“I’ll see you in heaven in my F111 (eff one-eleven)” was a catchy rhyme from the swinging sixties.

In 1968 Australia took delivery of a revolutionary ‘swing-wing’ fighter-bomber, the F111. Early versions had problems with metal fatigue in the wing pivot mechanism and that lead to the rhyme I can still remember.

Forty years later, with all the bugs long since ironed out, the Royal Australian Air Force loves its F111s and wants to keep them flying. Not so the Defence Department. They’ve been given some beaut brochures by super-slick sales bods from the U.S. and they want a bunch of new stuff.

Defence wants 100 of the ultra high-tech Lockheed Martin F35s for a mere $16 billion. The only problem is, they’re buying them ‘off the plan’ and the F35 is not expected to be ready to deliver before 2011.

“Not to worry,” say the Defence boffins. “We’ve got more brochures here, you know.” To fill the gap until the whiz-bang kite is ready, they’ve opted to spend another $6 billion on 24 Boeing Super Hornets.

Our Air Force bods, together with many defence analysts, have made it quite clear that it would be better to wait for the F35. In the meantime they’re happy with the trusty F111s which, it seems, can perform some tasks better than either of these expensive replacements.
And the point to this ‘Biggles’ bulletin?

Peter Garrett, the Environment Minister said recently, apparently without irony, that the photo-voltaic panel rebate was now axed for households earning over $100,000 per year because the scheme was ‘overheating’. What I think he meant was: so many people wanted to put solar panels on the roof that the money set aside for the solar subsidy was dwindling fast.

Come on Pete, if you think outside the square, here’s your big chance. Get around to Joel Fitzgibbon’s office and tell him to stand up to the war-game wallies in his Defence Department. Get that stop-gap fighter plane order revoked and have the money transferred to the environment.

With six billion dollars you could put, free of charge, a $30,000 solar array on 200,000 homes and thereby provide security for the future in a way 24 fighter jets never will.

We’re running out of time, or at least wasting it needlessly. Every dollar spent on improving our transport and energy infrastructure is an investment in Australia’s future.

There comes a time when we must stand up to powerful and selfishly influential corporations. The war weapons industry, especially in the United States where our tanks and planes are made, consumes vastly more resources than are needed to move to sustainable energy technology.

Too often our politicians fall for the line that if we spend enough on high-tech hardware we can ‘punch above our weight’.

It’s rubbish of course. The greatest threat to Australia comes from our ‘friends’ who simply want to keep our resources flowing away on their ships.

The Air Force has report jargon for catastrophic aeroplane crashes and the same might be said of a society boxing on blindly.

It’s called, ‘eventually impacting terrain’.