Ted Baillieu, you are supposed to be a conservative Premier. Act like it.
PREMIER Ted Baillieu, facing growing controversy over his government’s environment credentials, has abruptly abandoned a proposal to scrap mandatory energy ratings for new homes in Victoria.
Hours after The Age yesterday revealed a proposal by Treasurer Kim Wells to ditch the 6-star thermal efficiency rules in favour of a voluntary code, Mr Baillieu vowed to retain the existing system.
After he opened up land for coal mining, I wonder if this back flip is an effort to not push the environmentalists too far.
The Association of Building Sustainability Assessors described the move away from 6-star as ridiculous. “Six star is not ‘green tape’ but a consumer protection measure which stops people being locked into the pain and cost of having to heat and cool an inefficient home,” said acting chief executive, Rodger Hills.
It is a regulation that imposes restrictions on what kind of homes people are allowed to build and it has environmental motivations. Therefore it is green tape. This attempt to make it about the consumer is fundamentally dishonest. This stupid rule restricts the choice consumers have in the houses they buy. Any advantages achieved by a six-star energy rating are factors which can be weighed up when people are chosing a house to buy. If there is a market for this kind of energy efficiency, in other words, if people want it, then you don’t need this top-down imposition.
Victorian Council of Social Service chief executive Cath Smith said abandoning mandatory energy standards for homes would fly in the face of logic. She said dropping the scheme would have particularly hit low-income tenants, who would face living in poorer standard homes.
”For us it is an absolute no-brainer to have a well-insulated home and to have that regulated,” Ms Smith said.
Such regulations increase the cost of homes, putting housing out of the reach of low-income families. It is those who they claim to protect that are getting the rough end of the stick. These people are helping to crush the Australian dream for many.
This mandatory standard for new homes represents an effort by government to shape our lives in ways they see fit. In this case, in an attempt to achieve the environmental objectives that they have decided upon, they are sacrificing the sovereignty of the individual and our ability to shape our own lives as we wish. Slowly, they are eroding our freedoms away, taking our choice, because they think they can make them better than us. Thomas Jefferson once noted that the natural progression of government is to increase itself in size, as those in power seek more of it and those below gradually concede their freedoms to them.
(Via Andrew Bolt)
Climate Nonconformist 