Hear this: risk of USA or Israel pre-emptive action against North Korea
Analyst warns of risk of nuclear war http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-02-13/analyst-warns-of-risk-of-nuclear-war/4516940 North Korea analyst, Leonid Petrov, warns that this is a very dangerous moment for the region and he says is scared that the United States adminstation may further inflame the tensions.
VIDEO Tiny Abbott’s climate action plan won’t work – Al Gore
VIDEO Coalition’s climate policy has never worked: Gore http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-02-05/coalition27s-climate-policy-has-never-worked3a-gore/4500680 ABC Lateline
Feb 5, 2013 Former US vice-president and climate change activist Al Gore has dismissed the Opposition’s climate change policy, but praised the Government as a world leader for its climate action.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott intends on dumping the Government’s carbon tax if the Coalition wins the September election.
Mr Abbott says the Opposition would implement a direct-action plan which involves planting trees and providing financial incentives for polluters to reduce their carbon output.
But Mr Gore told Lateline that the plan has never worked in countries that have implemented it.
When asked what he thought of Mr Abbott’s strategy, Mr Gore said: “It didn’t work [in the US] – it hasn’t worked anywhere.”
But Mr Gore applauded Prime Minister Julia Gillard for her “courage and vision” on climate change, saying the world must stand up to the challenge.
“Australia has inspired the world by taking some very responsible steps, even though Australia is the world’s largest coal exporter,” he said.
“I was cheered by the news this past week from Australia that electricity from wind power is now cheaper than electricity from a plant that is newly constructed to burn coal.”….
Injustice of Britain’s refusal to recognise harm done by atomic bomb testing in South Australia
UK servicemen, Australian soldiers and civilians, including Indigenous people, all exposed to radiation as a result of British atomic weapons testing in South Australia’s outback.
“We had a skin rash, sore eyes, diarrhoea, vomiting and a lot of people got sick, and we couldn’t prove that, because we never had doctors.”
The Australian Greens’ nuclear spokesman Scott Ludlam says the dangers of radiation are well known and it’s unfair to ask Aboriginal people with scant medical records to prove a direct link between exposure to fallout and subsequent sickness.
Senator Ludlam says legalities aside, Britain should do what’s morally right, by way of an Act of Grace – a discretionary payment to remedy the suffering he says is evident.
AUDIO Aboriginal people exposed to British nuclear tests in South Australia during the 1950s are being told they have no hope of compensation. http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1729400/Maralinga-compo-collapse-prompts-calls-for-Act-of-Grace 23 JAN 2013, – SOURCE: KAREN ASHFORD, SBS
(Transcript from World News Australia Radio
Aboriginal people exposed to British nuclear tests in South Australia during the 1950s are being told they have no hope of compensation.A British law firm says their cases cannot proceed because medical science cannot conclusively prove that fallout from the tests made people sick. But while legal arguments may not prevail, pressure for a settlement on moral grounds is growing. It’s pressure that the UK government is so far resisting, as Karen Ashford reports. Continue reading
Indian audiences see films on Australian Aborigines and uranium mining
The story of the aborigines’ struggle against uranium mining is told in Dirt Cheap: 30 Years On, an updated version of the 1980 Dirt Cheap, which reported how uranium mining was imposed on the aborigines of Kakadu in northern Australia, as the government subverted the will of the traditional owners of the land by buying off the body that was supposed to protect their rights to the land.
in Dirt Cheap. After the council votes to say no to uranium mining in their lands, the government strong-arms the council to sign away their rights, as the heartbroken president watches from his car.
Uranium Film Festival: Capturing Fallout Tehelka Blog, 17 Jan 13 “….. the fear that Madsen taps into in this film is that of communicating to future civilisations that the contents of this cavern they would find are very toxic.“What if a future generation thinks there’s something nice in that hole?” asks Norbert Sucharek, a German environmental journalist working in Brazil, who is the director of the Travelling International Uranium Film Festival, at whose Delhi leg the film was shown. “You could put up a sign, but what if there’s someone who says, ‘It’s all lies. There’s gold buried in there.’? The best way is to keep the knowledge about radioactivity alive. To save future generations, we should not forget it.
The ancient societies, such as the aboriginals in Australia, they have their legends which say ‘do not touch this stone. A rainbow snake lives here, and if you touch it, it will destroy the world.’ That was a way of transporting information to future generations that something is wrong there; we should not touch it.” Continue reading
New video on renewable energy in Australia – from Energy Matters
Energy Matters Video News http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3511 – Episode 77 – December 12, 2012 Presented by Energy Matters team member Virginia, we take a look at some of the stories from Australia and around the world recently added to our renewable energy news section. Continue reading
New Podcast website – Welcome to the Dreaming
Welcome to the Dreaming, By cameron September 26, 2012 http://thedreamingpodcast.com.au/ the Deaming Podcast Whether you are black or white, knowledgeable or ignorant, one thing we can probably all agree on is that Australia’s handling of our indigenous population – historical and contemporary – is a mess.
The Dreaming is a new weekly podcast series hosted by a white fella (Cameron Reilly) and a black fella (David Cole) that will discuss the mess.
As David says, this isn’t about guilt, shame or blame – it is about making sure we make things better on our watch.
This show is going to attempt to provide an ongoing conversation about indigenous Australians. Over the course of the show, we will have conversations with historians, anthropologists, journalists, politicians, academics, authors, and every day Aussies of all colours.
Bold anti uranium banner flies above BHP Billiton’s annual general meeting
Nuclear: getting the message in 18 seconds http://www.youtube.com/watchv=WOAep34AeRc&feature=youtu.be
The bold black and white banner, flung over large windows, highlighted the connection between Australian uranium and the continuing Fukushima nuclear crisis.
It was confirmed in October 2011 that Australian uranium was inside the failure Fukushima reactor complex when the plant melted down. Rocks dug up in the NT and SA and shipped out of Darwin and Adelaide are now the cause of radioactive fallout in japan and beyond.
“Fukushima should be a wake-up call – we need to phase out nuclear power. However companies like BHP Billiton ignore the human cost of nuclear disasters and continue to pursue an expansion of its uranium business.
Australian uranium could fuel another Fukushima and we demand BHP keep the uranium in the ground”, said Sakyo Noda a Japanese activist from the Uranium Free NSW community group who – along with Beth Malone – delivered the powerful message .
For BHP and other companies involved in the uranium trade the writing is literally on the wall and the message is clear: In the shadow of Fukushima there can be no radioactive business as usual.
Latest radioactive show podcast
Radioactive Show | 18 Nov 2012 In March the NSW Government lifted a 26-year ban on uranium exploration in the state; on the 13th of November the EOI period for uranium miners ended, community activists, environmental organisations, local MPs gathered in Sydney to protest the lifting of the ban and to raise awareness of the dangers of the nuclear chain. Speakers include: Nat Wasley – Beyond Nuclear Inititative, Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Linda Burney, Adjunct Professor Richard Broinowski, NTEU NSW Secretary Gen Kelly and Jamie Parker, Greens MP, and NSW Spokesperson on uranium.File Download (30:03 min / 14 MB)
Julian Assange’s new book warns on Internet surveillance
Julian Assange’s book an exercise in dystopian musings WikiLeaks founder’s Cypherpunks warns tool he relies on and used to make his name is ‘global surveillance industry’ target Esther Addley guardian.co.uk, 26 November 2012 Julian Assange‘s new book is not a manifesto, he writes in its introduction – “There is no time for that”. Instead the short volume,entitledCypherpunks: Freedom and the Future of the Internet and published on Monday, is intended to be what the Wikileaks founder calls “a watchman’s shout in the night”, warning of an imminent threat to all civilisation from “the most dangerous facilitator of totalitarianism we have ever seen” – the web……
Also contributing to the book are Jacob Applebaum, a US-based computer security expert, and Andy Müller-Maguhn, a leading German hacker….. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/nov/26/julian-asaange-paranoia-surveillance?commentpage=1#comment-19701760
AUDIO: Tim Flannery on Australia’s renewable energy future
I think they like them [solar panels] for a number of reasons. One is solar gives you some independence. You are not beholden to a system that just puts the costs up every year; you’re in control of your own future that way.
Climate Commission says alternative energies under utilised http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2012/s3640530.htm Tony Eastley reported this story , November 26, 2012
TONY EASTLEY: Australia’s Climate Commission has released its first major report on renewable energy and it concludes Australia is doing well but could do so much more. Some of the key findings of the report are that Australia’s huge potential for renewable energy is under-utilised.
It does say that momentum in Australia for renewable energy is building and Australia has benefited from the drop in cost of solar panels. It predicts that solar and wind power could be the cheapest forms of power in Australia for retail users by 2030.
Professor Tim Flannery co-authored the report.
Tim Flannery, welcome to AM. What’s the purpose of this latest report? Continue reading
AUDIO: weak argument against wind farms – but investment uncertainty is a problem
There’s thousands of megawatts of wind farm projects that are already permitted and just waiting for the market to proceed, and it’s uncertainty that’s being created that’s stopping that happening. So the industry can easily deliver it.
We released a poll earlier this year that showed that about 80 per cent of people, and that was both people in country areas near wind farms and in city areas supported wind farms. While we were there we saw tremendous acceptance of wind farms and the need to build wind farms across Australia
AUDIO Energy Australia says opposition to wind farms could derail renewable energy target http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2012/s3636528.htmTimothy McDonald reported this story , November 20, 2012
Listen to MP3 of this story ELEANOR HALL: One of Australia’s major electricity retailers, Energy
Australia, has told the Climate Change Authority that it has concerns about community opposition to wind power because it might make Australia’s renewable energy target difficult to achieve.
The company says that to meet the target, wind power would have to be dramatically expanded, and that many communities are likely to oppose that.
But others dispute the company’s claims, and say the greatest threat to renewables comes not from community opposition, but from an uncertain investment climate.
Timothy McDonald has our report. Continue reading
A searchlight in the Senate, into the Government’s Muckaty nuclear waste dump mess
The vast majority of people on the Muckaty Land Trust who are signatories, and their families, remain not only unpersuaded but implacably opposed. Does the government really think that the same factors will not come into play if another site is chosen in the same earthquake zone that has been the site of so much contest and division between family members since this nomination first came to light-a place where several of the same groups of traditional owners have the same interlocking ownership and the same say over country due to overlapping songlines and stories? All of the same problems will follow the dump if the government tries to simply move it 10 or 20 kilometres in one direction or another. It must know that.
Unanswered questions on notice regarding Muckaty nuclear waste dump, http://scott-ludlam.greensmps.org.au/content/speeches-parliament/unanswered-questions-notice-regarding-muckaty-nuclear-waste-dump
Senate transcript, 19 Nov 2012 “…..Senator LUDLAM: I will put some brief remarks on the record as to why I am bringing this forward now… I have sought explanation for these unanswered questions on notice because several of them pertain to time-sensitive matters.
Question No. 2389 included questions about the status of the tender process for the concept design of a national radioactive waste facility. The question also put to the minister whether the department had any dialogue or provided briefings to the new Northern Territory government or its agencies regarding the location of a national radioactive waste facility at Muckaty. Particularly importantly, the question asked: has the department had any dialogue with any stakeholders over the potential for a further site nomination, either within the Muckaty Land Trust area or in any other region of the Northern Territory or elsewhere?
At successive budget estimates hearings I have put precisely that question to officers from DRET: are you looking at an alternative site? We know that the government is in serious trouble with the existing Muckaty nomination that is now five or six years old. We have been warning the government, from the time that it was proposed in the late years of the Howard government to the time that it was taken up by Minister Martin Ferguson of the Rudd and then Gillard governments, that the government has gone the wrong way and that this proposal would fail. I believe what we are seeing now are some signs that the government realises its proposals for the Muckaty radioactive waste dump is going nowhere. Continue reading
Minister Martin Ferguson delaying answers to questions about Muckaty nuclear waste dump plan
http://scott-ludlam.greensmps.org.au/content/speeches-parliament/unanswered-questions-notice-regarding-muckaty-nuclear-waste-dump Unanswered questions on notice regarding Muckaty nuclear waste dump 19 Nov 2012 Today Senator Ludlam Scott took the opportunity 
immediately after Question Time to ask why Minister Martin Ferguson
had exceeded the 30 day limit for answering Questions on Notice. 2389 Senator Ludlam: To ask the Minister representing the Minister for Resources and Energy—
(1) With reference to the tender process for the concept design of a national radioactive waste facility:Electricity from sugar power at Mackay, Queensland – AUDIO
AUDIO Mackay running on sugar power http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/201211/s3633288.htm By Michael Cavanagh, 15/11/2012 From today, 30 per cent of the electricity needs of Mackay on Queensland’s central coast will be supplied by the Racecourse Sugar Mill located on the city’s outskirts.
The bagasse, or sugar waste, has long been used to power the mill’s operations. Now, with the use of more efficient boilers and a newsteam turbine generator, the excess will be pushed into the town’s electricity grid.
Mackay Sugar is one of Australia’s top 500 carbon emitters. Business development manager John Hodgson says this is a further reason to move away from more traditional power.
“So we have a liability for those emissions and we desperately want to get off that list of high emitters so that is another big incentive to displace coal with stored bagasse.”
The Racecourse Mill cogeneration project is costing around $120 million. A small part of this is government funding, with the bulk coming from Mackay Sugar.
The man with his hand on the purse is Mackay Sugar CEO Quinton Hildebrand. He says it’s a “good commercial venture” with an expected “payback” over the next six years. Mackay Sugar receives payments on a monthly basis, which are calculated on the power exported.
Hear: latest Radioactive Show – USA superstorm, Tom Uren’s story
This week we hear about the near nuclear disaster in New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy from Kevin Kamps, radioactive waste watchdog with Beyond Nuclear in Washington, we also speak to 91 year old veteran anti-nuclear and anti-war activist, ex-labour party deputy leader and former prisoner of war, Tom Uren, about his life and learnings, from his home in Balmain, Sydney.File Download (31:12 min / 14 MB)
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
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