By: Larry Williams | Wednesday, September 26, 2012 7:06 PM

Dotcom

The Dotcom lawyers were in court today claiming that the 'spooks', the GCSB has their fingers all over this case.

They reckon that the 'spooks' have been in bed with the FBI the whole time. That they have been working together.

No proof was delivered but it’s a good yarn.

Not sure how relevant this all is but for sure the lawyers are attempting to get this case thrown out and avoid the extradition hearing.

I'd prefer he buggered off to the U.S. and answered the charges there.

 

Solid Energy

The Government’s rejection of propping up Solid Energy and therefore the Spring Creek Mine, as unpalatable as it may have been for the union and the miners who have lost their jobs, was the correct decision.

You see, Spring Creek going by the numbers is a basket case. It’s lost hundreds of millions. Coal prices are at rock bottom. There is no end in sight. The taxpayer could inject $50m now but it could be more money down the drain.

The EPMU does have a fair point when it asks questions about Solid Energy's governance.

Why did Solid Energy get into this position? Why was there no buffer to continue with Spring Creek? Why did they sink hundreds of millions into Spring Creek to mothball the operation?

Coal prices fluctuate. You have good years and bad years. You understand this when you get into the business. Prudent business management allows for these fluctuations.

Solid Energy has been tinkering around with other ventures and spent truckloads of taxpayers’ money on these while the coal business has burned.

Then we have Genesis Energy, another fine example of why these SOE's are so important. Genesis buys their coal from Indonesia.

Am I missing something here?

 

Parliamentary Debate

The Speaker Lockwood Smith turned down a snap debate on on the issues around the Dotcom fiasco yesterday.

This was a mistake which goes far beyond Dotcom.

By rejecting the debate the public was not given the opportunity to see the PM and David Shearer go head to head.

The Speaker is doing the public a disservice.

Now I know that the fact there is an inquiry underway makes it difficult for the Dotcom issue to be debated but it’s the overall state of debate in Parliament that is my concern.

The Parliament debating chamber should be re-named Parliaments 'pussy' chamber.

It’s devoid of any real debate. Question time is tedious and boring. Ministers give pre-prepared answers to pre-prepared questions. Debate is pretty much non-existent.

It needs to change.