You will all be aware that Bruce Harrison, the previous CEO of the BAA, decided that it was time to spend many more of his days fishing on the banks of a river and enjoying the company of family and friends than arguing with politicians and bureaucrats. So Bruce finished up in the middle of October and was very kind to give me a thorough handover of all of the issues when I started. I know that the thanks of all of the members of the BAA will be extended to Bruce for his dedication and hard work over the last couple of years. He has left the association with a terrific credibility and reputation, and the relationships that have grown with government because of Bruce's involvement have meant that the doors are open to me already.
2009 has been a very frustrating year for the biofuels industry. There is now no chance of the Henry Tax Review coming out before Christmas, and there is a low chance that the Energy White Paper will be seen before the latter half of 2010. This is extremely disappointing as you will all know far too well - it is simply impossible for commercial operations to make investment decisions in this policy vacuum. Nevertheless, I remain committed to the fight. Indeed I would say that the failure of the ETS is really an opportunity for us to start the fight afresh. The failure of Copenhagen to come to any firm decisions (which to be fair was hardly unexpected) means that we have a further opportunity to progress these issues in the year to come.
The first months of 2010 will be extremely busy from this policy perspective and I will be focusing on engaging with all levels of government, bureaucracy and industry to get our message heard. It is important that we all continue to dedicate our efforts and to sharpen our focus after the holiday season for the future of the industry. 2010 is going to be a difficult year - I suspect that an election will be in October rather than February (Mr Rudd will want to go full term and Oct/Nov are the traditional months for a federal election in Aus) and in the meantime there is a good chance that Canberra will go into election slow-mode. This means very few decisions are likely to be made until a new government is elected, regardless of the composition. In my discussions with the Opposition they have made it very clear that they will not under any circumstances agree to an ETS. This leaves the Rudd government in the position of having to thrash something out with the Greens (a bonus for us) plus needing two Libs to cross the floor, or wait about for an election. In the meantime, a firm commitment of a target must go back to the UN by Feb 1, Australian time. January is going to be a very important month indeed for us.
As an emerging industry we are continuing to become more efficient and effective in what we do and we should ensure that we take the opportunities given to us to collaborate in this space and bring about the betterment of the biofuels industry as a whole. The momentum really has turned in our favour so we should take advantage of that.
I will be working over the break so please feel free to contact me should you have any issues at all. Otherwise I will look forward to hearing from you all in early January.
Keep safe and jolly over the seasonal break, and ensure that your reindeer run on biofuels! Or at least that you're leaving Santa out a decent single malt for his visit.
Heather Brodie