The Usual Suspects: oil and gas majors star in Australian tax heist
The Usual Suspects: oil and gas majors star in Australian tax heist, Michael West 16 Dec 20,
Angus Taylor’s rescue package for the oil industry is a testament to governments getting gamed by large corporations. The latest Tax Office transparency data shows oil and gas juggernauts are Australia’s biggest tax cheats, again, yet now they are crying for public subsidies – and getting them – to prop up their oil refineries. Michael West reports on the good and the bad in multinational tax dodging land.
2020 in Australia – a successful year for resistance to nuclear pollution
DAVE SWEENEY | Nuclear Free Campaigner, Australian Conservation Foundation | www.acf.org.aua 15 Dec 20,
A year ago today the then federal resources/radioactive waste Minister Matt Canavan read the room in the Flinders Ranges and stated: “I will no longer consider this site an option for the facility”. https://www.minister.industry.gov.au/ministers/canavan/media-releases/national-radioactive-waste-management-facility-wallerberdina
Viva!! This decision was a great tribute to Adnyamathanha, the FLAG crew and wider community resistance.
In the year since
- Canberra has turned to Kimba where they are facing a stiff fight and have failed in an attempt to rewrite the laws to remove people’s right to legally challenge the waste plan
- SA Labor, Unions SA and many more civil society groups and state and national voices have come on board against the waste plan
- The Australian Human Rights Commission acknowledged the three sisters – Vivianne and Regina McKenzie and Heather Stuart as Human Rights Heroes for their radwaste efforts
- ARPANSA – the federal nuclear regulator – has confirmed that Australia’s worst waste can securely remain at Lucas Heights ‘for decades”
- Matt Canavan is gone and we have a new Minister – the sixth in as many years – if radioactive waste had the same longevity as federal ministers it wouldn’t be an issue.
- Collectively we are stalling the deeply flawed federal plan and shifting the story from the search for a postcode to the need for a credible process
Congratulations to all those who successfully defended the Flinders – and strength to those now actively contesting the dodgy Kimba plan.
The end of the uranium mining era leaves Jabiru with some social and housing problems
NT mine closure has Jabiru community anxious about an uncertain future, and some are already leaving, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-13/nt-jabiru-housing-uncertainty-as-uranium-mine-end-nears/12975950, By Matt GarrickPacking her life away into boxes and preparing to shift out of her small Northern Territory town has had an emotional impact on Denise House — but it’s not the feeling she expected.
Key points:
- The Ranger uranium mine will cease operations on January 9
- Dozens of mining families are expected to leave town in coming months
- Future rental prices and the standard of the town’s housing remains “unknown”
“It’s funny because I don’t feel like I’m leaving yet, although we know we are. There’s a date, we’ve already got our flights booked and everything,” Ms House said.
“But I’m sure there will be tears.”
The House family is among an exodus of families preparing to up stumps and leave Jabiru — a mining town on the edge of Kakadu National Park with a population of just over 1,000 people — as mining operations officially cease on January 9, 2021.
The vision is for Jabiru to eventually be turned into an Indigenous-run tourism town and service hub.
The entity set up to help handle the transition, Jabiru Kabolkmakmen Limited (JKL), is among those conceding the town faces a huge challenge in the coming year. Continue reading
Far from “broad community consent”- nuclear waste dump plan for Kimba South Australia.
Key points:
- A nuclear waste storage facility has been proposed for Napandee near Kimba on the Eyre Peninsula
- One Nation doesn’t think the Barngarla people were given enough of a voice in SA’s nuclear debate
- Federal Government wants to legislate the site, meaning the decision wouldn’t be subject to a judicial review
The proposed facility which would house Australia’s low and intermediate-level waste — which comes from medicine — has been earmarked for a farm near Kimba on the Eyre Peninsula.
The Government wants to legislate the farm as the site for the facility, meaning the decision would not be subject to a judicial review.
There was hope the matter would be resolved before the end of the parliamentary year, however that failed to eventuate.
Labor and One Nation oppose the legislation, saying the resources minister already has powers to select a site, adding that a judicial review had merit.
The Greens also oppose the legislation………
The debate surrounding the facility has been a hot-button topic in Kimba for the past five years, with locals saying they will experience another anxious Christmas.
Farmer Jeff Baldock owns Napandee, the 160-hectare property where the Government wants to put the facility.
He said his frustration levels were growing…….
Mr Baldock said having the facility at Kimba would provide future generations with a different industry in which to work besides agriculture. ……
He said it had been a long process but one that “needs to happen because of the nature of what’s being proposed”.
“It’s all about fairness for people, not only those opposed to it, but those that live outside of the Kimba boundary who were denied a vote,” he said.
To have senators not happy with the current legislation, I think it is a positive thing because in the end, this is forever this facility, it’s going to be 100 years.”
Mental health
Mr Woolford said the wellbeing of people impacted by the process had been forgotten.
“There’s no doubt that’s why people have left and some people are considering leaving now,” he said.
“They don’t want to live by a nuclear facility.
“The Government don’t seem to care about the mental wellbeing of people in this town.
“We’re going to keep standing our ground and oppose this because of how unfair this process has been.” https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-11/one-nation-says-not-enough-consultation-kimba-nuclear-facility/12971036
Australian Government Productivity Commission Report fails to realise the complexity of environmental problems in uranium mining
Mia Pepper, Conservation Council of Western Australia, (CCWA) 10 Dec 20, The Productivity Commission Report has been released.
The CCWA had put in a detailed submission on uranium – in response to the Minerals Council of Australia attempts to reduce federal oversight of uranium mine projects. The overall terms for the PC report was to identify best practice regulation – while removing impediments to investment. (emphasis on removing impediments to investment – sigh).The short take home message for us: is that the Productivity Commission (PC) echoes calls, initially made through the EPBC Act Review process, that ARPANSA become the regulator for uranium mines, removing the need for EPBC approvals.This is narrow – it suggests the only problems or issues with uranium mines are related to radiation – the issues are much more complex and need environmental regulators not just radiation expertise.There is pressure from MCA and AMEC to remove the ‘nuclear trigger’ because they say it impacts on Rare Earths and Minerals sands assessments and approvals – this didn’t get much traction by the PC but was a segue to supporting calls that ARPANSA become the federal regulator and remove the need for the Environment Department to asses or approve uranium project.This fits with the larger Federal government agenda to remove federal approval requirements through setting up bilateral agreements with all the states and territories to defer powers to the State governments to both assess and approve projects that trigger federal intervention – like all uranium mines do. This is coming up before the Senate – but a majority of senators are set to block this and are calling for the Federal Government to release the final EPBC review report.The long version with extracts from the PC report: Continue reading
Australia is “rapidly” moving towards a hotter, drier climate
Climate change predictions: Average temps to increase, rainfall to decrease
It seems our already warmer days are only going to get hotter as weather experts paint a grim picture of Australia’s climate in the future. https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/technology/climate-change-predictions-average-temps-to-increase-rainfall-to-decrease/news-story/c09593fdeb48648c8bfea031bbe7beea
Emily Cosenza, December 9, 2020
NCA NewsWire Australia is “rapidly” moving towards a hotter, drier climate, with average temperatures to continue on an upwards trajectory and rainfall being predicted to gradually decline in parts of the country.Climate change was a major theme in the Bureau of Meteorology’s State of the Climate 2020 biannual report as weather experts demonstrated how the country’s climate had changed since records began in 1910.
CSIRO senior research scientist Dr Michael Grose said weather trends seen in the past were very likely to continue in the future, including warmer temperatures and sea levels rising.
“Heavy rainfall – that‘s the hourly to daily intense downpours – is likely to become more intense through time, partly because that’s just what happens with a warmer atmosphere,” Dr Grose said.
“Unfortunately, that longer fire season with an earlier start and more days of dangerous fire weather is predicted to continue.
We’re heading towards what Australia would have experienced – or the equivalent for Australia – if global warming reached the 1.5 degree and 2 degree global warming level since pre-industrial, (and) we’re heading towards those quite rapidly.” ……..
“What’s really important in the report, and as we’ve seen in past reports, is that we’re experiencing climate change now, and it’s impacting on our community, many industries and other sectors as well,” Dr Bettio said.
She said some temperatures in the warmer months of 1916-89 were seen less than 1.8 per cent of the time but are now presenting more than 12 per cent on the time. “That 1 degree doesn’t sound like a big number, but it’s really impacting on that extreme heat that we experience
Michele Madigan sets former Minister Christopher Pyne straight on nuclear waste dump plan
Funny how after all this time – since 1998 as he acknowledges, former Minister Christopher Pyne (Advertiser 7th December) has not yet caught up with the fact that the federal nuclear waste dump is not just’ a low-level nuclear waste facility.’ Over 90% of the waste measured in radioactivity in fact is intermediate level waste which will remain radioactive for an unimaginable10,000 years. I’d say that will probably be for every generation of South Australians to come.
Australia’s Liberal and National Parties got their arithmetic wrong on nuclear waste dump opinion polls
LIBS NATS FAILED MATHS, Kim Mavromatis, 8 Dec 20, Where did these people go to school? – I expect they failed maths because they can’t do % sums.
452 in favour of the dump from 824 eligible Kimba voters = 54.85% of the Kimba community.Not 62%.And Barngarla Native Title Holders, who were deliberately left out of the Kimba ballot,had their own vote : 0 in favour of the dump from 209 eligible voters.Combined Kimba and Barngarla votes = 43.75% in favour of the dump from eligible voters, Does Not equate to Broad Community Support.No mention by Pyne that the Govt want to dump radioactive Spent Nuclear Fuel, and reprocessed SNF on SA farmland that is 10,000 x more radioactive than uranium ore.No mention by Pyne that the Dump legislation removes Judicial Review – no rights of appeal or independent scrutiny.No mention by Pyne that all SA surveys consistently overwhelmingly Do Not support the dump on SA farmland near Kimba.And Christopher, my mum died of an inoperable brain tumour 2 years ago – using nuclear medicine as an excuse to dump radioactive nuclear waste on SA farmland is BS.Why on earth would you knowingly dump radioactive nuclear waste on SA Farmland????
Analysing Christopher Pyne’s article enthusing about proposed Kimba nuclear waste dump
Examining Pyne’s article in The Advertiser – Outdated leftie ideas let nuclear option go to waste. G. Bannon 8 Dec 20
Pyne claimed to be in the thick of things with Nick Minchin in 1998 whenHoward was wanting to get a dump established. There are so many things wrong with his article, – (but if you try to address every single one no one would ever listen to you.
He knows how many jobs they were talking about in his day but says there will be 45 jobs during construction and 25 permanent jobs. When he was involved they were talking about 5 jobs – we’ve all heard that blow out to 15, then 45 and then more than 45. 25 permanent jobs are not part of the current script! Does that 25 including the Agency in Adelaide and does it include the 12/15? security guys as well as the nuclear physicists in white overalls driving all the forklifts?
* He doesn’t mention Intermediate Level Wastes (ILW)
* He wonders where in the world those opposing the dump think
Australia’s waste should go. I haven’t heard one person who opposes the
dump say Australia’s waste should go somewhere else.
* He thinks it’s a “no brainer” that the waste should go in “Outback
South Australia”. Kimba is remote, but it’s cleared, developed, settled and populated – it’s not “Outback”. Woomera might be getting closer to “Outback”. He doesn’t mention that.
* He reckons those opposing the dump have “outdated leftie ideology”
and Penny Wong “should be putting Kimba above kale” (Good, funny old Pyney -It’s such a clever line he says it twice)! I wonder how the kale harvest went at Kimba this year? I assume that big shed by the road, just before you get into Kimba, stores all the bales of kale to feed those leftie,
Greenie, tree-hugging, NIMBY activists!
* He, Pitty, Rowan and all their mates just want to get this done! Its
hung around too long. “It’s time” (sounds like a Labor slogan from the
past, doesn’t it?) to make the hard decisions. I say always be very wary of
people who want to push you into making quick decisions! What’s the saying?
– “Decide in haste, repent at leisure!”
* He says it is a $200 million project and says the community will
benefit by $31 million. We know the breakdown – $20 million for the
Community Benefit Programme, $8 million ($2 million/year for 4 years) to
assist businesses to take part in construction and $3 million for Indigenous training and engagement: 20 + 8 + 3 = $31 million – Who or what gets the remaining $169 million?
* He reckons that a dump in Kimba “would be preferable to the more
than 40 sites in the CBD”, then says that the Bill might be defeated by “not in my backyard NIMBYism”. He lives in Adelaide and wants the stuff to go to Kimba – Not In His Back Yard!
The Bill for the Napandee nuclear waste dump won’t be passed next year, either
National Radioactive Waste Management Amendment (Site Specification, Community Fund and Other Measures) Bill 2020
Peter Remta 7 Dec 20, It is now quite clear that the government will not bring on the bill in the Senate sitting this week as it would be defeated and will wait until next year’s resumption before deciding what to do.
Obviously Pitt believes this will give him ample time to bring the opposing Senate cross benchers to accept the legislation but this I suggest is a forlorn hope
However none of this will overcome the inherent problems with the government’s proposals for Kimba as they cannot be cured by legislative action
This will still be the same situation irrespective of reliance on the existing or the new legislation since the problems are so basic and arise under a widely and strictly adhered to international regime dealing with nuclear safety which is beyond the legislative competence of the federal parliament
It has been put to me that if this situation had arisen in Europe and even in the United States it would already be subject to heavy litigation in superior courts – perhaps we are not as strong in our democratic principles as we are lead to believe
Senate Debate on Nuclear waste dump Bill postponed till at least February 2nd 2021
Kazzi Jai, NoNuclear Waste Dump Anywhere in South Australia, 7 Sec 20Senate again postpones discussion on contentious nuclear waste Bill.
Discussion of the contentious Bill to impose nuclear waste dump at Napandee, South Australia, has once again been postponed in the Australian Senate.
it might re-emerge next week (last Senate sitting for the year) or next year (Senate sits early February), or perhaps the government will reassess it’s approach … which would probably mean nominating the Kimba site using existing legislation
Australian government struggles to impose nuclear waste dump in small South Australian agricultural area
‘Need a resolution’: Government fights opposition to toxic waste dump plans, Brisbane Times, By Rob Harris, December 1, 2020 A likely Senate roadblock to establish a radioactive waste dump in regional South Australia could be used by the Morrison government as a trigger to go to an early election as it prepares to bring the issue to a vote in the coming days.
The contentious proposal would finally establish a low- and medium-level nuclear waste facility at Napandee, a farm on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula, after 40 years of public debate about the disposal of such materials………..
Kimba mayor Dean Johnson and community members met with Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese and Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday to stress the town wanted everything that came with the National Radioactive Waste Management Facility……..
The plan has been criticised by the traditional owners of the region, the Barngarla, who were not included in the vote because it was limited to those living in the Kimba Council area.
The group later challenged the ballot under the Racial Discrimination Act in the Federal Court but it was dismissed.
The Australian Conservation Foundation has also criticised the process, claiming it would lead to potentially dangerous waste management, including trucking radioactive waste from Lucas Heights in Sydney through regional communities and dumping it on South Australian farmland.
“This is actively opposed by many in the wider region, including the Barngarla Traditional Owners who have been consistently excluded from the consultation process,” veteran anti-nuclear campaigner Dave Sweeney said.
Labor will seek to amend the laws so that the minister responsible, Resources Minister Keith Pitt, can use existing powers to nominate any site under the current legislation. Labor says the changes would still give the local community access to a significant community fund on offer and would ensure the decision be subject to a judicial review………
A bill which is rejected twice by the Senate – with a period of at least three months between each attempt – hands the government the opportunity to dissolve both houses of parliament and head to an election ahead of schedule.https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/federal/need-a-resolution-government-fights-opposition-to-toxic-waste-dump-plans-20201201-p56jhs.html
Australia joins with USA to get hypersonic missiles
 Australia Teams Up With U.S. To Get Hypersonic Missiles For Its Super Hornets In Five Years
Plans call for the rapid prototyping of a new air-breathing long-range missile for the Royal Australian Air Force. The Drive, THOMAS NEWDICK. NOVEMBER 30, 2020 Australia is gearing up to start testing a new air-launched hypersonic missile “within months.” Details of the joint U.S.-Australian program are still emerging but point to a multi-million-dollar effort to develop an air-breathing, long-range missile that could ultimately be carried by a range of Royal Australian Air Force aircraft. The new weapon is due to be formally announced tomorrow and prototypes are being developed together with the United States under the Southern Cross Integrated Flight Research Experiment, or SCIFiRE. Hypersonic weapons are generally understood to be capable of flying at least five times the speed of sound, giving them faster response time for striking critical targets and making them much harder to defend against than their slower counterparts
The new weapon is due to be formally announced tomorrow and prototypes are being developed together with the United States under the Southern Cross Integrated Flight Research Experiment, or SCIFiRE. Hypersonic weapons are generally understood to be capable of flying at least five times the speed of sound, giving them faster response time for striking critical targets and making them much harder to defend against than their slower counterparts……
While Australia has apparently struck a new deal with the United States regarding SCIFiRE in the last few days, this program dates back as long as 15 years. It has included joint research on hypersonic scramjets, rocket motors, sensors, and advanced manufacturing materials.
In the past, The War Zone has examined previous U.S. and Australian hypersonic experiments, including the Hypersonic International Flight Research Experimentation (HiFIRE) program, which you can read more about here. A U.S. Air Force contract announcement as long ago as 2008 indicated that one of the aims of the HiFIRE program was to gather information that could be “applicable to the design of next-generation high-speed strike weapons.”……..
While the initial focus of the SCIFiRE work seems to be firmly on an air-launched missile for the RAAF, Australia is also looking to develop hypersonic weapons for launch from the ground or from warships, and it’s possible that a family of weapons may eventually be developed for different launch platform applications. …….. https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/37875/australia-teams-up-with-u-s-to-get-hypersonic-missiles-for-its-super-hornets-in-five-years
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Defence Minister Linda Reynolds announces hypersonic missiles for Australia
Australia to begin testing hypersonic missiles within months, The Age, By Anthony Galloway, December 1, 2020 Australia will begin testing hypersonic missiles that can travel at least five times the speed of sound within months under a new agreement with the United States to develop prototypes of the next-generation weapons…….
The Australian government will now begin talking with Australian industry about rolling out a range of technologies to bring the hypersonic missiles from the testing phase to the production line for the Royal Australian Air Force.
Defence will not reveal the estimated cost of developing the new hypersonic missiles but it is expected to run into billions of dollars. A total of $9.3 billion was earmarked in this year’s Force Structure Plan for high-speed long-range missile defences.
Under the plan, the hypersonic missiles would be carried by the RAAF’s existing arsenal of aircraft including the Growlers, Super Hornets, Joint Strike Fighters and Poseidon surveillance planes. The missiles could also be attached to unmanned aircraft such as the new Loyal Wingman drones.
The Australian Defence Minister said the experiments with the US would include demonstrations to show how the weapon performs in operational conditions, which would then inform future purchases.
“Developing this game-changing capability with the United States from an early stage is providing opportunities for Australian industry,” she said…..
Michael Kratsios, the Acting Under Secretary for Research and Engineering for the US’s Department of Defence, said the agreement was “essential to the future of hypersonic research and development, ensuring the US and our allies lead the world in the advancement of this transformational war-fighting capability”. ….. https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/australia-to-begin-testing-hypersonic-missiles-within-months-20201130-p56j5a.html
1 This month.
20 September –National Day of Action in Melbourne on the International Day of Peace
Help Aunty Sue Protect Her Land and Sacred Sites From Destructive Rocket Testing.
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Australians deserve the truth
about
AUKUS – https://aukuspublicinquiry.com/
PETITION – To: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Australian Labor Government
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity
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