With help from floating data-collectors, a new study reveals the impact greenhouse gas emissions and ozone depletion are having on the Southern Ocean. Inside Climate News, Sabrina Shankman SEP 24, 2018 The Southern Ocean around Antarctica is warming at an alarming rate—twice that of the rest of the world’s oceans. Now, researchers have developed more powerful evidence pointing to the human causes.
Weapons-making corporation, Raytheon hoping for nuclear industry in SouthAustralia?
John Matheson Fight To Stop Nuclear Waste Dump In Flinders Ranges SA, 26 Sept 18, Weapons-making corporation, Raytheon purchased and renovated a two story office building on Greenhill Road, Parkside a couple of years ago. it is a substantial building and the lights are on, but nobody seems to be home. I wonder whether the Raytheon “headquarters” in Adelaide is just a shopfront for the lobbying and tendering of the $squillions up for grabs if – sorry when – the nuclear dump is coerced by guvmint. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raytheon https://www.facebook.com/groups/344452605899556
Greenhouse gas emissions and ozone depletion causing Antarctic Ocean to heat up
What’s Causing Antarctica’s Ocean to Heat Up? New Study Points to 2 Human Sources
Adani coalmine: most Queenslanders want water licence revoked, poll finds
‘A poll conducted for Lock the Gate found a majority of Queensland voters want water rights taken off Adani and given to farmers. Guardian, Ben Smee www.theguardian.com/profile/ben-smee @BenSmee , 23 Sep 2018 A majority of Queensland’s voters want the government to cancel the Adani mining company’s 60-year unlimited water extraction licence
amid growing concern about the severity of the drought.
‘Polling conducted by ReachTel for the environmental group Lock the Gate shows concern about water extraction by Adani, and the impact on agriculture, is strong among conservative voters.
‘Almost 70% of all voters agreed the licence,
to extract groundwater for the Carmichael coalmine,
should be revoked to safeguard water for farmers. …
‘The national coordinator of the Lock the Gate Alliance, Carmel Flint, said the results showed “incredible support across the political spectrum
to put water above mining and look after Queensland farmers”.
The national coordinator of the Lock the Gate Alliance, Carmel Flint, said
the results showed “incredible support across the political spectrum
to put water above mining and look after Queensland farmers”.
‘“I think this really does reveal that as this drought really bites,
people don’t accept that we can hand over vast quantities of water to Adani,” she said. … ‘
Read much much more of BenSmee’s comprehensive,groundbreaking, interesting article:
www.theguardian.com/business/2018/sep/23/adani-coalmine-most-queenslanders-want-water-licence-revoked-poll-finds
MAKE A SUBMISSION BY 24 SEPTEMBER : SENATE INQUIRY INTO RADIOACTIVE WASTE
K-A Garlick , Nuclear Free WA, 21 Sept 18
To have your voice heard about Flinders Ranges nuclear waste dump plan, make a submission to Federal Minister for Resources Senator Matt Canavan via email at radioactivewaste@industry.gov.au by 24 September.
On 6 February 2018, the Senate referred an inquiry into the selection process for a national radioactive waste management facility in South Australia to the Senate Economics References Committee for inquiry and report by 14 August 2018. Read our submission here. Read all submissions on the government website here. The report acknowledged and validated many of the concerns about the process but unfortunately did not call for an end to the process and for a better way to manage the process of selecting a site for Australia’s most hazardous waste. You can read the Senate report here. Read the Conservation SA media release here.
Points to mention for WA are;
- CCWA calls for an independent inquiry to explore the full range of options to deal with radioactive waste. This should include consideration of the option of keeping waste at ANSTO’s Lucas Heights site, keeping in mind that much of the waste is already securely stored at Lucas Heights (over 90% measured by radioactivity).
- Leonora should not be Plan B, as stated by Minister Canavan in The Australian June 18, 2018. https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/race-to-lock-in-nuclear-dump-before-federal-election/news-story/b2ea0780ec1e6971cbce51abddb8ee6e
Plutonium: there’s a plan to send it to Australia
REAL PLUTONIUM, Paul Richards shared a link. Nuclear Fuel Cycle Watch South Australia, 21 Sept 18
Something to think about since plutonium will make a percentage of the nuclear waste and material being stored that is to proposed is sent to Australia from the rest of the world.
A global nuclear brotherhood driving weapons proliferation, that still haven’t anywhere to store;
* unspent & spent nuclear fuel,
* excess radionuclides,
* redundant weapons arming material
* contaminated material and their
* respective short &
* long-term containment systems as canisters, or
* short-term storage, 200-litre drums.
Containers at worst need repacking in
* five years in case of the 200-litre drums, with best practice, every
* hundred years, and that is
* unless sealed five kilometres below
the surface or more, this repacking of nuclear waste containers is ad infinitum ∞ https://www.facebook.com/groups/1021186047913052/?multi_permalinks=2123030991061880%2C2123017674396545%2C2122319811132998¬if_id=1537435582423128¬if_t=group_activity
Feasability Study found Radioactive Waste Dump UNSUITABLE for Flinders Ranges and Kimba regions
Kim Mavromatis-Fight To Stop Nuclear Waste Dump In Flinders Ranges SA-19 Sept 18
. Using several criteria, the feasability study by URS Australia for the EPA (SA) and SA govnt, found the Flinders Ranges and Kimba regions (current proposed sites) UNSUITABLE for a low level radioactive nuclear waste dump. See attached map and links to feasability study.
https://www.epa.sa.gov.au/fi…/4771324_radioactive_stage1.pdf
https://www.epa.sa.gov.au/fi…/4771325_radioactive_stage2.pdf
https://www.epa.sa.gov.au/fi…/4771324_radioactive_stage1.pdf
https://www.epa.sa.gov.au/fi…/4771325_radioactive_stage2.pdf
Tim Bickmore Susan Craig Map [Stage 2 – 3.2.11 figure 3.6] of all excluded areas. Likewise the Stage 2 document @ 3.3 refers to a 1994 C’wealth study which also determined that Wallerberdina & Kimba are unsuitable https://www.facebook.com/groups/344452605899556/
Brave New World – I mean Bright New World pushing for a South Australian nuclear Morgue
This is an extract of an email being sent out to encourage YES submissions for the waste dump from Bright New World. It is misleading, as the email states the THE MAJORITY OF PEOPLE in KAWKER AND KIMBA support the dump. The email makes the process simple by writing the submission and asking the recipient of the email to fill in their name only. Here’s the email in total. Please send an email to Bright New World if you believe that the majority of people do not want the dump and ask for a recall of the email as it is not factual.
Call for Submissions!
The Department of Industry, Innovation and Science is calling for submissions on the National Radioactive Waste Management Facility. The two volunteered sites, Kimba and Hawker, are progressing through the second consultation stage of this process. Submissions along with community feedback and voting will inform the Minister of their decision to progress to the next stage.
Submissions are due 24th September 2018
Bright New World has provided an easy to use letter below to email the Department supporting the process to the next stage. Continue reading
Radon gas leaked from Woomera’s radioactive waste drums
Tim Bickmore No Nuclear Waste Dump Anywhere in South Australia, 21 Sept 18 Just a reminder that in 2016 ARPANSA found that the 10,000 CSIRO drums of radioactive waste at Woomera [material flagged by DIIS as +/- 40% by volume of the national dump inventory] held Thorium – & that Radium had leaked out through on-going deterioration of containment.
Both Thorium & Radium produce the toxic invisible odourless radioactive gas Radon – however ARPANSA consistently refuses to confirm or deny whether Radon gas will flow out of their proposed facility.
2016 ARPANSA Inspection Report link here:
https://www.arpansa.gov.au/…/regulatory/…/2016/R16-05292.rtf https://www.facebook.com/groups/1314655315214929/?multi_permalinks=2563961080284340%2C2563869900293458¬if_id=1537398758031391¬if_t=group_activity
‘Welcome’ to Steve Ciobo, the new Australian Minister for the Arms Trade
‘, http://www.anti-bases.org/campaigns/reduce-military-spending/welcome-steve-ciobo-to-the-new-australian-minister-for-the-arms-trade/, September 18, 2018,
Steve Ciobo is the new Defence Industry Minister taking over from Christopher Pyne. He is now the Australian Minister who is responsible for our arms trade with other countries. He is responsible for the transfer of Australian arms and equipment to the biggest trouble spot in the World, the Middle East. The Australian Government maintains that they will not trade arms with human rights abuser or war fighting countries yet they are trading arms and materiel with Israel and Saudi Arabia. Both Israel and Saudi Arabia are human rights abusers and the Australian Government turns a blind eye to their misdeeds. It is up the citizens of Australia to reject this and send a reminder to our new minister!
Sample letters to Steve Ciobo
Labor holds meeting with industry, on emissions reduction, as COAL-ition holds private dinner with coal-nuclear lobbyist Trevor St Baker
Pro-coal Coalition MPs schedule private dinner to discuss ‘Australia’s energy future’ https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/sep/20/pro-coal-coalition-mps-schedule-dinner-to-discuss-australias-energy-future. Monash Forum sets up dinner with Trevor St Baker Trevor St Baker who is director of SMR Nuclear Technology company. as business tells Labor to stick with national energy guarantee, Guardian, Katharine Murphy Political editor@murpharoo 20 Sep 2018 The pro-coal Monash Forum is attempting to convene a private dinner when federal parliament resumes in mid-October with Trevor St Baker, part-owner of the Vales Point coal generator and founder of the business electricity retailer ERM Power.
Australia’s Minister For The Coal Lobby, Angus Taylor’s false statement about carbon emissions
Claim we’re on track to meet emissions targets is false, New Daily, James Fernyhough,
Here is what he wrote in the Australian Financial Review on Tuesday:
“[E]missions reductions are the least of our problems, with every prospect we will reach the 26 per cent reduction below 2005 levels ahead of schedule and without interventions.”
This, he implied, justified the Morrison government’s decision to do nothing to reduce carbon emissions, and focus instead exclusively on price and reliability.
But The New Daily looked into Mr Taylor’s claim, and the evidence suggests it is in one sense downright false, and in another seriously misleading.
Let’s address the seriously misleading aspect first.
Under the Paris Agreement, Australia has committed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 26 to 28 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030.
According to Mr Taylor’s department, Australia is on track to woefully miss the 2030 target.
On page 11 of this document from December last year, the Department of Environment and Energy projects that if no new emissions-reduction policies are implemented (as none have been), our greenhouse emissions will be just 5 per cent below 2005 levels – not 26 per cent, as Mr Taylor seems to claim.
Mr Taylor’s figures appear at a glance to be off by a massive 21 percentage points……….
The Morrison government has scrapped the NEG – the policy that triggered Malcolm Turnbull’s downfall – and has made it clear it will not replace it with anything.
So we are once more back to where we were – on track to miss all our emissions reductions targets.
Minister Taylor’s office did not respond when presented with the evidence that his statement was false. https://thenewdaily.com.au/money/finance-news/2018/09/18/energy-ministers-claim-carbon-emissions-false/
Australia won’t get the nuclear bomb – these are the reasons why not
The real problem is developing a credible, effective nuclear capability is about much more than possessing the bomb itself. Equally critical would be working out how to control and protect the weapon prior to use, and finally, deliver it. Doing this is, perhaps surprisingly, just as difficult – if not more so – than developing the device itself.
let’s look at what it would cost.This is where the extent of the fantasy becomes apparent.
there’s one other final, conclusive, and critical reason that not even our allies will assist an attempt to go nuclear. The truth is now they just don’t view Australia as a stable, mature democracy any more.
The one, conclusive reason why Australia won’t go nuclear, SMH, By Nicholas Stuart, 18 September 2018 There’s a massive, although subterranean, debate going on in the strategic community at the moment – one with huge ramifications. It’s whether Australia should possess its own nuclear deterrent. Continue reading
Oh dear! Coal-loving Angus Taylor’s electorate wants action on climate change
Energy minister’s electorate backs higher emissions reduction target, poll shows
ReachTel poll of Angus Taylor’s voters finds 42.3% want Australia to cut emissions more deeply, Guardian, Katharine Murphy Political editor@murpharoo19 Sep 2018 More voters in the electorate of the new energy minister, Angus Taylor, support an emissions reduction target for electricity and a higher national target than the Paris commitment than oppose those positions.
Australian government ‘won’t be replacing’ renewable energy target – Angus Taylor, (Minister For Fossil Fuel Energy)
Angus Taylor confirms government ‘won’t be replacing’ renewable energy target Canberra Times, 18 Sept 18, Energy Minister Angus Taylor has confirmed the Morrison government will not replace the renewable energy target after it peaks in 2020, officially creating a policy vacuum that opponents say will stifle clean energy investment and lead to higher prices.
In question time on Tuesday, Greens MP Adam Bandt challenged Mr Taylor to extend the target until 2022 to avoid a disastrous plunge in renewables investment when the current target ends.
“The renewable energy target is going to wind down from 2020, it reaches its peak in 2020, and we won’t be replacing that with anything,” Mr Taylor said……..
“We will drive prices down, that’s our policy, those opposite will drive them up,” he said.
An annual index released on Tuesday put Australia in the bottom three ranking for environmental policy among wealthy nations.
The Center for Global Development’s commitment to development index said the environment was “one of Australia’s weaker policy fields … largely due to its poor performance curbing climate change”….
Defence officials become military lobbyists
| Defence officials turn lobbyists, sometimes weeks after leaving government
Eight former defence figures, most high-ranking, are now lobbyists for military contractors, Guardian, Christopher Knaus, @knausc, 18 Sep 2018 Senior defence officials and military figures are taking paid jobs with firms lobbying for arms manufacturers, sometimes within weeks of leaving their government posts. Guardian Australia has identified eight former military officers or defence bureaucrats, most of whom were high-ranking, who have publicly registered themselves as lobbyists for firms that represent military contractors. But many other defence lobbyists operate largely in secret, either because they work directly for military contractors, or because they simply refuse to put themselves on the lobbyist register, avoiding scrutiny for themselves and their clients without any real repercussion. One recent example of a lobbyist who placed himself on the lobbyist register is Tyson Sara, a former assistant secretary in defence’s naval shipbuilding taskforce, whose role was described as “leading the implementation of the Australian naval shipbuilding plan”. Sara left defence in March and soon after joined lobbying powerhouse Cmax Advisory as its chief operating officer and vice-president for strategy and government. Cmax represents the shipbuilder Navantia Australia, defence contractor Northrop Grumman, and the Israeli weapons manufacturer Rafael Advanced Defense Systems………. Military officers who held a rank above colonel or its equivalent are banned from lobbying for 12 months on “any matter they had official dealings with” during the last year of their employment. Senior executive service officers in the public service face the same cooling-off period. But the lobbying code of conduct, already weak by international standards, is rarely enforced and staff movements are poorly monitored. The code also fails to consider former defence employees who are employed directly by weapons companies, either as in-house lobbyists or senior executives. That means it does not apply to individuals such as Sean Costello, who worked as chief of staff to the then defence minister David Johnston between June 2014 and January 2015, as the government planned its $50bn future submarines program, according to evidence in Senate estimates. Costello left Johnston’s department and two months later became the chief executive of the Australian arm of French submarine manufacturer DCNS, a Senate committee heard. That company, now known as Naval Group, eventually won the submarines contract in 2016. In Senate estimates in 2015 Defence conceded that it was “a fair assumption” that Costello, in his role as chief of staff, would have had access to confidential documents and briefings on the submarine project. Defence said in evidence to the Senate that it provided Johnston’s office with 34 pieces of written advice relating to the submarine project in the time Costello worked in the office, on top of material provided to the minister in a daily briefing pack. ……. Tim Costello, chief advocate for World Vision and the executive director of Micah Australia, said the sheer value of defence contracts meant it was necessary to apply added scrutiny to the sector. “They are so lucrative,” Costello said. “It means that the transparency and accountability must be higher and commensurate with the goldfields they represent of taxpayer dollars.” The Centre Alliance senator Rex Patrick said it was clear the lobbying code needed to be enhanced for former defence personnel. Patrick said senior defence personnel were often exposed to privileged and sensitive information on policy, strategy, and commercial and tender requirements. “While I wouldn’t suggest that this information is shared amongst a lobbyist’s clients, when former officials service their clients, it’s simply not possible to unknow this information when formulating advice,” he said.
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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
Antinuclear 