2018 South Australian State Election

[Norman]

I believe it is all worked out on averages

For example, wind on some days produces 100% of the energy requirements of the state, and some days it may be 10%. On average, this may be 40% of the state's energy needs.

Then you add solar PV, which may provide 15% on some days and 5% on others. The current average is 10%.

Storage won't be used every day, but it will, on average, provide 25% of the state's needs across the year. This can come from batteries or pumped hydro.

Add them all up, and that's how you get the 75%

[rev]

Full announcement video is now up on Jay's Facebook page.

Essentially a $35 million extension of the existing fibre optic network out into the suburbs, resulting in data speeds equal to the fastest in the world.

I really think the government's onto a winner with turning the state into a high tech hub - I really hope they get another term to keep the momentum in place as I get the Libs' idea of creating jobs and industry doesn't stretch beyond activities involving hitting pig iron with lump hammers.

...

South Australia's GigCity plan is not what it seems

Labor's high-speed broadband proposal is no NBN. Retail service providers will still have to handle the difficult, expensive bit.

By Stilgherrian for The Full Tilt | February 21, 2018 -- 03:22 GMT (14:22 AEDT) | Topic: Networking

Hardcore fibre fundamentalists will doubtless see Tuesday's announcement by the South Australian government as a dream come true. Gigabit fibre to the premises (FttP) broadband, and cheaper than the National Broadband Network. Hurrah!

Except it's not quite that.

What we actually have is nothing more than a two-page press release outlining a broad intention -- a press release from the Australian Labor Party (ALP), the party currently in government, in the lead-up to an election on March 17.

We need to parse this very carefully, with more than a few grains of salt.

What's actually on offer is an expansion of the state's GigCity Adelaide project.

GigCity is based on the state-owned high-speed backbone network called SABRENet, the South Australian Broadband Research and Education Network. It connects a dozen designated key innovation precincts, with another 16 in the pipeline. Businesses in those precincts -- and only businesses -- can buy gigabit fibre connections from the "precinct manager" through retail service provider EscapeNet.

The ALP now intends to expand that network, and open it up to residential customers.

The two key sentences from Tuesday's announcement are these:

"Labor will invest $35 million to undertake a major expansion of the State Government's existing fibre network, to be known as 'the Fishbone', across metropolitan Adelaide," the name presumably being chosen because it'll consist of a backbone along Adelaide's narrow north-south metropolitan area, with side branches to reach the suburbs.
"Labor will make the infrastructure available to internet providers to offer the faster and cheaper services."

The ALP talks up the idea that the federal government has spent AU$50 billion on the NBN for slower speeds, and they're doing it much cheaper at AU$35 million. But that's only because they're only doing the easiest bit of all, the backbone, and only in the metropolitan area.

Way, way back in April 2009, Labor's original budget for the NBN showed that 71 percent of the project cost would be civil works. Trucks, diggers, reels of fibre, and people in hi-viz vests going to 93 percent of the premises in the nation to screw a box to the wall without stomping all over Aunty Gwendolyn's rose bushes.

The cost of those civil works blew out when the mining boom upped the demand for these workers, bumping up the price, and when the entire trench-digging thing proved to be more fiddly to organise than first thought.

That's an over-simplification, of course, but the thing to remember is that the NBN, and last-mile customer networks generally, are civil works projects, not technology projects.

GigCity isn't doing any of this.

The SA government spent AU$7.6 million setting up the first dozen GigCity precincts, and another AU$2.9 million over four years has been allocated to the rest. The AU$35 million just announced has to cover an upgrade of the backbone and cover maybe, say, a few dozen more precinct-like nodes.

Retail service providers will need to do the rest.

It's up to the retail ISPs to set pricing, including whether there's a customer connection charge.

The theory, then, is that the wholesale price charged by GigCity, plus the cost for the ISP to organise the last mile, is cheaper than the ISP paying the NBN to do both those things. Or at least they'll get faster speeds for the same cost, and with fewer dramas.

That's probably doable, but just as with the NBN, just as with any other project, we should be demanding spreadsheets or GTFO.

We also need to know a lot more about the announced "digital inclusion plan" to narrow the digital divide. The plan seems to consist of nothing more than those three words, plus a commitment to establish "a roundtable of the community sector, government, and business". Which is to say, a committee.

Now, that comparison with Chattanooga ...

Chattanooga, Tennessee was the first US city to run gigabit fibre, and they reckon it saved the town. More than 80 American cities have built their own gigabit networks since, and parts of the US South are now turning from a rust belt of struggling industry to a fibre belt of innovation.

The combination of good internet, accommodation costs far cheaper than Silicon Valley and the big cities, and often tax breaks, have produced the numbers on which the ALP has based its claim of being able to produce 3,000 new jobs.

Whether South Australia can continue to get this right remains to be seen. But with a state election only 24 days away, anything is possible, and everything is true.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/south-aust ... -it-seems/

[Jaymz]

Labor's done their job. Invested in infrastructure and borrowed money to do it, as needed. And had more than enough time to do it.

Unfortunately our public service is still the most bloated on mainland Australia, funded by our out of whack GST distribution (expensive form of welfare). Time for some grass roots and common sense, conservative policies.

[Waewick]

How on earth can people talk about SA prospering?

In what way are we prospering?

[Llessur2002]

How on earth can people talk about SA prospering?

In what way are we prospering?

Not sure anyone's used the word prospering but we're not doing half as bad as the Murdoch press likes to lead people to believe...

http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-2 ... rt/9076262

[Jaymz]

How on earth can people talk about SA prospering?

In what way are we prospering?

Not sure anyone's used the word prospering but we're not doing half as bad as the Murdoch press likes to lead people to believe...

http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-2 ... rt/9076262

Don't forget, these figures are based on decade averages, so we're coming off a very low base. Read into your stats.

I'll consider our State Govt. to be doing a good job when our economy is growing at the same rate, or above the national average. But more importantly, and closely related, when our population growth is the same too, which it hasn't been since the late 80's. We should accept nothing less.

[Waewick]

Thats the problem, talk to anyone in business and they would disagree with you.

https://indaily.com.au/opinion/2018/02/ ... the-state/

Thats a fairly basic summary of what the rest of the state is actually seeing.

I guess my focus is on the prosperity of the state and after 16 years of not delivering that im not falling for the same empty promises.

Mind you we say 16 years as if Labor has dominated, but 2 terms have been in minority government when they lost the popular vote by fairly hefty levels.

[Llessur2002]

So which, exactly, of the policies announced by one or more of the conservative parties are going to give our state a chance to prosper economically then?

What in the long term is going to be more effective than the wholesale shift of our economy to high tech, modern industries - a shift which which Labor has already started and is gradually but noticeably building up momentum?

I can't see how trimming a bit off of the public sector wage bill, allowing Myers to open past 5pm on a Sunday or clamping down on rogue cannabis users is going to miraculously transform our entire economy.

Conservative, more often than not = backward. Look how much the UK has stagnated since electing their Conservative government. Public services suffer, healthcare suffers, people suffer and the economy does naff all.

[HiTouch]

Conservative, more often than not = backward. Look how much the UK has stagnated since electing their Conservative government. Public services suffer, healthcare suffers, people suffer and the economy does naff all.

Incredibly general statement. Yes yes, power to the people and all that “down with the bourgeois” business.

The reality is that ideology of the English conservative government is reflective of slightly too many populist policies and not enough conservative principles which has given its fair share of problems. No different to the left wing Venezuela. (except one has embraced a little more of that populism than the it’s fair share. Hehehe amiright?).

Populism is like ice cream, too much and you’ll end up sick and with a painful brain freeze (bad economy and terrible education system). Studies have shown that the passionate politics of a young adult and populism quite often go hand in hand which swing back in “rebellion” to when those young adults grow up. Gen Y’s progressives will create Gen Z’s conservatives.
The catch is that populism gets the votes (not the policies though).

[Llessur2002]

This morning's announcement:

BREAKING: Under a re-elected State Labor Government, South Australians will be eligible for a no interest loan to purchase and install a solar and battery system.

Loans of up to $10,000 per household will be available to homeowners who want to install both solar panels and a battery, or just a battery for those who already have panels, with no interest charged for the first 7 years.

More renewable energy = cheaper power for all South Australians.

[Waewick]

This morning's announcement:

BREAKING: Under a re-elected State Labor Government, South Australians will be eligible for a no interest loan to purchase and install a solar and battery system.

Loans of up to $10,000 per household will be available to homeowners who want to install both solar panels and a battery, or just a battery for those who already have panels, with no interest charged for the first 7 years.

More renewable energy = cheaper power for all South Australians.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-22/l ... ds/9472988

South Australia's Labor Party has pledged $100 million to provide interest-free loans to put solar panels and batteries into private homes — a policy similar to one announced by the Liberals in October.

more of the same from Labor. Got to love their catch cry, standing up for South Australians. They really do aim low.

[Llessur2002]

South Australia's Labor Party has pledged $100 million to provide interest-free loans to put solar panels and batteries into private homes — a policy similar to one announced by the Liberals in October.

more of the same from Labor. Got to love their catch cry, standing up for South Australians. They really do aim low.

The Lib's plan was for maximum $2500 towards a system - bugger all in reality and not a massive incentive to make the switch. $10,000 would get a decent system installed and would cost a manageable $100 per month over the 7 years interest free. I know which deal I prefer.

[Waewick]

Of course you would.

Id rather see 40000 people have the chance to benefit rather than a smaller amount.

[Llessur2002]

A $2500 grant will only really benefit those who could already afford to install solar - it might buy them a few extra panels or encourage them to install battery storage. It will not open up the possibility of benefiting from solar power to many lower income households. But that probably suits the Libs quite well.

$10000 spread out over 7 years will make solar and battery storage accessible to those who were not in a financial position to install such a system.

Like I say, I know which deal I prefer.

[JAKJ]

Thats the problem, talk to anyone in business and they would disagree with you.

https://indaily.com.au/opinion/2018/02/ ... the-state/

Thats a fairly basic summary of what the rest of the state is actually seeing.

I guess my focus is on the prosperity of the state and after 16 years of not delivering that im not falling for the same empty promises.

Mind you we say 16 years as if Labor has dominated, but 2 terms have been in minority government when they lost the popular vote by fairly hefty levels.

This is clearly a case of a writer picking and choosing statistics to fit their argument. Underemployment is an issue across all of Australia - but also the nature of work has changed quite dramatically over the last decade, facilitating easier casual employment and owner-operator businesses that are not easily captured via underemployment statistics. We are the SME state and without a large number of corporate headquarters that operate traditional salaried employment structures underemployment statistics can be exasperated in SA. This is not detracting from the very real issue of underemployment and lack of security from casual employment but this is not unique to SA.

The decline in SA's GSP as a share of the nations GDP is predominantly based on two things - our declining % of the population (I notice that they didn't provide a per capita trend), and the boost to national GDP figures due to the mining boom. The problem with resource/ commodity driven GDP is that wealth does not hit local communities as significantly as manufacturing and services do. People in WA are not almost twice as rich as people in SA as the majority of the wealth generated by mining is extracted from the state along with the commodities going off-shore in the form of profits or distributed to interstate/ international shareholders via dividends and not being spent in the local communities and the state. This is going to get worse given the inability of any level of government to raise significant taxes on the resource industry due to the power or the resource lobby and increasing automation in resource extraction from mine/ field to ship.

Things aren't perfect in SA nor is the Labor government perfect but given what they have been working with over the past 16 years (e.g. accelerated decline of our core economic driver, manufacturing, lack of significant population increase) they have done pretty well to take a few risks (e.g. biomed, renewables) to attract new industries and foreign investment, as we well revitalising key infrastructure to maintain (and enhance) Adelaide as an attractive place to live.

I cannot see a coherent plan from SA Best (self-serving populism at its core) and the liberal government (disgraceful lack of any vision whatsoever). With these alternates, it's a pretty easy pick this election.