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<div style="margin-left: 40px;"><br /> <span style="font-size: 16px;"><span
style="line-height: 120%;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New
Roman','serif';"><b><span lang="EN-AU"><span style="line-height:
120%;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The Great Power
Price Rip-Off You’re Paying
For</span></span></span></b></span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span
style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family:
Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 120%;"><span
lang="EN-AU"><span style="line-height: 120%;">Fellow
Australians,</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="line-height:
120%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span style="line-height: 120%;">We are paying
the highest electricity prices in the world – and to give that
context we pay twice what New Yorkers pay for
power.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="line-height:
120%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span style="line-height: 120%;">Many people
don’t know why this is – they think power is “just
getting expensive”.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span
style="line-height: 120%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span style="line-height:
120%;">So here are the real reasons why… Every household and every
business in this country is paying for the biggest corporate and government
rip-off in our history. The truth is, you’ve been conned by the
people you elected to lead the nation and protect you from exploitation.
</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="line-height: 120%;"><span
lang="EN-AU"><span style="line-height: 120%;">Australian Bureau of
Statistics figures show the electricity industry’s profits soared by
67% between 2007 and 2011, while during the same period electricity bills
rose by 40%. They’ve continued to go up ever
since.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="line-height:
120%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span style="line-height: 120%;">This massive
increase had nothing to do with the now abolished carbon tax - that was
only 9% of your bill. It had nothing to do with the renewable energy
target, either – that’s around 5%. It's not even the
electricity you use – that’s only about 20% of your bill.
</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="line-height: 120%;"><span
lang="EN-AU"><span style="line-height: 120%;">For almost a decade, the
electricity networks, some of which are state-owned, have spent an
eye-watering $45 billion on unnecessary infrastructure and is charging
every single cent of it back to you. </span></span></span><br /> <br />
<span style="line-height: 120%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span
style="line-height: 120%;">Worse still, there are doing this with falsely
inflated interest rates and other charges amounting to hundreds of millions
of dollars. You’re paying for that too. Every single cent of
it.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="line-height:
120%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span style="line-height: 120%;">Surely our state
and federal governments wouldn’t allow this you say. Well they did.
The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) approved it all. They lied to you
because it’s in their best interests to do so.
</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="line-height: 120%;"><span
lang="EN-AU"><span style="line-height: 120%;">Now, about 50% of your
electricity bill is attributed to ‘network charges’. Basically,
you’re paying back a $45 billion loan for electricity infrastructure
you didn’t ask for and didn’t need. Estimates say around $20
billion would have been more than adequate to upgrade and future-proof our
electricity infrastructure.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span
style="line-height: 120%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span style="line-height:
120%;">In 2009 the networks told the AER they needed to upgrade our
electricity poles and wires to cope with future demand. But they
deliberately over-inflated the level of upgrade required and the
electricity demand they predicted has never, ever materialised.
</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="line-height: 120%;"><span
lang="EN-AU"><span style="line-height: 120%;">Research showed them demand
was falling, and it still is today, due to factors such as energy
efficiency and use of solar. But still, the networks and politicians said
it was rising. They lied and wasted billions of
dollars.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="line-height:
120%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span style="line-height: 120%;">In Newcastle,
for instance, they built a brand-new substation, costing $30 million, but
it wasn’t connected to the grid. Why? Because it wasn’t needed.
You’re paying for outrageous waste like that as
well.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="line-height:
120%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span style="line-height: 120%;">The AER enforces
rules set by another body, the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC),
which was established in 2005 and mainly run by state government energy
ministers. But as one investigative journalist put it at the time, “a
roll call of recent NSW energy ministers reads like an ICAC subpoena
list”.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="line-height:
120%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span style="line-height: 120%;">Basically, it
was like putting the fox in charge of the hen
house.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="line-height:
120%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span style="line-height: 120%;">But as the
result of this spend, the state governments who own the poles and wires
have had the value of their networks go through the roof. That value is
handy though if any of those state governments plan to sell off their
networks to private investors, just as the NSW government did – for a
whopping $3 billion profit. That’s a nice little cash injection to
fund their quest to be re-elected.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span
style="line-height: 120%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span style="line-height:
120%;">So why are you, the Australian consumer, paying for this scandalous
rort?</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="line-height:
120%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span style="line-height: 120%;">It’s
simple. This crooked system allows the networks to borrow money and charge
it back to customers. The more they spend, the more they make – at
your expense. </span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="line-height:
120%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span style="line-height: 120%;">You’re
forced to pay for the interest as well, except they charge you 10% interest
when they borrowed at 4 or 5%. In other words, every year you are paying
$100 million to the networks on every billion dollars they borrowed to
build a $45 billion network we didn’t need. That’s an extra
$4.5 billion that you are paying for through your electricity bills.
</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="line-height: 120%;"><span
lang="EN-AU"><span style="line-height: 120%;">Tony Abbott fooled the nation
when he told us the carbon tax was responsible for electricity price rises
and abolishing it would see costs tumble. They didn’t of course
because carbon tax only accounted for 9% of your bill.
</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="line-height: 120%;"><span
lang="EN-AU"><span style="line-height: 120%;">The con was set in
stone.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="line-height:
120%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span style="line-height: 120%;">Tragically, this
scandal has a huge human cost with many people now unable to pay their
power bills and businesses either paralysed in a competitive market or
forced to close their doors altogether.</span></span></span><br /> <br />
<span style="line-height: 120%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span
style="line-height: 120%;">Even worse, this unacceptable debt burden will
go on for decades to come until you have paid it
off.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="line-height:
120%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span style="line-height: 120%;">What we really
need is a royal commission to bring these people to account, tear up the
loan contracts and rewrite them under terms that are
fair.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span style="line-height:
120%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span style="line-height: 120%;">That’s
what the United Australia Party will be fighting for – an energy deal
that puts Australians first.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span
style="line-height: 120%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span style="line-height:
120%;">Support us, ask your friends and family to support us so we can do
our best for all Australians and expose what’s really been going on
in this country for far too long.</span></span></span><br /> <br /> <span
style="line-height: 120%;"><span lang="EN-AU"><span style="line-height:
120%;">Join the party and help the cause by going to </span></span><a
name="UAP"></a><a
href="http://franchisemontana.com/inter/link.php?M=2062869&N=22&L=3&F=H"
target="UAP" title="UAP"><b><span style="line-height:
120%;">www.unitedaustraliaparty.org.au</span></b></a></span><br /> <br />
<br /> <span style="line-height: 120%;"><span style="color: black;"><span
lang="EN-GB"><span style="line-height: 120%;">All the
best,</span></span></span></span></span><br /> <br /> <strong><span
style="line-height: 120%;"><span style="font-family: 'Minion
Pro',serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span
style="line-height: 120%;"><span style="font-family:
'Arial',sans-serif;">Clive F
Palmer</span></span></span></span></span></span></strong><br /> <span
style="line-height: 120%;"><span style="font-family: 'Minion
Pro',serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span
style="line-height: 120%;"><span style="font-family:
'Arial',sans-serif;">Federal
Leader</span></span></span></span></span></span><br /> <span
style="font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;">United Australia
Party</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-left: 40px;"><br /> <span style="font-size: 10px;"><span
style="font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;"><span style="font-family:
Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Authorised by Clive Palmer for the United
Australia Party, 240 Queen St, Brisbane Qld 4000.</span></span><br /> <span
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