Where are our representatives from the Labor Party, Liberal Party and the National Party? Invites to join this open forum have been sent. They ignore me.

Solar and wind in combination are viable energy solutions when used in small situations eg. households. They could also be highly financially viable and attractive to individual households when such energy production is fed back into the grid at the same price value as energy taken out of the grid. Currently there is a great discrepancy in the value of "feed in" and "take out" energy. Of course, heavily balanced towards the financial advantage of external existing energy suppliers, i.e. (mainly) the coal industry.

Tidal and wave power are alternatives that do a lot less damage in the long term for communities on the coast in comparison to nuclear which results in millions of years of deadly poison. Which "desert" communities will this deadly legacy be forced upon? Will the political powers that be under such a system of energy supply be held accountable for accidents which occur over such mind boggling lengths of time? With this in mind (and the history of accidents in nuclear industry to date) can anyone honestly say nuclear power is any form of real alternative that gives a positive future for Australians or for humanity? In "reprocessing" such nuclear waste into "valuable commodities" such as depleted uranium munitions or nuclear bombs... I cannot see these things as valuable commodities to our planet, its people or any of its inhabitants.

Our elected leaders seem to have lost the plot. They are elected by the people to represent their wishes and ensure their voters best long term interests are honestly represented, via the use of their taxes.

The exploitation of our country’s natural resources (land, coal, uranium, gold, forests, water, etc) and existing infrastructures (schools, hospitals, Telstra) resulted in a “budget surplus” which is given back – like crumbs off the table come election time in vote grabbing hand outs.

The remainder lines the pockets of our elected representatives and their private corporation sponsors in “grants” and “subsidies”. The removal of hard earned working conditions (in WorkChoices) is yet another bonus to those that control the purse strings and profit off the sweat of my back. What of the costs of political party advertising and "public education"? I wish they would get their dirty hands out of our pockets!

Industrial growth (and ensuing budget surplus) can continue with Geothermal Energy. Geothermal is a proven and viable alternative to nuclear power.

For those who do not understand Geothermal energy, I submit the following summary  from: http://geothermal.marin.org/geoenergy.html

The word geothermal comes from the Greek words geo (earth) and therme (heat), and means the heat of the earth. In geothermal power plants, we use the natural hot water and steam from the earth to turn turbine generators to produce electricity. Unlike fossil fuel power plants, no fuel is burned. Geothermal power plants give off water vapor, but have no smoky emissions.

Flashed Steam Plants. Hot water from production wells passes through one or two separators where, released from the pressure of the deep reservoir, part of it flashes (explosively boils) to steam. The force of the steam is used to spin the turbine generator. To conserve the water and maintain reservoir pressure, the geothermal water and condensed steam are directed down an injection well back into the periphery of the reservoir, to be reheated and recycled.

Dry Steam Plants. A few geothermal reservoirs produce mostly steam and very little water. Here, the steam shoots directly through a rock-catcher and into the turbine. The first geothermal power plant was a dry steam plant, built at Larderello in Tuscany, Italy in 1904. The power plants at the Larderello dry steam field were destroyed during World War II, but have since been rebuilt and expanded. That field is still producing electricity today. The Geysers dry steam reservoir in northern California has been producing electricity since 1960. It is the largest known dry steam field in the world and, after 40 years, still produces enough electricity to supply a city the size of San Francisco.

As of 1999 8,217 megawatts of electricity were being produced from some 250 geothermal power plants running day and night in 22 countries around the world. These plants provide reliable base-load power for well over 60 million people, mostly in developing countries.

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As you can see, there are clean alternatives to Coal and Nuclear energy.
There is a way forward for humanity, without returning to the dark ages.

The Howard Government's solution to clean energy supplies is no solution at all. The Rudd Labor Government's solution is not much better.
Where do these parties stand on Geothermal energy supplies for base-load and industrial purposes?
It is time that our elected representatives started listening to their people, told the truth and got on with the job of supplying us with what we need.

What frustrates me the most is that solutions for clean viable energy supplies are available. The building of a clean, sustainable economy is possible. Big industry can continue and budgets can remain “in surplus”. No household would ever be left “in the dark”. If only the right people controlled our taxes.

I have been writing my fingers to the bone for a couple of years now, but it appears they are too heavily invested in business as usual.

Australians, please think very carefully and use your precious vote wisely.

Regards