Australian government’s 99 year lease plan to hand Aboriginal land over to mining interests
The dismantling of the Land Rights Act (NT) 1976 forum http://acmsydney.wordpress.com/2013/11/29/the-dismantling-of-the-land-rights-act-nt-1976-forum/ November 29, 2013
On Wednesday Graeme and I attended a forum held by ‘concerned Australians’. It was a wonderful opportunity to hear Utopia Elder Rosalie Kunoth-Monks speak about her concerns with 99 year leases and other challenges communities are facing. It was also an opportunity to hear expert legal and political analysis of the Federal Government’s proposed 99 year leases. Below is a letter that Michele Harris has sent out today regarding the forum.
Also attached is a letter from Rev. Dr Djiniyini Gondarra sent to the Australian newspaper Djiniyini and The Australian– referred to by Michele below. As Michele says this letter is of great educational value and I would recommend it to you.
Regards,
Gabrielle
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Dear Friends,
I would like to thank all those who attended the conversation on the “Dismantling of the Aboriginal land Rights Act (NT) 1976″ yesterday [Wednesday 27th]. To those who were unable to attend I wanted to let you know that we will attempt to use the material from the event to make a couple of you tubes which we will be able to send to you sometime soon.
It is clear from the legal advice that was provided, from both Alastair Nicholson and Frank Vincent, that there is a great deal for NT communities to be concerned about as our new Government offers considerable sums of money in return for 99-year leases. The intent of the land right act was spelt out by Gough Whitlam when he spoke to Vincent Lingiari in 1975. He said:
Vincent Lingiari, I solemnly hand to you these deeds as proof, in Australian law, that these lands belong to the Gurindji people and I put into your hands part of the earth itself as a sign that this land will be the possession of you and your children forever.
Forever!
We were very fortunate to have with us Malcolm Fraser whose government was in power when the Land Rights legislation was passed into law. He stated, “If the government is wanting 99-year leases, it goes a long way to making sure Aboriginals can no longer control their own land.”
Rosalie Kunoth-Monks from Utopia shared her concerns of the increasing trauma within her community. She said. “Right now we are again traumatised because that’s the last stable thing we feel under our feet: our earth, our ground, our home of thousands of years.“
There is little doubt that government is eager to regain control over land as part of its economic drive for business and mining development.
Dr Djiniyini Gondarra from Galiwin’ku posed questions to Alastair Nicholson, former Chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia and answers to these and Rosalie’s questions will be circulated soon. Dr Djiniyini has been travelling around communities in Arnhem Land discussing the implications of the 99 -year leases. He has also been engaged in refuting claims made in The Australians regarding its misunderstanding of the meaning of a “Traditional Owner’ His letter, to which a clarification was made by the paper, is of great educational value and so I am attaching a copy for those who wish to read it.
Thank you.
Michele Harris ‘concerned Australians’
Probe into UK’s nuclear subsidy plan could take until 2020, delaying the start on new nuclear
EU state aid probe likely over British plan for EDF nuclear plant 7 News, December 3, 2013, By Barbara Lewis and Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) – EU regulators are likely to open a formal investigation into whether Britain’s offer of state guarantees, to help finance a nuclear plant to be built by France’s EDF , conform with the bloc’s rules, its competition commissioner said on Monday.
Britain in October signed a deal with EDF to build a nuclear plant at Hinkley Point in southwest England and became the first European country to offer a guaranteed power price over 35 years for a new nuclear project.
“Two to three weeks ago we received notification from the UK,” EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia told a Brussels conference organised by Eurelectric, which represents the EU electricity industry.
“We are starting to analyse what is in the British proposal. Probably we will open a formal investigation because many people are asking the same question as you do,” he said when asked whether the British proposal for 35 years of a guaranteed energy price was too long under the terms of EU rules on state aid………The Commission is revising its state aid guidelines and is expected to finalise the rules for 2014-2020 next year.
It has said they will not specifically include nuclear energy, dealing another blow to Britain’s hopes of early certainty. Instead, each project will be assessed on its own merits………http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/20120325/eu-state-aid-probe-likely-over-british-plan-for-edf-nuclear-plant/
Farming the sun and the wind – a profitable industry in Germany’s agriculture
German farmers reap benefits of harvesting renewable energy Ft.com By Jeevan Vasagar in Reussenköge m 2 Dec 13 Dirk Ketelsen is a farmer but these days most of his income comes from harvesting the wind. On Germany’s North Sea coast, where a fierce sea breeze blasts in across the polders, the generous financial support the government has poured into renewable energy has reared a crop of wind turbines as far as the eye can see.
Mr Ketelsen began using wind to generate electricity on his organic farm in 1990. The next year, Germany adopted legislation that set guaranteed tariffs for power generated from renewables as part of an effort to encourage less polluting forms of energy.
Such policies have unleashed a boom for wind, sun and other sources of renewable 
energy, which now account for 23 per cent of the electricity consumption of Europe’s biggest economy.
They have also proved highly lucrative for farmers like Mr Ketelsen. The tariffs set by the Renewable Energy Act, known as the EEG, not only give renewables priority access to the electricity grid – ahead of the electricity produced by traditional power plants – they ensure their owners a guaranteed return over 20 years.
“Before the EEG, we said we’ll do this for ecological reasons. Even if there’s just a little bit of profit. Then came the EEG, and it worked out very well financially,” Mr Ketelsen said.
National survey on energy affordability
Aussies Want Cheaper Power – But Hands Off Renewables http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=4056 3 Dec 13 While not the largest cost-of-living expense, electricity bills are the bogeyman that concern Australians most.
A national survey on energy affordability carried out by CHOICE, the Brotherhood of St Laurence and Energy Efficiency Council revealed 84 per cent of Australian households are concerned or very concerned about energy costs. The same percentage felt it was important or very important for their State Government to help rein in these costs.
However, instead of screaming for renewable energy support to be hit to cut the cost of power – a default choice it seems for many politicians – this was the least popular action in the survey. In fact, knee-capping renewables had a negative net approval rating in every state.
Nearly double the percentage of respondents strongly opposed such action compared to those who strongly supported it. This is a message Australia’s government would be well-advised to heed; particularly given it appears to have its sights set on the Renewable Energy Target next year.
Energy Efficiency Council’s chief executive officer, Rob Murray-Leach, said there was also a danger the national debate about the carbon bill meant other expenditures that have an even bigger impact on energy costs, like poles and wires, could be ignored or overlooked.
The most popular methods for reducing power costs emerging from the survey were:
– Government helping homes and businesses save energy
– The introduction of time of use pricing
– The use tax revenue to subsidise energy bills for low-income households
While many Australians spend far more on petrol than electricity, CHOICE says the fear stirred up by power bills could be due to several factors – electricity costs jumping far more rapidly than transport costs over the past two years, the “sticker shock” aspect of larger than expected bills and that electricity bills tend to be a significant outlay given they are received quarterly.
The summary results of the Survey of Community Views on Energy Affordability for Australia can be viewed here (PDF).
Trial of electric cars shows they can be effective for Australia
Trial complete: electric vehicles can work in Australia The Conversation, 3 Dec 13 Australia’s first electric vehicle trial has been completed. It ran from early 2010 to the end of 2012 with 11 electric Ford Focus and 23 fast-AC charging bays (Level-2). We found few technological barriers to the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in Australia, but government incentives for early adopters and government programs for the roll-out of fast-DC charging stations would help Australia fully embrace these cars……..
When are cars charged?
We were particularly interested in what time of day drivers charged their cars. This determines how much renewable energy can be used for charging (to make an EV really emission-free) and whether electricity utilities have to worry about an increase of peak demand in the future, when there might be millions of EVs.
The fleet EVs did most of their charging in the morning until mid-day, so most of the charging energy could be supplied by solar photovoltaics. This finding is significant, as company fleets are not only an early adopter of new car technology, but are also the largest customer segment for the new vehicles market in Australia………
Recommendations We found:
EVs can function as regular fleet pool cars for most applications. Continue reading
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 