Rainwater tanks save the day Part II

, , ,

I had so much correspondence on this topic last week I took up an offer from guest blogger and rainwater tank owner NEALE GENTNER. He writes about his water filtration adventures working in the PNG Highlands and the hard yakka maintaining concrete tanks and plumbing over a 30-year period. I totally agree with Bob’s piece last week on water tanks…except for paying extra rates to council for maintenance “compliance”. Theoretically, under various “Health Acts”, tank…

Continue reading

Rainwater Tanks Save The Day

, ,

Yay – the dams are full, creeks and gullies are running; rainwater tanks are spilling over. Everyone’s happy. Our three rainwater tanks are full, as you might expect of a region where two water-starved dams reached 100% capacity in just two days. Not so long ago (2018-2019), things were dire on the Southern Downs, with Warwick’s Leslie Dam at 7.66% (it’s now 28%), and the Granite Belt’s Storm King Dam virtually empty (now 100%). In…

Continue reading

Proposed Sun Tax Riles Solar Users

, , ,

If you are one of the prudent people who installed solar panels over the last decade, you may end up being penalised by new energy market rules. The Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) has recommended that energy retailers be given the option to charge solar owners a fee to export surplus energy to the grid. Lobby group Solar Citizens wasted no time dubbing the proposal a ‘Sun Tax’ and it’s hard to see it any other…

Continue reading

JobSeeker and the $50 ‘bonus’

,

You know how it goes. You’ve finished ferrying 16 items down the checkout conveyor and the assistant says: $142.99 – cash or card? “How do the poor people get by?” I ask of no-one in particular. Later, I went to the butcher ($47) and the organic fruit and vegetable shop ($56), all up $245. She Who Pays the Bills said: “But we only needed a few things”. Now if we were on unemployment benefit, such profligacy…

Continue reading