The Australian govt’s $31m nuclear bribe

Feds’ $31m nuclear sweetener, Whyalla News Louis Mayfield , 23 July 18 The federal government have injected more money into their Community Development Package, which will be available to the community selected as the future site for the nuclear waste management facility.

The value of the package has been tripled to $31 million, and is broken up into three separate programs:

An $8 million Community Skills and Development Program, delivering grants over the four year licencing and construction period to maximise the community benefits from the construction and operation of the Facility.
An increased $20 million National Radioactive Waste Management Facility (NRWMF) Community Fund, to deliver long term infrastructure and development benefits to the community.
Up to $3 million over three years from the Government’s Indigenous Advancement Strategy (IAS) to strengthen Indigenous skills training and cultural heritage protection in the successful community.

Currently Kimba and Hawker remain in the running to be chosen as the location of the National Radioactive Waste Management Facility – but their communities remain deeply divided on the nuclear issue.

Resources Minister Matt Canavan said the Community Development Package would ensure the selected community has the skills in place to take advantage of the opportunities that will come with the facility.

The waste management facility itself is expected to create at least 45 jobs…….

Member for Grey Rowan Ramsey said he had spent considerable time communicating with Minister Canavan regarding the structure and relevance of the financial package to Kimba and/or Hawker.

……..Centre Alliance Senator Rex Patrick described the government’s announcement as ‘completely inappropriate and misguided’.

“As evidenced in recent visits to Kimba and Hawker by the Senate Economics Reference Committee, the communities are deeply divided over the issue,” he said.

“Throwing taxpayer money at them will just rub salt into already weeping wounds.”

Senator Patrick described the selection process for the nuclear waste facility as a ‘sham’.

“The Minister has stated that the site selection will only occur if there is ‘broad community support’, but refuses to state what ‘broad community support’ actually means,” he said.

“That’s like running a race and telling the participant that they don’t need to know where the finish line is and that officials will just tell everyone who has won the race.”https://www.whyallanewsonline.com.au/story/5543866/feds-31m-nuclear-sweetener/

Member for Grey Rowan Ramsey said he had spent considerable time communicating with Minister Canavan regarding the structure and relevance of the financial package to Kimba and/or Hawker.

1.This month

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Changing climate change“2040” paints an optimistic picture of the future of the environment

The film focuses on technological and agricultural solutions that are already being implemented to help combat climate change, The Economist Feb 19th 2019

by C.G. | BERLIN ……….In “2040”, a documentary which premiered at the Berlinale, Mr Gameau seeks to wrest hope from the bleak reports of climate change. He was inspired by Project Drawdown, the first comprehensive plan to reverse global warming, and the film is intended as a “virtual letter to his four-year-old daughter to show her an alternative future”. “Many films,” Mr Gameau thinks, are too dystopian, and “paint a future that is really hard to engage and to connect with”. “2040” acknowledges that the Earth has set off down a hazardous path, but focuses on the work that is being done now to steer the right course. What, the film asks, could make 2040 a time worth living in?…. (subscribers only) https://www.economist.com/prospero/2019/02/19/2040-paints-an-optimistic-picture-of-the-future-of-the-environment