Australia’s Liberal Party confused on nuclear policy
Macfarlane says the unthinkable, ABC The Drum, 29 April 11 “………it’s as if Ian Macfarlane has emerged from a disorienting tackle, ball in hand, and started running toward the wrong end of the field…
In 2005, [Liberal Member of Parliament] Ian MacFarlane was saying ‘Only nuclear power has the potential to deliver base-load quantities of cleaner energy in Australia,’ ‘We would be silly not to fully consider the nuclear option’, if we priced carbon ‘nuclear energy will becheaper than clean coal’, and construction could begin before 2016.
Today Macfarlane says ‘We don’t support nuclear energy in Australia… and we’re not doing to go down that route’ — a full 360 degrees, and who knows where to next……..” http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/592538.html
Peak oil adds to urgency for Australia to develop renewable energy
Desperately needed, of course, is a policy to tackle both peak oil and climate change at the same time……Beyond Zero Emissions, with Melbourne University’s Energy Research Institute, published its Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan……Beyond Zero has assembled a team of scientists, engineers and planners working pro-bono on a fully costed, national transport plan that will take in three streams: city passenger and public transport, freight, and intercity transport and high-speed rail. The report is due out by the end of the year.
Peak oil highlights need for a unified policy, Sydney Morning Herald, Paddy Manning, April 30, 2011, The infrastructure Australia needs to respond to the world’s dwindling oil supply is not the sort we are building.
Peak oil is forcing its way to the top of the agenda with stark warnings from the International Energy Agency Continue reading
In USA nuclear spin doctors in overdrive
proponents of reactors have spent some $645 million in the last decade lobbying Congress for more subsidies. ….A critical moment is coming soon, when Obama goes to Congress to request an additional $36 billion in loan guarantees for new nukes in his 2012 budget.With them, America’s atomic industry has a chance to build a few more reactors. Without them, a green-powered Earth is within our grasp
Australia needs leadership on Climate Change action
This country can, if it so chooses, be a leader in the creation and production of renewable energy technology. There is great potential for Australia to develop a unique energy system tailored to suit this vast continent. And to do so we must break free of Australia’s inferiority complex and prove that we produce (and hopefully retain) some of the smartest scientists, business people and policy thinkers in the world. ……
Aim high on climate change action, ABC The Drum, Amy Mullins, 29 April 11, Carbon tax. Climate Change. These are terms that now trigger a collective mind-numbing effect on the electorate….. It seems that more and more Australians are willing to be complacent when it comes to taking action on climate change. How did we get to this state? And what is the real unacknowledged reason behind public disillusionment?…… Continue reading
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 