Tony Abbott's gut v Elon Musk's brain and billions: which would you follow?

South Australia has one of the highest concentrations of renewable energy in the world. And its government was recently the first to announce a state-based bank tax. But while Australians have been told these "reckless" policies will destroy jobs and discourage investment, some of the world's most-successful entrepreneurs recently chose to invest big in the state. How could this be?

Over time, Tony Abbott, who now champions
 coal, has both supported and opposed
 carbon taxes, emissions-trading schemes
 and renewable-energy targets. 

Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, who gave the world PayPal, Tesla and SpaceX, recently secured the bid to build the world's largest battery-storage plant in South Australia. English billionaire Sanjeev Gupta, whose family fortune was made in good old-fashioned steel, recently bought the Whyalla steelworks. Either these businessmen didn't do their due diligence or what conservative politicians tell us about South Australia is utter nonsense. I know which way I'd lean.

Read the column in The Canberra Times by Richard Denniss - “Tony Abbott's gut v Elon Musk's brain and billions: which would you follow?”

George Christensen backs $1bn federal loan for Adani railway line

George Christensen as he appeared recently
 in a national newspaper - George imagines
 he has the 'whip hand' on the Adani mine.

The conservative backbencher George Christensen has backed the idea of the controversial mining company Adani getting a $1bn loan from the Turnbull government for a rail line in his Queensland electorate.

But an analyst has warned the government would have to conduct strict due diligence to ensure the loan was not funnelled through the Cayman Islands tax haven.

As Malcolm Turnbull met the Adani Group chairman, Gautam Adani, in Melbourne on Monday to discuss the project, more than 300 people rallied in the city to protest against the plan to help fund the 388km railway line.

Read The Guardian story - “George Christensen backs $1bn federal loan for Adani railway line.”