Matt Canavan, Australia’ s Minister For Nuclear and Coal, skirts around the truth about radioactive waste dump plan
Matt Canavan radio interview March 14th 2019 Fight To Stop Nuclear Waste In The Flinders Ranges
More drought, more heat, if a large El Nino event occurs in 2019
‘Monster’ El Nino a chance later this year, pointing to extended dry times , Brisbane Times, By Peter Hannam, March 15, 2019 Relief for Australia’s drought-hit regions could be a long way off, with climate influences in the Pacific and Indian oceans tilting towards drier conditions and a large El Nino event a possibility by year’s end.
Climate scientists said the conditions in the Pacific were particularly concerning given an unusual build-up of equatorial heat below the surface that could provide the fuel for a significant El Nino.
If such an event transpires, the Great Barrier Reef would face another bout of mass coral bleaching while the drought gripping southern and eastern Australia could intensify.
Agus Santoso, a senior scientist at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes, said there were two likely outcomes from the developments in the Pacific. “We could have an El Nino fully formed by the end of May and then it could dissipate,” Dr Santoso said.
“The other is that by May it’s already formed and it still keeps building up… and by the end of the year we could have a monster El Nino.”
During El Ninos, the normal easterly winds blowing along the equator slow and even reverse. Rainfall patterns tend to shift eastwards away from south-east Asia and Australia, setting up conditions favourable for below-average rainfall and bushfires………..
Climate change and big events
Dr Santoso’s research, including a paper published late last year, has found the frequency of big El Ninos will increase with climate change.
That result is “quite concerning”, particularly for ecosystems sensitive to heat spikes such as coral reefs that suffered mass bleaching during the 2015-16 big El Nino.
“If we get one or two bleaching events, [the Great Barrier Reef] can recover, but if we keep having these events coming up then maybe the corals are not going to be able to adapt,” Dr Santoso said.
During El Ninos, the Pacific Ocean takes less heat from the atmosphere and even gives some up, giving global surface temperatures a bump up.
The trialling years of big El Ninos, especially 1998 and 2016 – the current holder of the world’s hottest year on record – are particularly warm.
An event later this year would likely see temperatures next year “spike up, and that’s not very helpful for global warming”, Dr Santoso said. https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/environment/climate-change/monster-el-nino-a-chance-later-this-year-pointing-to-extended-dry-times-20190315-p514hi.html
Good to see former Australian Chief Scientist Penny Sackett with the kids in Canberra climate march
‘More effective than UN’: Student climate strike draws thousands https://www.canberratimes.com.au/national/act/more-effective-than-un-student-climate-strike-draws-thousands-20190315-p514fx.html 16 Mar 19Students have skipped school and marched through Canberra in their thousands to demand federal government action on climate change.
“We’ll stop acting like adults if you stop acting like children,” students told crowds gathered in Garema Place for the “School Strike 4 Climate” rally on Friday.
We’re skipping school today to do some teaching, we’re teaching politicians about science. We’re teaching them that coal causes climate change. We’re teaching them what happens if they continue to do nothing.”
Organisers estimate 150,000 Australian students flocked to 50 rallies across Australia on Friday, part of a global movement spanning more than 100 countries that began in Sweden last year with teen activist Greta Thunberg.
Roads were closed off in parts of Civic as crowds marched to Glebe Park, holding high home-made signs declaring “Don’t burn our future” and “I can’t go to school today, I’m saving the planet”.
While the first school climate strike in November last year drew attention, this time around students wanted action. They came prepared with a list of demands (which they chanted down the line of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s personal phone in Canberra) – an end to new fossil fuel projects, including the controversial Adani coal mine, and a shift to 100 per cent renewable energy in Australia by 2030.
George, 10, explained why he chose to skip school as he waited for a squadron of classmates cycling over from North Ainslie Primary.
“The earth is warming up and if adults aren’t going to do something about it, we sure are,” he said.
Parents, grandparents, activists and academics also joined the march, including Australia’s former chief scientist Penny Sackett. The reality is that the approach taken by adults so far isn’t working,” Professor Sackett said.
“School children striking around the world may be the beginning of a social movement more effective than 25 years of UN climate summits.”
Fourteen-year-old Maanha Manzur was one of about a dozen student organisers behind the event, coordinating security, land permits and public liability insurance in between classes.
She said the ACT turnout had greatly outstripped the first strike, which saw about 500 students brave the rain outside Parliament House. More than 3500 people poured into the city for Friday’s rally, she said, and at least 2000 of them were students.
Some said they had defied their schools by attending but many said they had been supported to head along, with parental permission. Most scoffed at criticism from federal ministers, including the prime minister’s calls for students to focus on learning not activism.
“We’re here because we’re almost out of time.”
Also among the crowd were federal candidates Tim Hollo from The Greens and Labor’s Alicia Payne, as well as ACT Minister for Climate Change Shane Rattenbury. Mr Rattenbury said he was inspired by the strikers and suggested those still denying the science of global warming should go back to school themselves.
Education Minister Yvette Berry also backed the protest as “learning in itself” and said students would not be penalised for attending.
But shadow education spokeswoman Elizabeth Lee questioned who was really behind the strike and suggested skipping school was not the best way for students to get their point across.
“I would hate for them to have been used as a political pawn in a matter as serious as climate change,” she said.
On Friday afternoon, students shrugged off the suggestion, collapsing gratefully in the shade of Glebe Park after months of hard work.
“We do have our own minds,” one laughed.
“But it’s motivating to see so many people behind us, even my grandma’s here.”
Australia’s Previous Chief Scientist spells it out on global warming
Repeating this item. What a pity that the excellent full article has been removed from the Australian government website!
Why we must act now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
Australian Government 8 Dec 09 Despite world attention, humans emit more greenhouse gases every year than they did the year before. It’s a situation that Australia needs to help turn around if we don’t want to bear the brunt of climate change, says Chief Scientist Professor Penny Sackett……
…..The Greenhouse Effect
The sun continuously bathes the Earth with energy in the form of sunlight. Much of this energy is absorbed by the Earth, and then emitted as infrared radiation, or heat. Greenhouse gases prevent the Earth from discarding as much of this heat as it otherwise would back into space.Without naturally occurring greenhouse gases, the Earth would be a much colder place, inhospitable to modern human existence. But by the same token, the additional greenhouse gases added to this store by humans is slowly increasing the average temperature of the Earth system.
Due to the quantity in which it is emitted by humans, its longevity in the atmosphere, and its effects in trapping heat, carbon dioxide is the most important of the greenhouse gases currently causing changes in the Earth’s climate……
In Australia, extreme fire danger days are already becoming more numerous in many parts of the country, and floods and cyclones more intense.
Research by the CSIRO indicates that the frequency of days with very high and extreme Forest Fire Danger Index ratings is likely to increase by 15 to 70 per cent by 2050 in southeast Australia…..
Why we must act now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions | Chief Scientist of Australia
Landmark High Court decision guides how compensation for native title losses will be determined
March 14, 2019 1.43pm AEDT William Isdale Jonathan Fulcher
theconversation.com/landmark-high-court-decision-guides-how-compensation-for-native-title-losses-will-be-determined-113346
‘The High Court has decided, for the first time, the approach that should be taken to resolving native title compensation claims. In a previous article, we said it would be “the most significant case concerning Indigenous land rights since the Mabo and Wik decisions”. The High Court’s decision yesterday certainly stands up to that description, and provides a degree of certainty for native title holders and governments. … ‘
New South Wales Labor leader sticks up for the right of school students to strike over climate change
Michael Daley says NSW schoolchildren have right to strike over climate change, Guardian, Anne Davies
State Labor leader says education is ‘bigger than the classroom’ as he applauds students for ‘standing up and taking action’
The New South Wales opposition leader, Michael Daley, has backed the state’s schoolchildren striking and attending rallies on climate change, saying it was a democratic right to protest and “an important way to realise their own personal power”.
Speaking at a National Press Club event in Sydney, Daley said he supported the rallies on Friday, even though he might soon be the premier and responsible for ensuring children attend school.
“Education is also bigger than the classroom. It is based on life experience. That is, in part, the importance of being confident and passionate enough to form beliefs and being prepared to stand up for them,” he said.
“They don’t have a microphone or money like the big end of town. But they do have their democratic right to assembly. I support that right to protest especially when it comes to climate change and our fragile environment.
“And more importantly in this inert digital age, of acting on that belief. Of standing up and taking action for what you believe in – it is called leadership.”
Labor has sought to distinguish itself from the Coalition by promising more rapid action on climate change, including installing seven gigawatts of regional solar farms and establishing a rebate scheme to encourage households to install a further two gigawatts of rooftop solar……… https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/mar/13/michael-daley-says-nsw-schoolchildren-have-right-to-strike-over-climate-change
Crikey.com devotes an entire edition to climate change
Today, Crikey dedicates an entire edition to covering climate change. The world has reached a tipping point on this issue. Voters now overwhelmingly accept the science, and denialists have increasingly been pushed to the fringes. Among other things, today’s edition looks at what the military is doing to prepare for climate change, and how environmental catastrophe could soon make the insurance industry redundant. This is the slow burn of climate change.
We believe climate change is an issue that needs to be talked about more.
Angus Taylor, Energy Minister, confirms that the Morrison government considering supporting new coal projects
Angus Taylor says Coalition assessing new projects despite pushback from moderate Liberals, but says taxpayers will only support ‘viable’ projects
The energy minister Angus Taylor has confirmed the Morrison government is continuing to assess new coal generation projects despite pushback from moderate Liberals, but he says taxpayers will only support projects that are “viable”.
In a statement to Guardian Australia, Taylor confirmed the government was continuing to consider 10 coal projects through its power generation underwriting program, as well as new gas and pumped hydro proposals……
Taylor’s confirmation that new coal generation projects remain on the table for consideration comes as an open brawl is continuing within the Coalitionabout energy policy.
Queensland Nationals and the former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce are demanding the government commit taxpayer support to new coalregardless of whether or not the projects stack up economically, and city-based Liberals, under pressure from their constituencies, are pushing back against that offensive….. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/mar/12/morrison-government-has-not-ruled-out-supporting-coal-energy-minister-says
Students strike to spur adults into climate action
Kids across the globe are protesting a failure of governments to cut greenhouse-gas emissions Science News for Students, KATHIANN KOWALSKI, MAR 11, 2019 “…… As of March 6, there were 596 planned events across 64 countries, according to a list kept by the group Fridays For Future.
A worldwide movement Many young protesters have drawn inspiration from Greta Thunberg. The 16-year old Swedish teen……..
began regularly protesting outside Sweden’s Parliament last summer. She also has encouraged kids to strike in other countries. She even spoke to delegates at the 2018 United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNCCC). It was held in December in Katowice, Poland.
“You say you love your children above all else, and yet you are stealing their future in front of their very eyes,” Greta told attendees at the UNCCC. There is still time to limit the worst impacts, she noted — but only if governments act now. “Until you start focusing on what needs to be done rather than what is politically possible,” she said, “there is no hope.”…..
“Climate denialism is like suicide,” Nakate Vanessa of Uganda, says of the people who argue climate change is not happening. “We cannot let ourselves perish as we look on without doing anything,” she says. “Not taking climate action is like locking yourself up in a house on fire.” …….
As Greta Thunberg told the United Nations meeting, “We have run out of excuses, and we are running out of time.” https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/students-climate-strike-march-spur-adults-climate-action
School students’ climate action strike, across Australia, on 15 March -and this is having its impact!
Students strike for climate change, defying calls to stay in school | ABC News
Australia’s young climate activists to strike again – and people are listening Students around the world have been holding protests over climate change in recent months, and they’re happening again in Australia this week. SBS, BY NICK BAKER 11 Mar 19, Australian students are once again planning to walk out of schools to protest climate change inaction.
Dismissing Aboriginal objections, Leonora Shire Council, (Western Australia) wants an underground nuclear waste dump!
Outback WA council keeps hand raised for nuclear waste facility, as legal action halts progress on SA sites ABC North and West ,By Gary-Jon Lysaght , 12 Mar 19, While the search for a place to store Australia’s nuclear waste remains on hold pending a decision by the Federal Court, a small council in outback Western Australia still has its hand raised as a potential site.
Key points:
- Kimba and Hawker in South Australia are being considered as sites for storing nuclear waste
- A company called the Azark Project has a proposal to store waste in a “seismically stable” location near Leonora in the WA Goldfields
- The Federal Government says it is currently not considering Leonora as a potential location
Leonora, a WA Goldfields town about 200 kilometres north of Kalgoorlie, is being touted as a potential location for an underground nuclear waste disposal facility.
The Federal Government is considering sites at Kimba and Hawker in South Australia for an above-ground facility capable of permanently storing low-level waste and temporarily storing intermediate-level waste.
Nuclear waste being stored at Australia’s Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) would be sent to the nuclear waste disposal facility…….
He said the Azark proposal was to store low-level and intermediate-level waste underground on a permanent basis. ……
Leonora not being considered
The Department of Industry, Innovation and Science said it was currently not considering Leonora as a potential location and that detailed studies were continuing at the three nominated sites in South Australia.
Lyndhurt and Napandee are the properties near Kimba being considered and the site near Hawker is called Wallerberdina Station.
A proposed community ballot on support for the facility in Kimba and Hawker has been on hold pending legal action.
The Leonora Shire Council remains in favour of a nuclear waste facility near the town, saying it could provide jobs and much-needed infrastructure for the small town.However, Leonora Shire President Peter Craig said that support could wane because of what he described as a lack of consultation from Azark.
“Azark did have a community meeting back in April 2018, which was pretty positive, there were some questions that still needed to be answered,” he said.
“To this day, in our view, as a council, Azark have failed in consultation work with the community…….
Mr Craig said Azark had consulted people one-on-one but not in a wider group since the 2018 meeting. ……
Cultural and environmental concerns
Throughout the site selection process at both Kimba and Hawker there has been opposition from local Aboriginal groups, who say a facility would impinge on sacred land.
Dave Sweeney from the Australian Conservation Foundation said local Aboriginal groups at Leonora remained strongly opposed to the facility.
“[Azark] says there’s no chance of any impact on water — there’s no evidential basis for that,” he said.
“They say there is no cultural or heritage issues — that is contested by local Aboriginal people.
“When this was first flagged, Aboriginal people who have deep concerns about this proposal got a petition together that rapidly got, in a number of days, around 500 signatures.
“In a remote region, that’s a quick and significant expression of concern.”……
Mr Sweeney said the Federal Government should stop the site selection process.
“We desperately need, right now, for the brakes to go on the federal process at Kimba and at Hawker and an independent assessment of the best ways we can manage radioactive waste.” https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-12/goldfields-council-continues-support-for-nuclear-waste-facility/10887644?pfmredir=sm&fbclid=IwAR1mUzAfXLzOl5CeF41xkST82NALrwTf4xs8pVRnfW5v5U1FS9KxJZoLX04
Even more Australian students will strike for climate action, this Friday
We’ve been forced into this’: Australia’s school climate strikes to go global Guardian, Naaman Zhou@naamanzhou, 11 Mar 2019 In November, Scott Morrison told the striking students to ‘go to school’ – this time even more of them will strike Four months on, 17-year-old Doha Khan says the school climate strikers have learned a lot.
On Friday, thousands of primary and high school students are again planning to walk out of class across the country, protesting against the government’s inaction on climate change, and what they see as the destruction of their future.
Up to 50 rallies, in scores of regional towns, are planned for 15 March. This time, the students will be joined by others in America and Europe, in what has become a global movement.
At the November protests, thousands took to the streets. In Canberra, they met Greens senators, Labor MPs and the independent MP Rebehka Sharkie. They were told by the prime minister, Scott Morrison, to “go to school”, and by the resources minister, Matt Canavan, that they were “learning to join the dole queue”.
More recently, the New South Wales education minister, Rob Stokes, told students to stay in class because “you can’t strike if you don’t have a job”.
But the leaders of Friday’s strike say the movement has only grown, gained momentum, and become smarter.
“We really did take into account a lot of the criticism that came out of last year,” says Khan, who goes to the Glenunga International high school in Adelaide.
“There were claims that the kids were just striking and didn’t have any demands. So this time around we’ve made our demands a lot clearer.
“We have them set out on all banners: stopping the Adani coalmine. No new fossil fuel projects, 100% renewables by 2030.”
This year, the number of rally points has grown, mostly in regional areas. There are 18 in New South Wales alone – from Bowral to Byron Bay – and Khan feels enthusiasm has risen, rather than quietened down.
“This time our response rate has doubled,” she says. “Last time, a week before the strike, we had 1,000 responses on Facebook. This week we are over 2,300. We are now getting a hundred responses a day. That’s pretty cool – and this is just the Adelaide strike.”……..https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/11/weve-been-forced-into-this-australias-school-climate-strikes-to-go-global
After Fukushima: Nuclear power’s deepening crisis -it’s never appropriate for Australia
Independent Australia By Dave Sweeney | 12 March 2019 Eight years ago the world held its breath as the Fukushima nuclear crisis unfolded in Japan. Today the lands are littered and the seas awash with the consequences of radioactive waste responses and the economic, human and environmental costs are severe and continuing.
Fukushima was directly fuelled by Australian uranium and in its aftermath, this contested trade remains hard hit, as is the wider global nuclear power sector. Globally, reactors are in recession and the promises of the promoters look increasingly hollow.
The nuclear industry is in crisis everywhere.
In contrast, worldwide renewable power generation has doubled over the past decade and costs continue to fall dramatically.
A record amount of new renewable power capacity has been installed worldwide every year over the past decade. Renewables accounted for over 26 per cent of global electricity generation in 2017, while the nuclear contribution languishes at ten per cent. Around our shared planet, over ten million people are employed in renewable energy industries and the trajectory is only going one way.
In January, Australia’s Climate Council, comprising leading climate scientists and policy experts, issued a policy statement concluding that:
‘Nuclear power stations are not appropriate for Australia — and probably never will be.
According to the Climate Council:
‘Nuclear power stations are highly controversial, can’t be built under existing law in any Australian state or territory, are a more expensive source of power than renewable energy, and present significant challenges in terms of the storage and transport of nuclear waste, and use of water.’
This view was reinforced by Federal Labor, at its national conference in December, when it committed to
“prohibit the establishment of nuclear power plants and all other stages of the nuclear fuel cycle in Australia.”
At this time, Shadow Energy Minister Mark Butler was scathing of nuclear advocates, telling ABC Radio:
“This is not a technology that has any opportunity for Australia, it is extraordinarily expensive power as well… we want to focus on renewable energy which is going to bring down emissions, bring down power prices, and power thousands and thousands of jobs.”
China ‒ long seen as the saviour for the industry ‒ has not approved a new reactor construction site for more than two years and is instead prioritising renewable energy. The number of countries phasing out nuclear power now includes Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Belgium, Taiwan and South Korea.
The British nuclear power industry is in free-fall …….
Nuclear lobbyists used to claim nuclear power would be too cheap to meter. Now, it’s too expensive to matter……. https://independentaustralia.net/business/business-display/after-fukushima-nuclear-powers-deepening-crisis,12459
Climate change is a key issue for New South Wales election
Climate change top of voters’ minds in NSW election SMH, By Alexandra Smith March 12, 2019 Climate change is a key election issue for most people in NSW, polling shows, as the environment emerges as a more pressing concern for voters than hospitals, schools and public transport.Exclusive Herald polling shows that 57.5 per cent of voters say they will be swayed by climate change and environmental protection when deciding who to vote for on March 23…….
Internal party research showed climate change played a major role in last year’s Wentworth byelection and is shaping up to be a key issue in former prime minister Tony Abbott’s seat of Warringah.
With climate change again looming as an issue at the federal election in May, Mr Abbott on Friday abandoned his call to withdraw from the Paris agreement to reduce carbon emissions, falling in to line with Prime Minister Scott Morrison on the key policy………
The three independents – Sydney MP Alex Greenwich, Lake Macquarie MP Greg Piper, and Wagga Wagga MP Joe McGirr – are demanding Labor and the Coalition take action on climate change.
The crossbenchers, who will hold the balance of power if the government loses six seats, wrote to the Premier and Mr Daley last week asking them to act on transitioning from coal mining to clean energy……https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/climate-change-top-of-voters-minds-in-nsw-election-20190311-p513bb.html
State of the drought – New South Wales , South Australia, Northern territory, Western Australia
State of the drought shows dams empty and NSW drowning in dust ABC Weather By Kate Doyle 12 Mar 19, It’s not good. Not good at all.
The hot dry summer has stripped the soils of moisture, water storages are down in every state and territory, and New South Wales is drowning in dust.
Key points:
- Water stores are down in every state and territory
- Keepit dam is empty and Dubbo’s dam could be empty by 2020
- A hot and dry summer has exacerbated low soil moisture, with a dry autumn forecast
So far this drought has been short but hard-hitting. The coming cold season will be a test of that descriptor.
Last year’s national farm production was down on the bumper year of 2016, but a good year in the west, decent prices and some moisture last summer softened the blow.
But with widespread low soil moisture, the pressure is on the arrival of cool-season rain.
The heat is making things worse
Lynette Bettio, a climatologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, said the big dry was affecting large parts of NSW, eastern South Australia and parts of the Northern Territory and northern Western Australia.
And despite the flooding rains in the north, even Queensland isn’t off the hook.
“The floods largely missed those areas of drought that we were covering,” Dr Bettio said.
“It did relieve some of those areas; those large totals of rainfall meant that some areas near the border with the NT are no longer in that bottom 10 per cent for those [drought-measuring] periods.
“But there’s still large parts of southern Queensland that are in that bottom 10 per cent of rainfall and lowest-on-record rainfall for those 11-month and 23-month periods.”…….. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-12/state-of-the-drought-is-not-good/10876716
1 This month
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/235274195556
20 May – Webinar – The dangerous world of AUKUS, US, military occupation and suppression of dissent
National Webinar, 20th May, 2026, 6.30pm AEST. Confronting laws restricting/suppressing protest speech and action
Speakers: Former Sen. Rex Patrick, Lawyer Nick Hanna ,Arthur Rorris ,Jorgen Doyle, Sen David Shoebbridge,
Facilitator Kelley Tranter.
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity
Antinuclear 