Like stupid Steve Irwin dying from a Stingray

understands his movies.

A fool and his monkey are soon parted.

"I'll emphasize my point on where it is needed." Agreed, there are places where solar without significant backup won't be much good. There are probably places where it is next to useless. In most off-grid situations it will save money even if the main source of power in winter is a diesel generator.
  In our case we can be gloomy and wet for weeks on end in winter. Solar still provides over 95% of our electricity (yes it does work at reduced output when it's overcast), we switch to cooking and boosting the solar hot water with propane when necessary. Appropriate and relatively inexpensive backup.
  75 sq. metres of panels (30' x 30'?), 100 kg of propane per year and 50 litres of diesel per year if winter is nasty. 20kWh lead acid battery bank. No government subsidies.

"Rooftop solar PV and batteries may have made big improvements on cost and reliability lately but it is still a long way from something that can be relied upon for low cost electricity when and where it is needed"

I beg to differ, been off-grid 18 years and after a significant upgrade 5 years ago when PV became really cheap our power is cheaper and more reliable than the grid (yes, including system cost and assuming borrowed money at home loan interest rates). We don't skimp, aircon, dishwasher etc are non-negotiable essentials in our household.

Actually I want 2!

"Antierotic interior"
Reminds me of a....
Oh dear...
At least a dozen witty comments spring to mind almost instantly but I think I'd better bite my tongue (as a gesture of solidarity with the antierotic).

in rural SE Australia. The grid wanted 30k to connect, I assembled the system for half that. (I have the expertise to do this myself and have not included this in my costings)

Back then, solar was about $10/W. These days I buy second hand panels for less than 15c/W.

Off grid inverters of sufficient capacity and quality are still expensive,say $5k up for something you could live with.

Batteries have come down a bit but with solar so cheap you no longer need as much storage. It's cheaper to have 5 to 10 times the solar you "need" to ensure a full charge pretty much regardless of the season or weather.
Yes I have a backup generator and maintaining it is a cost, but it rarely gets used. I put maybe 20 litres a year of fuel through it, mostly just to stop it rusting up and not working when I need it.

17 years ago the system was a labour of love and to be honest a bit of a PITA to live with due to inadequate solar input.

These days with 15kW+ of solar we just use electricity without thought like a grid connected house.

I last ran the numbers a couple of years ago, payback time for a new system (using secondhand panels which are readily available here) is about 3 years if you source and mount the panels yourself and pay a licensed installer to do everything else.
Batteries are the only real wear item and are cheaper than the daily cost of having a grid connection here before you've used any power.

These numbers are for Australia. Electricity is expensive here.

About 18 months ago I was swooped by a magpie when I was walking the dog.It was a direct, heavy impact that would have drawn blood if not for my hat.

  Being a sensible, mature middle aged man I saw the bird watching me from a tree after the attack and decided to throw some sticks at it to show my displeasure.
  To be clear, I was not intending to injure it. The sticks were at the top of their trajectory and barely moving when they got close. The bird jumped to another branch once or twice when they got too close.

  For the next few days the magpie would swoop me but pull up a metre or two short. I figured we had reached some sort of understanding.

  A week or so after the initial swooping, the bird flew over me and dropped a stick on my head! Not a big one, little more than a twig really, but enough to let me know it remembered.

  So, a bird with a brain about the size of a grape:
      i) attacked me
      ii) remembered me
      iii) remembered my response
      iv) plotted revenge
      v) carried out its revenge using an appropriate tool / weapon
  Astounding.

  Magpie warbling reminds me of the sound of old dial up modems...

"Australia is on the path to building a nuclear power industry. ....the Australian Navy will be getting nuclear powered submarines with a deal made with the USA and UK. With this will come the technology to built civil nuclear power plants,"

Australia will never have a nuclear (fission) power industry (apart from what's needed to power the submarines), renewables are too cheap given our size and climate and it would be political suicide.

There is as yet no contract for these submarines, the reactors apparently don't need refueling in their operational lifespans and delivery is at least a couple of decades away if it ever happens.

A couple of decades. Hmmm, maybe we can get fusion powered subs!

...then it should be ok I guess

The odometer reading is already used in Victoria, Australia. Submit the reading with your annual registration and pay the 2.5c/km tax if you own an EV.