The Age reports on the Clean Energy pact

here.
To be blunt, $500-odd million over 5 years is loose change in the energy business. I can't see how this is anything but green-washing and the realist in me sees most of the Aussie money getting funnelled back into industry 'research' as a pseudo-subsidy. Set it up as it's own business entity - at least then you'd know where the money went.
I'm amazed that states like Qld aren't up in arms about global warming (hang on though, Qld...), the amount of money that the barrier reef brings in per year through tourism, it's a gift and completely sustainable, you could generate billions from that and yet the whole thing could be destroyed with a 3 degree temperature rise (or more dodgy sugar cane farming, or prawn drag netting or...).
Clean energy funding is suffering from a complete lack of imagination in the cost-benefit calculation.