gIQAHrAH0J_story.html?wprss=rss_homepage

Talas, as mentioned before landfall in a couple of comments above...

Mr Abbott says the process is a "travesty of democracy" and Parliament needs more time for the debate.

"If you do the mathematics, you've got one minute, per member, per bill, because there's 18 bills, 1,000 pages of legislation, they're going to try to rush that through the Parliament in under two weeks," Mr Abbott told ABC radio.

He accused the Government of trying to rush the bills through the committee stage, where they face detailed scrutiny, in "just a couple of hours".

"That's where the minister has to explain each clause and that's where flaws in the legislation are most often exposed and, by sensible governments, fixed," he said.

But Climate Change Minister Greg Combet says everyone will have a chance to speak on the bills and that Mr Abbott's claim of one minute per bill is "rubbish".

"The [18] bills will be debated together, that is as one piece of legislation effectively, and people will have adequate time for their contribution," he told Sabra Lane on AM.

And he dismissed Mr Abbott's latest comments, saying the Opposition Leader had already made his position clear on numerous occasions.

"He doesn't like the science, doesn't like the scientists, doesn't like the economics, doesn't like the economists, doesn't like anything much. And so we know what people's positions are," Mr Combet said.

"The documents are there now, the expose drafts have been out for some time. No-one is being blind-sided by anything.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-09-13/row-over-timing-of-carbon-debate/2882692

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Tony is upset because he's got a great chance of loosing this vote...

Bring the carbon tax now. The sooner the better... Bring the mining tax now. The sooner the better. Spend the money on renewables and new carbon neutral technologies. It is essential for the survival of this planet. As I have mentioned before, global warming is coming on fast and furious in geological time scale: for example it took 2000 years  for the last big melt (5 to 6 degrees). If we do not do anything about reducing our carbon emission now, the rise of temperature by 2100 WILL BE between 4 and 6 degrees Celsius (ONLY 90 YEARS FROM NOW). By 2150 this could rise 9 to 12 degrees Celsius on present temperatures... I know many people do not understand that paradigm.

...Like the young female last night on Q&A (ABC-TV) who said: "this isn't democracy because I did not vote for her" (or something like that)... Well my dear young woman, whose parents may be living in Vaucluse, Democracy is not perfect for all. Had Tony Abbott been the leader would you think it be democracy? I don't like the fellow but I would have to cop it...

But at this stage you, the young female at Q&A, may not realise that your future and that of your children depends on very unpalatable policies, especially a carbon tax...

China is waiting eargerly to see what Australia does and will follow suit.

The first country in the world that should lead on this issue is the USA but it will be the last to come forth, unfortunately because of rabid fundamentalist christians who do not want to understand evolution and change on this planet... This year the US weather (local climatic conditions) has been quite horrendous: Temperature breaking records in most states, including Texas under the grip of an unprecedented drought. While on the east coast, floodings from two basic storms like two floods of the century one week apart... Climatic condition worldwide are changing towards warmer. Even most of the few skeptic scientists agree on that point.

The contention is primarily focused on the source of this "warming".

Like the hole in the ozone layer study, very precise, complex and evidence-based science points 99 per cent at human activity. Due to our great industrialization we release far too much EXTRA CO2 in the atmosphere. Presently the CO2 level in the atmosphere have never been this high since 800,000 years ago and we're keeping adding it on.

And we have to deal with the ignoramuses like Barnaby Joyce who has no idea about science BUT DOES NOT WANT TO KNOW THE TRUTH because it's alien to him... He's a learned idiot. Tony is a learned cunning idiot. We can't afford to be led by these idiots who have no idea and don't try to understand... They make me cry.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has introduced to Parliament the first of 18 bills to establish the government's carbon price regime.

Ms Gillard said the Parliament had been debating climate change for decades and most Australians now agreed the world was warming.

That was caused by carbon pollution and the best way to make the polluters pay was to put a price on carbon, she said.

"Today we move from words to deeds," she told Parliament.

...

Ms Gillard said politicians would be judged by Australians now and in the future.

The final test was not whether you were on the right side of the short-term politics or polls, she said.

"The final test is this: are you on the right side of history?

"And in my experience the judgment of history has a way of speaking sooner than we expect."

She finished by harking back to the "It's time" election campaign of former Labor great Gough Whitlam.

"It's time to deliver the action on climate change we need," she said.

"To do what is best for Australian families, what is best for future generations, what is best for this country.

"I know we can get there."

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/glacier/before-after

Presently, global temperature increase is approaching 0.05 degree Celsius per annum with global warming. This could seem to be insignificant... But this represents 0.5 degrees Celsius per decade. Over the last remaining nine decades to 2100, this will compound to about five degrees Celsius. See 0.5 x 9 decades = 4.5 + compounding factor = 5 to 6 degrees Celsius.

This increase is based on present CO2 level in the atmosphere plus some EXTRA CO2 added by humans between now and 2100. But despite much effort to reduce emissions (Gillard has pledge to reduce Australia's CO2 emissions by 80 per cent by 2050, Tony and Joe would not have a clue), world emissions of CO2 will still be on the increase by roughly the same amount (3 PPM per year) due to increase in living standards in the developing world and rabid demand for "cheap" energy in the Western World.

With a temperature already risen to 4.5 degrees Celsius and still rising by 2100, the next step will be 9 to 12 degrees Celsius by 2150.

Good luck.

Alan Kohler at the drum

...

At least she is half honest about it. The Coalition continues to pretend that its "direct action" plan can achieve the same proposed emissions reduction as the Government's, when it would also clearly have to rely on international carbon units to cut emissions by 5 per cent of 2000 levels by 2020.

Yet Tony Abbott and his climate change spokesman Greg Hunt remain magnificently unquestioned about their own policy while hammering away at the Government's. It is a beautiful thing to be able to successfully criticise careful and detailed Government legislation that has been 20 years in the making while not having to worry about developing a credible policy of your own.

But that's the golden place in which the Coalition finds itself, and good luck to them I guess.

Unfortunately the lack of any sort of sophisticated discussion about the issue is causing a lot of uncertainty among business people and consumers and contributing to the big drop in their confidence.

No-one, for example, is remarking on the fact that while Australia's "Clean Energy Future" relies on buying international carbon units, the only place you can get them from at the moment - the European Union - appears to be falling apart.

-------------------

The golden place where Tony sits on is complete fool's gold. And rotten luck to him and his rotten policies — especially about climate change  — a subject on which he understands ZERO. He only gets away with it because people like Alan Kohler seem to let him get away with glorious crap.

The situation in Europe will get sorted out if people are willing to sort it out. It will involve a bit of pain but actually not as much as some think... The long term plan by the US was to weaken Europe at the same time as it was going down the gurgler itself — knowing it had over-extended itself.

Europe got sold some of the worse subprime packages from US banks. It snowballed into mush. Should Europe be strong at the moment, the US would be in far more trouble than it is. Europe is still an option to trade carbon credits anyway, despite the "uncertainty". Further more, Kohler is disingenuous about "domestic action". It can actually be more effective than he claims.

At least I hope Kohler believes that ACTION HAS TO BE TAKEN on global warming.

It might be fun and pleasant to have some lovely warm days in Sydney at the moment (September spring: 27 degrees C) but, in the end (if there is an end), we'll pay for our excess usage of CO2, eventually if we don't do anything. That Julia's carbon policy may have some small problems, so be it, but the general gist is correct and it is ABOUT TIME SOMETHING IS DONE...

On this subject, we cannot afford another decade of dithering... So Alan, let it be. Capishe?

Every time I listen to Gov. Rick Perry of Texas and Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota talk about how climate change is some fraud perpetrated by scientists trying to gin up money for research, I’m always reminded of one of my favorite movie lines that Jack Nicholson delivers to his needy neighbor who knocks on his door in the film “As Good As It Gets.” “Where do they teach you to talk like this?” asks Nicholson. “Sell crazy someplace else. We’re all stocked up here.”

Thanks Mr. Perry and Mrs. Bachmann, but we really are all stocked up on crazy right now. I mean, here is the Texas governor rejecting the science of climate change while his own state is on fire — after the worst droughts on record have propelled wildfires to devour an area the size of Connecticut. As a statement by the Texas Forest Service said last week: “No one on the face of this earth has ever fought fires in these extreme conditions.”

Remember the first rule of global warming. The way it unfolds is really “global weirding.” The weather gets weird: the hots get hotter; the wets wetter; and the dries get drier. This is not a hoax. This is high school physics, as Katharine Hayhoe, a climatologist in Texas, explained on Joe Romm’s invaluable Climateprogress.org blog: “As our atmosphere becomes warmer, it can hold more water vapor. Atmospheric circulation patterns shift, bringing more rain to some places and less to others. For example, when a storm comes, in many cases there is more water available in the atmosphere and rainfall is heavier. When a drought comes, often temperatures are already higher than they would have been 50 years ago, and so the effects of the drought are magnified by higher evaporation rates.”

CNN reported on Sept. 9 that “Texas had the distinction of experiencing the warmest summer on record of any state in America, with an average of 86.8 degrees. Dallas residents sweltered for 40 consecutive days of grueling 100-plus degree temperatures. ... Temperature-related energy demands soared more than 22 percent above the norm this summer, the largest increase since record-keeping of energy demands began more than a century ago.”

There is still much we don’t know about how climate change will unfold, but it is no hoax. We need to start taking steps, as our scientists urge, “to manage the unavoidable and avoid the unmanageable.” If you want a quick primer on the latest climate science, tune into “24 Hours of Reality.” It is a worldwide live, online update that can be found at climaterealityproject.org and will be going on from Sept. 14-15, over 24 hours, with contributors from 24 time zones.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/14/opinion/friedman-is-it-weird-enough-yet.html?_r=1&src=ISMR_HP_LO_MST_FB&pagewanted=print

Gus: well, Thomas, in Victoria, Australia, in 2009, bushfires took hold of forests in temperatures around 47 degrees Celsius with winds up to 60 miles per hour... More than 100 people died. Possibly the worst wild fires this country — quite used to bush fires — ever saw...

In early 2009, bushfires devastated Victoria, causing unprecedented loss of life and property. The Victorian Coroner’s Office confirmed that 173 people lost their lives during the fires, which directly impacted 51 townships, destroying over 2,000 homes, along with many businesses, schools and kindergartens.

The Victorian Bushfire Reconstruction and Recovery Authority regularly releases reports providing an update on the progress communities have made and the programs put in place to support this. Details about the programs underway are outlined in the reports at the We Will Rebuild website.

The Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission delivered its final report on Saturday 31 July 2010. The 67 recommendations are focused on protecting human life, and are designed to reflect the shared responsibility that all Governments, fire agencies, communities and individuals have for minimising the prospect of a tragedy of this scale happening again. Further information can be found at Royal Commission Reports.

Global warming? No-one wants to point the finger but yes, I will.

8.24am: French banks shares have fallen sharply again following Moody's downgrade -- and despite Christian Noyer's admirable optimism:

Société Générale has been hardest hit, losing 4.2% in the first 20mins of trading. Credit Crédit Agricole is faring slightly better, down 3.2% at pixel time.

The biggest faller, perhaps surprisingly, is BNP Paribas, whose shares have tumbled by 5.1%. It dodged a downgrade - and announced a €70bn asset sale plan. City analysts, though, reckon BNP is on borrowed time.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/blog/2011/sep/14/french-banks-downgraded-europe-debt-crisis

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It is my simpleton view that the US does not want Europe to succeed, NOW OR NEVER. It has done as much as possible legally and financially to undermine the Union, including payments by US banks under the table to Greece contrary to the charter of the European Union..

The University of Bremen in Germany, which uses a different satellite sensor and has been monitoring levels since 2003, reported last week that this year's sea ice actually fell below the record set in 2007.

Ice Data Center research scientist Julienne Stroeve said two factors cause summer sea ice to shrink more than normal: worsening man-made global warming and localized and seasonal Arctic weather. In 2007, local weather conditions — wind, barometric pressure and sea currents — all were the worst possible for keeping sea ice frozen, she said. But this year, those seasonal conditions weren't too bad, she said. Even so, the data center's measurements show one of the worst years for melt.

Ozone loss over the Arctic this year was so severe that for the first time it could be called an "ozone hole" like the Antarctic one, scientists report.

About 20km (13 miles) above the ground, 80% of the ozone was lost, they say.

The cause was an unusually long spell of cold weather at altitude. In cold conditions, the chlorine chemicals that destroy ozone are at their most active.

It is currently impossible to predict if such losses will occur again, the team writes in the journal Nature.

Early data on the scale of Arctic ozone destruction were released in April, but the Nature paper is the first that has fully analysed the data.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15105747

And please, don't be so daft... The ozone layer depletion is entirely man-made... That is to say that humans in their sillydom, release extra chemicals in the form of gases that destroy the ozone molecules — from CFCs still lurking about, and other gasses such as methane, now in excess due to human activity. On another front, like the ozone protection protocol that helped reduce the damage to the ozone layer, the earth needs a CO2 and methane protocol URGENTLY.

see: http://www.ciesin.org/docs/011-466/011-466.html

Stratospheric ozone depletion has been a major environmental issue of the last two decades--first as an interesting hypothesis following publication of the seminal paper by Molina and Rowland (1974), and then as a matter of urgency and intergovernmental action following the discovery of the ozone 'hole' in the Antarctic stratosphere in 1984 (Farman et al., 1985). The primary concern regarding ozone depletion is that a decrease in the total column content of ozone leads to an increase in the amount of UV-B radiation reaching the Earth's surface, with adverse effects on human health and ecosystems (Box 1) (UNEP, 1989). Ozone depletion may also contribute to changes in the Earth's climate (see Chapter 3).

While the largest ozone depletion is occurring at high latitudes in both hemispheres, it is happening everywhere except the tropics, and enhanced levels of UV-B radiation will have adverse effects on people of all nations, independent of their geographical position or economic status. Peoples with lightly pigmented skins are most susceptible to melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer, but all peoples are at risk of contracting eye disorders and suppression of the immune response system. Societies in developing countries with inadequate health services are at greatest risk. Because of the impact of UV-B radiation on some plants, and hence on ecosystem functioning, ozone depletion will also reduce agricultural and fisheries productivity in the long term, and again the people most likely to be affected are those living where shortages of food already exist.

The considerable advancement in scientific knowledge since 1970 (Box 2) has been accompanied by similar advances in national and international regulatory action (Box 3). Within these past 70 years, three separate time intervals can be identified: (i) 1974 to mid-1987, including the periods during which the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer (1985) and the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (1987) were negotiated; (ii) mid-1987 to mid-1990. when the London amendments to the Montreal Protocol were negotiated; and (iii) mid-1990 to the present. (Current research and monitoring studies are establishing the scientific basis for further amendments to the Montreal Protocol to be considered at the fourth meeting of the Contracting Parties in November 1992.)

About 90 per cent of the Earth's protective ozone layer resides in the stratosphere between 15km and 50km altitude (Figure 1). Molecular oxygen is broken down in the stratosphere by solar radiation to yield atomic oxygen, which then combines with molecular oxygen to produce ozone. Ozone is destroyed naturally through a series of catalytic cycles involving oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen and to a lesser extent chlorine and bromine species. The abundance of stratospheric ozone is therefore chemically controlled by the stratospheric abundances of compounds containing hydrogen, nitrogen, chlorine and bromine. Increases in the abundances of methane and nitrous oxide (sources of hydrogen and nitrogen oxides respectively) thus affect the abundance and distribution of stratospheric ozone. Stratospheric ozone is also affected by the abundance of carbon dioxide (CO2), because the rates of the chemical reactions that control the abundance of ozone are temperature-dependent, and the abundance of CO2 plays a key role in determining the temperature structure of the stratosphere.

During the 1970s and early 1980s, theoretical model calculations focused on predicting the response of stratospheric ozone to changes in chlorine, assuming that the atmospheric abundances of other trace gases remained constant. However, since the early 1980s, with advances in understanding of trace gas trends and model formulation, model calculations have been used to predict the response of stratospheric ozone to simultaneous increases in chlorine (from chlorofluorocarbons, hydrochlorofluorocarbons, carbon tetrachloride, methylchloroform and methyl chloride) and bromine (from halons and methyl bromide), as well as methane, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide.

see image and articles from top down.

Dozens of mysterious ozone-destroying chemicals may be undermining the recovery of the giant ozone hole over Antarctica, researchers have revealed.

The chemicals, which are also extremely potent greenhouse gases, may be leaking from industrial plants or being used illegally, contravening the Montreal protocol which began banning the ozone destroyers in 1987. Scientists said the finding of the chemicals circulating in the atmosphere showed "ozone depletion is not yesterday's story."

Until now, a total of 13 CFCs and HCFCs were known to destroy ozone and are controlled by the Montreal protocol, widely regarded as the world's most successful environmental law. But scientists have now identified and measured four previously unknown compounds and warned of the existence of many more.

"There are definitely more out there," said Dr Johannes Laube, at the University of East Anglia. "We have already picked up dozens more. They might well add up to dangerous levels, especially if we keep finding more." Laube and his colleagues are in the process of fully analysing the dozens of new compounds, but the work completed on the four new chemicals shows them to be very powerful destroyers of ozone.

Laube is particularly concerned that the atmospheric concentrations of two of the new compounds, while low now, are actually accelerating. "They are completely unimpressed by the Montreal protocol," Laube told the Guardian. "There are quite a few loopholes in the protocol and we hope some of these are tightened. But the good news is that we have picked up these [four] early." The chemicals take decades to break down in the atmosphere, meaning their impact on ozone and climate change is long-lived.

"This research highlights that ozone depletion is not yesterday's story," said Prof Piers Forster, at the University of Leeds, who was not involved in the study. "The Montreal protocol – the most successful international environmental legislation in history – phased out ozone-depleting substances from 1987 and the ozone layer should recover by 2050. Nevertheless this paper reminds us we need to be vigilant and continually monitor the atmosphere for even small amounts of these gases creeping up."

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/mar/09/ozone-hole-antarctica-chemicals

Read articles from top down...

A new report by Tony Wood and Lucy Carter, of the Grattan Institute, Fair Pricing for Power, says that over the past five years the average Australian household's electricity bill has risen by 70 per cent to $1660 a year.

And this has been happening while the amount of electricity we use has been falling, not rising. Just why electricity demand has been falling is a story for another day.

The cost of actually generating the power accounts for 30 per cent of that total. The cost of delivering the power from the generator to your home via poles and wires – that is, the electricity transmission and distribution network – accounts for 43 per cent of the total.

That leaves the costs of the electricity retailer – the business you deal with – accounting for 13 per cent of the total bill, with the carbon tax making up 7 per cent and the various measures to encourage energy saving or use of renewables making up the last 7 per cent.

Of these various components, the one that does most to account for the rapid rise in overall bills is the cost of the physical distribution network. Whereas there's fierce competition between the now mainly privately owned power stations, the network businesses – still government-owned in NSW and Queensland, but privatised in Victoria and South Australia – are natural monopolies.

This means the prices the networks are allowed to charge – whether government or privately owned – are regulated by government authorities. And this is the source of the problem. Loopholes in the price regulation regime have made it easy for the network businesses to feather their nest at the expense of you and me.

Why would a government-owned network business want to overcharge? Because their profits are paid to the state Treasury, which needs all the cash it can get. So the NSW and Queensland governments gain by looking the other way while their voters are ripped off. The gouging hasn't been nearly as bad in privatised Victoria, where electricity prices are well below the national average.