by Ganesh Sahathevan
Image: Facebook – Federal Energy and Climate Minister Chris Bowen
In a press conference on Thursday, the Federal Energy and Climate Minister Chris Bowen said, “I remain very upbeat and excited about Sun Cable’s future.”
“Certainly I’ve been speaking to very senior people in Sun Cable over the last 24 hours, they tell me that there is absolutely no reduction in their ambition, there is no change in their plans for this to be going forward as a very important investment in Australia.”
The project is also a key component of Australia’s plan to export renewable energy to Asia, a growing clean energy market. According to Minister Bowen, the project has the potential to “unlock a new era of energy exports and create jobs and economic growth in the Northern Territory and across Australia.”
The project has the potential to create thousands of jobs and generate significant economic benefits for the region and the country as a whole. He acknowledged the recent dispute between the project’s investors, but he assured that the government is in active discussions with all the stakeholders and that the project is moving forward.
“I certainly hope that they make their corporate decisions and then get on with the job,” he said.
Bowen spoke in support for the project after Sun Cable was put into voluntary administration (see story below).
Energy Matters also quoted. NT Chief Minister Nicole Manison talking up a company that has been put into administration, and which does not have any approvals from its primary client, the Government Of Singapore:
At a press conference, the acting NT Chief Minister Nicole Manison claimed that if the initiative hadn’t been viable, Mr Cannon-Brookes and Dr Forrest would never have supported it.
“I don’t think they’d back in projects like this unless
“The advice we had from Sun Cable yesterday was that are still proceeding forward business as usual.”
“This is going to be a globally significant project … Fantastic for the NT,” she said.
Meanwhile their Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has till not explained why he has so strongly backed a project that cannot happen without approvals from the Government Of Singapore, which has said nothing, despite this apparent ambush:
.............Sun Cable, which has the potential to export clean energy to Singapore, is the ultimate win-win. If this project can be made to work - and I believe it can be - you will see the world's largest solar farm, you will see the export of energy across distances, the production of many jobs here in Australia, including manufacturing jobs. And the prospect of Sun Cable is just one part of what I talk about when I say Australia can be a renewable energy superpower for the world.
It does seem as if the Labor Party to which Albanese, Bowen and Manison belong, is following in the footsteps of UMNO, who when in power have never been shy to back all sorts of outlandish projects which were never financially viable, with taxpayers money.
TO BE READ WITH
Tuesday, January 17, 2023
PM Albanese of Australia told PM Lee of Singapore that Sun Cable " is the ultimate win-win" just 3 months before Sun Cable collapsed - Australian media has never been shy to investigate and criticise Asian politicians and their fantasy projects, must now do the same to the their own Prime Minister who has misled Australians and Singaporeans
by Ganesh Sahathevan
.............Sun Cable, which has the potential to export clean energy to Singapore, is the ultimate win-win. If this project can be made to work - and I believe it can be - you will see the world's largest solar farm, you will see the export of energy across distances, the production of many jobs here in Australia, including manufacturing jobs. And the prospect of Sun Cable is just one part of what I talk about when I say Australia can be a renewable energy superpower for the world.
Just under three months later the project collapsed, for some very obvious reasons( see story below).
Australian media has never been shy to investigate and criticise Asian politicians and their fantasy projects. The Bakun Dam project promoted by then Prime Minister Of Malaysia Mahathir Mohamad which was meant to transmit hydropower across the South China Sea is one eerily similar example.
Australian media must now do the same to the their own Prime Minister who has misled Australians and Singaporeans.
TO BE READ WITH
Tuesday, January 10, 2023
Albanese's Sun Cable fantasy collapses - Albo must now explain why he misled Australians, and Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong
by Ganesh Sahathevan
Albanese has used his position to promote Sun Cable, in Australia and overseas, despite Sun Cable having no power supply agreement with the Government Of Singapore.
A dispute between Mike Canon- Brookes and Twiggy Forrest is said to have been the reason why Sun Cable has been put into administration. The ABC is reporting that there are " disagreements about the funding and direction of the company......these included the significant amounts of cash that Sun Cable was spending, and its failure to achieve certain milestones".
As reported by this writer Sun Cable, Prime Minister Albanese of Australia, and the Chief Minister of The Northern Territory, Natahsa Fyles, all claimed that Sun Cable would supply Singapore with solar power from a solar bank in the Northern Territory, when in fact no agreement had been reached with the Government Of Singapore.
All three, but in particular Albanese and Fyles, must now explain why they misled Australians, and account for all any government resources provided the project.
TO BE READ WITH
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-11/sun-cable-enters-administration/101845100
Monday, October 24, 2022
PM Lee Hsien Loong confronted with another Crooked Bridge dilemma. From the south, out of Australia, Australia's PM Albanese demands that Hsien Loong share his fantasy of a solar power cable connecting Singapore and Australia
by Ganesh Sahathevan
For much of the past decade Singapore has had to endure demands from Malaysia's Mahathir Mohamad that the causeway connecting the two countries be replaced by what has become known as the Crooked Bridge. His resignation as prime minister of Malaysia in 2020 seems to have put that demand to rest but now it seems Singapore and its prime minster Lee Hsien Loong are being tormented by a similar demand, this time from the south, from Australia's PM Albanese who demands that Hsien Loong share his fantasy of a solar power cable connecting Singapore and Australia.
As this writer noted, Albanese seemed to be channeling BJ Habibie, the former Indonesian President (who is supposed to have described Singapore as a little red dot) when he told Hsien Loong at a press conference in Canberra:
"This island continent of ours is a little bit bigger than the island continent of Singapore...... And hence, a project like Sun Cable, which has the potential to export clean energy to Singapore, is the ultimate win-win. If this project can be made to work - and I believe it can be - you will see the world's largest solar farm, you will see the export of energy across distances, the production of many jobs here in Australia, including manufacturing jobs".
Hsien Loong said nothing in response, and that is to be expected for Hsien Loong, his government, and the relevant authorities have yet to provide Sun Cable any approvals whatsoever to Sun Cable:
Infrastructure Australia says Sun Cable's Darwin-Singapore solar cable qualifies for taxpayer funding, Singapore says Sun Cable does not have permission to import electricity into Singapore
While Mahathir's insistence on the Crooked Bridge despite a lack of interest from Singapore caused local Malaysian media to investigate the motivation for the project, there has yet to be any serious investigation in Australia into Albanese's fantasy.
END
