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March 7th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda Manufacturers of solar hot water systems say they’re 40 per cent more efficient than solar energy panels and one of the best ways for households to cut rising power bills.
Yet Australia’s solar hot water industry says it will literally be in hot water with the federal government’s decision last week to axe a $1000 rebate scheme.
The coalition says the government is harming an $800 million-a-year green industry while spending $1 billion on coal power subsidies, and will introduce a private member’s bill next week to have the scheme extended until June 30.
Opposition climate action and environment spokesman Greg Hunt said on Wednesday he was hopeful of enough support from the Greens and independents to pass the bill – though Greens Deputy Leader Senator Christine Milne appeared to scupper the idea.
“The coalition bill simply maintains the status quo and the Greens are interested in a longer term solution for the whole solar hot water industry,” she told AAP in response to Mr Hunt’s proposal.
But while the parties play politics, one of Australia’s biggest green industries – local and export – remains in limbo.
Rheem is Australia’s largest manufacturer and exporter of solar hot water systems under brands including SolaHart, Solar Edwards and Vulcan.
But the high Australian dollar is crippling exports at a time when local sales are also down due to the uncertain economy.
“Our export business, which is pretty much half of what we make at this factory, has disappeared to a large extent,” Rheem government relations manager Gareth Jennings said during a tour by Mr Hunt of the company’s flagship factory in Perth on Wednesday.
“The entire solar market is off by about 50 per cent since its peak.”
Mr Jennings said the industry didn’t want handouts, but rather a level playing field with other subsidised green and energy industries, as well as support during tough times.
With the death of the $1000 rebate, Mr Jennings said solar power system producers would effectively get three times the subsidies of solar hot water producers under the new carbon credit scheme.
“So a product that would pretty much be an equivalent to us in price, which has 40 per cent less efficiency, gets three times the support,” he said.
“We compete with the green dollar, so it’s not a level playing field.
Mr Hunt, meanwhile, claimed the move would risk more than 7000 jobs while doing nothing to reduce carbon emissions.
“This is a manufacturing own goal,” he said.
“Not only that, (the government) will spend $1 billion on (subsidising) brown coal power plants, and then they’ll take $24.5 million out of the budget for solar a week later.
“They’ve been willing to sacrifice this industry in order to get to the paper surplus.”
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