The sun and the wind were competing to see who could be the first to persuade a man to take off his coat. The wind blew and blew, for all it was worth, but the man just held his coat tighter around him. Then the sun came out from behind a cloud and, within a couple of minutes, the man had taken off his coat. The sun had the power to persuade by gentleness, where the sheer force of the wind had failed miserably.

This fable made me think about the power of the sun, and solar power as an alternative source of energy. Tonight I would like to talk to you about how solar energy is relevant to Australia and how it can benefit us all here tonight.

Think about how much sunshine we have been having recently. Too much, you might say. So much that we have had to retreat into expensively air-conditioned environments. We do not work with the sun to make our homes and offices warm or cold, to heat our water or drive our machines. We burn other natural resources, such as wood and coal, to produce electricity. As we run out of resources, we turn to nuclear power, creating a time-bomb in our backyards. Per capita, Victoria is one of the highest greenhouse gas producers in the world. And electricity production is responsible for 2/3 of these gases…..

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Carol Middleton