Should We Be Surprised?

Heard on the ABC's PM program last Thursday ...

MARK COLVIN: A visiting British expert on cleaner energy says he's surprised by the way Australia's thrown away a world lead in solar energy technology over the last decade.

It's nothing new. Conservative governments have done this before. During the 1950s and 60s, they invested in rain making over the emerging electronics and computer technologies, ignoring that we were leaders in those technologys' development. Opportunity lost.

Now, they're at it again, backing carbon sequestration to save the coal industry over funding the development of renewable energy technologies. It hasn't yet dawned on them that coal is doomed as an energy source. The environmental consequences of burning it are just too dire.

The challenge of climate change is going to be the major issue in decades to come. The adjustments needed to reduce carbon emissions into the atmosphere are massive, as are the economic opportunities that will arise from these changes.

Hopefully, we haven't yet blown our chance at being at the forefront of these emerging technologies.