The contents of the Coalition’s dissenting report, however, are quite extraordinary, and highlight the difficulties that prime minister Malcolm Turnbull would have if he ever chose to implement sensible energy policies, or sought to implement the inevitable conclusions of the Finkel Review.
In essence, the Coalition’s report was a collection of renewable energy myths that might have been collected from far-right anti-wind and climate denying websites
Coalition says wind turbines increase emissions, more coal needed, REneweconomy, By Giles Parkinson on 11 April 2017 Coalition Senators say that wind turbines are likely to cause greenhouse gas emissions to increase, and insist that the best thing that Australia can do to combat climate change is to export more thermal coal.
The extraordinary conclusions – from Senators Chris Back and Jonathon Duniam – were included in the dissenting report to the Senate inquiry into the resilience of electricity infrastructure in a warming world. They also insist that coal and gas would remain the dominant sources for electricity around the world for “many generations to come.”
“Energy generated by wind turbines do not reduce greenhouse gas emissions within the electricity sector by the amount claimed. In fact, there is some evidence that the addition of wind energy onto the grid actually increases carbon emissions,” the Coalition Senators wrote.
It was one of four dissenting views on the report prepared by the Greens chair Sarah Hanson-Young, highlighting the impossible nature of Australia’s energy politics, and the apparent refusal of any parties to agree on anything, including facts.
One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts issued a dissenting report which simply claimed that there was no such thing as a warming world. Continue reading →
April 12, 2017
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, politics |
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The Indian company has applied for a $900 million concessional loan from the government’s Northern Australia infrastructure fund to help build a rail line connecting the central Queensland mine and the Abbot Point port.
“If you want to have a good commercial operation in Australia, I am not convinced the taxpayer of Australia should underwrite the risk of the project through a billion dollar loan,” Opposition Leader Bill Shorten told reporters in Brisbane.
Mr Shorten said other mining companies are not getting billion dollar railways built for them.
“We have to make sure it stacks up,” Mr Shorten said.
The company’s Carmichael coal mine project in Queensland was approved in December but has faced serious opposition from environmental and indigenous groups.
Senior executives of Adani, including founder and chairman Gautam Adani met with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in India on Monday.
Mr Adani requested an early resolution of native title issues surrounding the mine, which was hit by a Federal Court ruling that invalidated deals with traditional owners across Australia.
Legislation dealing with the problem is before the Senate and Mr Turnbull is understood to have assured the company the issue would be fixed.
Mr Shorten said Attorney General George Brandis was to blame for the confusion over native title.
Anything he touches turns to “custard”, the Labor leader said.
“In an incompetent government, he is the gold medal of incompetence,” he said.
April 12, 2017
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, politics |
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Abbot Point Coal Terminal under investigation after satellite images show water release, ABC News, By Andrew Kos, 10 Apr 17, Satellite imagery appearing to show sediment-laden water flowing into wetlands from the nearby Abbot Point Coal Terminal has prompted an investigation by Queensland’s Department of Environment and Heritage Protection.
Adani was granted a temporary emissions licence (TEL) to help it manage water on the site during Tropical Cyclone Debbie.
A spokesman for Adani said the company had been in constant contact with the department prior to and since Cyclone Debbie.
But the department became aware of the satellite images last week and is looking into whether there had been any unauthorised releases of water from the terminal into the Caley Valley Wetlands…….
Peter McCallum from the Mackay Conservation Group said it had written to Environment Minister Steven Miles to request more information about the release.
“We have no confidence that Adani will be able to manage the environmental impacts of the port expansion or any other aspect of its massive coal mining operation,” Mr McCallum said.
The department will continue to monitor the situation.
The wetlands are important habitat for at least 22 migratory shore birds listed under the national environmental legislation. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-10/abbot-point-coal-terminal-released-into-wetlands/8430934
April 12, 2017
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
environment, Queensland |
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Australia’s hospitality, largesse and loyalty to Britain were not without their costs. Moreover, the sacrifices made by Australians on behalf of the ‘motherland’ were not equally borne. Whilst low population density and remoteness from major population centres were among the criteria for the selection of the testing sites, the Emu and Maralinga sites in particular were not uninhabited. Indeed, they had been familiar to generations of Aboriginal Australians for thousands of years and had a great spiritual significance for the Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara people.
A variety of factors underlay the harm to public health, Aboriginal culture and the natural environment which the British tests entailed. Perhaps most significant was the secrecy surrounding the testing program.
During the entire course of the testing program, public debate on the costs and risks borne by the Australian public was discouraged through official secrecy, censorship, misinformation, and attempts to denigrate critics
Wayward governance : illegality and its control in the public sector / P N Grabosky
Canberra : Australian Institute of Criminology, 1989 “……. In 1950, Labor Prime Minister Clement Atlee sent a top secret personal message to Australian Prime Minister Menzies asking if the Australian government might agree to the testing of a British nuclear weapon at the Monte Bello Islands off Western Australia. Menzies agreed in principle, immediately; there is no record of his having consulted any of his Cabinet colleagues on the matter.
The Monte Bello site was deemed suitable by British authorities, and in a message to Menzies dated 26 March 1951 Atlee sought formal agreement to conduct the test. Atlee’s letter did not discuss the nature of the proposed test in minute detail. He did, however, see fit to mention the risk of radiation hazards:
6. There is one further aspect which I should mention. The effect of exploding an atomic weapon in the Monte Bello Islands will be to contaminate with radio activity the north-east group and this contamination may spread to others of the islands. The area is not likely to be entirely free from contamination for about three years and we would hope for continuing Australian help in investigating the decay of contamination. During this time the area will be unsafe for human occupation or even for visits by e.g. pearl fishermen who, we understand, at present go there from time to time and suitable measures will need to be taken to keep them away. We should not like the Australian Government to take a decision on the matter without having this aspect of it in their minds (quoted in Australia 1985, p. 13).
Menzies was only too pleased to assist the ‘motherland’, but deferred a response until after the 195 1 federal elections. With the return of his government, preparations for the test, code-named ‘Hurricane’, proceeded. Yet it was not until 19 February 1952 that the Australian public was informed that atomic weapons were to be tested on Australian soil. On 3 October 1952 the British successfully detonated a nuclear device of about 25 kilotons in the Monte Bello Islands. Continue reading →
April 10, 2017
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
aboriginal issues, AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, history, reference, South Australia, weapons and war |
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Adani to press Turnbull on $900m boost during visit , THE AUSTRALIAN, DAVID CROWE, Political correspondent, Canberra, @CroweDM, 10 Apr 17, Malcolm Turnbull will be asked to seal a $900 million deal to clear the way for the mammoth Adani coal mine in central Queensland during his visit to India that also seeks to inject momentum into a trade deal between two countries.
The Prime Minister arrived in New Delhi last night for a three-day state visit that will include talks with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, meetings with business leaders and a focus on the country’s demand for energy.
The $21 billion coal project towers over other items on the agenda, with Adani pushing for action within months on financing agreements and regulatory hurdles. Its Carmichael mine is being opposed by green groups in the courts and on the ground.
“We’ll certainly be talking about the importance of energy exports to India,” Mr Turnbull said before flying to New Delhi from Port Moresby, where he concluded a two-day visit yesterday morning. “India has a massive program of expanding electrification across the country and Australian coal has a very big role to play in that.”
Adani founder Gautam Adani told Indian media last month the company was eligible for $900m from the Turnbull government’s Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund to build the rail line from the mine to the company’s port at Abbot Point.
The backing from the fund, which uses federal guarantees to finance commercial projects, will help Adani limit its equity contribution to the rail project to about $800m of a total investment of about $2.5bn in the next two years, with the rest coming from debt and the NAIF.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk met Mr Adani in Mumbai last month and announced most approvals had been concluded for the project. At the same function, Mr Adani said he expected final approval from the federal government by May.
Mr Turnbull is expected to see Mr Adani during the visit after meeting him at least twice, in November 2015 and December 2016, when the billionaire pushed for more help to get the mine open.
After the 2015 meeting, Mr Adani said he had pressed Mr Turnbull to legislate to stop environmental groups delaying the project in the courts. The Abbott government’s attempt to amend the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act to stop “vigilante” activists was stymied in the Senate a month before Mr Turnbull became Prime Minister.
Writing in The Australian today, Mr Turnbull emphasises the opportunities for Australia as the Indian economy grows, increasing demand for Australia….. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/foreign-affairs/adani-to-press-turnbull-on-900m-boost-during-visit/news-story/6beae575a49aacfad4d51eca3dfe0846
April 10, 2017
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, politics, politics international |
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Activists vow to continue protests against Westpac over Adani funding, THE AUSTRALIAN, GLENDA KORPORAAL, Associate Editor (Business) Sydney @GlendaKorporaal, MICHAEL RODDAN, Reporter, Melbourne, @michaelroddan 9 Apr 17 Environmental activists have warned they will continue to target Westpac over the proposed Adani coalmine in Queensland, despite the nation’s second-largest lender saying it had not been approached to fund the project.
April 10, 2017
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
ACTION, AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL |
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Farmers are leading way on climate change action, http://www.examiner.com.au/story/4582398/farmers-are-leading-way-on-climate-change-action/?cs=97 John Iser, 9 Apr 2017, It’s often assumed that farmers and regional communities aren’t concerned about climate change. Our state and federal politicians debate the issue with little thought of what’s happening in the country, despite agriculture being Australia’s most climate-exposed sector.
However, farmers are taking it upon themselves to bridge the divide. A new advocacy group called Farmers for Climate Action has formed to give a voice to those who are on the frontline of climate change. At the same time, the country’s peak farming body, the National Farmers’ Federation, has updated its thinking on the issue. It now recognises that climate change poses a significant challenge for Australian farmers. In fact, taking action offers many benefits for the millions who live in the country.
The practical solutions for farmers to reduce carbon emissions will advance innovation, and renewable energy developments create jobs.
Climate action is also crucial for land health and biodiversity, both of which affect the productivity of agriculture.
Farmers and rural communities also have a major influence on government decisions.
The Victorian government have just banned fracking after farmers vigorously voiced their concerns. The politicians recognised that mining of unconventional gas puts the quality of farmland and its water at risk, as well as the health of people and animals living nearby.
In South Australia, a parliamentary inquiry made a similar finding.
Rural communities are now turning their attention to the effects of climate change. They know that action will protect farmland and their livelihoods which will then benefit the country as a whole. John Iser is the Victorian chairman of Doctors for the Environment Australia
April 10, 2017
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming |
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Great Barrier Reef at ‘terminal stage’: scientists despair at latest bleaching data ‘Last year was bad enough, this is a disaster,’ says one expert as Australia Research Council finds fresh damage across 8,000km
‘Australia’s politicians have betrayed the reef and only the people can save it, Guardian, Christopher Knaus and Nick Evershed, 10 Apr 17, Back-to-back severe bleaching events have affected two-thirds of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, new aerial surveys have found.
The findings have caused alarm among scientists, who say the proximity of the 2016 and 2017 bleaching events is unprecedented for the reef, and will give damaged coral little chance to recover.
Scientists with the Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies last week completed aerial surveys of the world’s largest living structure, scoring bleaching at 800 individual coral reefs across 8,000km.
The results show the two consecutive mass bleaching events have affected a 1,500km stretch, leaving only the reef’s southern third unscathed.
Where last year’s bleaching was concentrated in the reef’s northern third, the 2017 event spread further south, and was most intense in the middle section of the Great Barrier Reef. This year’s mass bleaching, second in severity only to 2016, has occurred even in the absence of an El Niño event.
Mass bleaching – a phenomenon caused by global warming-induced rises to sea surface temperatures – has occurred on the reef four times in recorded history.
Prof Terry Hughes, who led the surveys, said the length of time coral needed to recover – about 10 years for fast-growing types – raised serious concerns about the increasing frequency of mass bleaching events.
“The significance of bleaching this year is that it’s back to back, so there’s been zero time for recovery,” Hughes told the Guardian. “It’s too early yet to tell what the full death toll will be from this year’s bleaching, but clearly it will extend 500km south of last year’s bleaching.”
Last year, in the worst-affected areas to the reef’s north, roughly two-thirds of shallow-water corals were lost.
Hughes has warned Australia now faces a closing window to save the reef by taking decisive action on climate change.
The 2017 bleaching is likely to be compounded by other stresses on the reef, including the destructive crown-of-thorns starfish and poor water quality. The category-four tropical cyclone Debbie came too late and too far south for its cooling effect to alleviate bleaching……….https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/apr/10/great-barrier-reef-terminal-stage-australia-scientists-despair-latest-coral-bleaching-data
April 10, 2017
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climate change - global warming, environment, Queensland |
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Coalition supporters back quicker shift to renewable energy, The Age, Adam Morton 10 Apr 17, (excellent graphs) The wisdom of a campaign by the Turnbull government emphasising the risks of moving too rapidly to renewable energy has been thrown into question by polling that suggests a majority of its supporters don’t agree. Left-leaning think-tank the Australia Institute surveyed 1420 voters on whether the country was moving too slowly or too quickly in embracing renewable sources wind and solar.
It found two-thirds of voters – and 55 per cent of those who identified as Coalition voters – believed the shift was too slow. Only 9 per cent – and 17 per cent of Coalition supporters – said it was happening too fast.
Forty-five per cent believed electricity prices would go up if the national renewable energy target of about 23.5 per cent by 2020 was abolished. Only 19 per cent thought bills would go down.
Again, Coalition supporters were broadly in step with the majority: 41 per cent said ending the target – a step floated by former prime minister Tony Abbott, among others – would actually push up prices; 23 per cent believed they would come down.
On cost, voters appeared to reject claims that renewable energy was the cause of the significant power bill increases. The support for clean energy is consistent with a Fairfax/Ipsos Poll a fortnight ago that found a third of voters believed the country should continue to use coal-fired power, and 61 per cent said it was time to turn to other sources.
Australia Institute executive director Ben Oquist said clean options were becoming increasingly economically and politically attractive as the price of renewable energy and battery storage came down.
“The war on renewables looks like the political version of the Somme. Furious attacks have not made any ground on the popularity of renewable energy,” he said.
The Australia Institute poll did not test whether views on clean energy would change how people voted.
It found a narrow majority of voters (52 per cent) backed an increase of the renewable energy target, while only 9 per cent wanted it cut.
A clearer majority (73 per cent) supported the introduction of a higher target for 2030.
More than three-quarters of voters (77 per cent) supported state renewable energy targets to drive further investment. Neither question considered what more ambitious policies would cost. (See data tables at the end of this story.- [on original] )……http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/coalition-supporters-back-quicker-shift-to-renewable-energy-20170409-gvgzh6.html
April 10, 2017
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AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, energy, politics |
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Insurers call for disaster mitigation increase THE AUSTRALIAN, 8 Apr 17 MICHAEL RODDAN Reporter, Melbourne @michaelroddan The federal government rejected a Productivity Commission proposal to increase natural disaster mitigation spending at the same time it attempted to pressure state governments to accept a drastic cut to recovery spending.
Australia’s biggest insurers want the government to revisit the plans to dramatically increase natural disaster prevention spending, which the commission believes will save billions in post-catastrophe clean-ups.
As the damage wrought by Cyclone Debbie continues to mount, Insurance Australia Group and Suncorp have hit back at politicians’ accusations companies are “stingy” with claims, and have called on the government to adopt the recommendation it commit to an annual $200 million spend on mitigation. The proposal, part of the Productivity Commission Inquiry into Natural Disaster Funding Arrangements, was rejected by the government two days before Christmas last year, after it sat on the report for two years.
“There is overwhelming evidence that shows the economic and social impact savings which upfront mitigation funding could achieve and this is being ignored,” IAG chief executive Peter Harmer told The Weekend Australian.
“The government response in late December …. was disappointing and did not go far enough, particularly in the area of funding for disaster resilience and mitigation.
“We have been advocating for some time that there needs to be a different approach to natural disaster funding, with more focus on mitigation, to avoid some of the impacts we are seeing.”
As of yesterday, insurers had received nearly 47,000 claims from Queensland and NSW policyholders for insured losses stretching to $413m. It is estimated losses will break $1 billion.
The federal government invests about $50m a year on adaptation funding but spends more than $500m on average on post-disaster relief and recovery.
The Australian Business Roundtable for Disaster Resilience said spending $250m a year on preventive infrastructure, such as flood levees, would slash recovery costs in half and generate savings of more than $12bn by 2050.
“The recommendations of the review included significantly reducing recovery funding provided to states, while increasing mitigation funding over time,” a government spokeswoman said……. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/news/insurers-call-for-disaster-mitigation-increase/news-story/acf1ecfd783c1422864a4c7ad21908a3
April 10, 2017
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, business, climate change - global warming |
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Green is the new black: ESG investors turn to green bonds to meet mandates, SMH, Myriam Robin, 9 Apr 17
As the billions of dollars in ethical and environmental funds swell, Australian corporates and governments are issuing increasing amounts of “green bonds” to access the cash.
Green bonds function just like normal corporate or government bonds, but the issuer has to promise to use the funds to fund some type of environmentally beneficial development. This investment doesn’t have to sustain a commercial rate of return itself – if the bond is instead underwritten by the total balance sheet of the issuer, it shares the issuers’ credit rating. Because of this, green bonds typically have identical yields to equivalent regular bonds.
Between 2014 and 2016, the total amount of money put in funds with some social or green investment principles grew from $US148 billion to $US516 billion across Australia and New Zealand, according to the Global Sustainable Investment Review, released in March.
Most of this growth, the report stated, came from professionally managed funds choosing to incorporate such principles into their main funds. Funds specifically targeting green or social impact investors amount to 3.8 per cent of Australia’s total professional managed assets market, up from 2.5 per cent in 2014.
The style of investments by such funds is changing in a way that shows increasing demand for green bonds. In Canada and Europe, the only two regions for which asset allocations were available to the Global Sustainable Investment Review report, a majority (64.4 per cent) of such funds were invested into green bonds – a rapid reversal of the dominant trend in 2014 when equities dominated.
The surging investment in green bonds, the review suggested, could reflect rising environmental concerns. According to Bank of America Merrill Lynch, $US90 billion of green bonds were issued in 2016, taking the total market past $US200 billion in early 2017. $US19 billion in green bonds were issued globally in the first two months of this year. At the end of February, $US2.3 billion in green bonds had been issued so far in Australia.
Australian governments and banks have led the way in green bond investments – their issuances have been oversubscribed, showing heavy local demand for the products. In a $300 million NAB green bond raising in December 2014, 54 per cent of the bond distribution went to fund managers, with another 30 per cent being purchased by institutions and pension funds.
HSBC’s Violeta Jovanoska, director of debt capital markets in its Sydney office, was involved in the first corporate green bond issue in Australia, a Euro-donominated bond issued by Stockland Trust Management in November 2014, as well as the NAB bond, which HSBC was a joint bookrunner on.
She said corporates were turning to green bonds as a way to access this swelling pool of money placed in funds with an environmental, social or governance mandate. As many investment managers have signed up to responsible investment or climate change agreements, green bonds are a way to meet that commitment………..
The lack of regulation around green bonds has meant some critics dismiss the area as “greenwash” marketing – an environmental sheen on what is essentially a regular corporate bond. It’s hard to say whether green bonds allow new green projects to be completed or if organisations are using them just to easily fund the more environmentally friendly parts of their investment agenda, with the green bond money going towards projects they would have funded anyway. Companies don’t have to turn green in any significant way to issue a green bond……http://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/green-is-the-new-black-esg-investors-turn-to-green-bonds-to-meet-mandates-20170404-gvd2v6.html
April 10, 2017
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, business, energy |
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Syria missile attack: Will Australia be drawn into a fresh conflict in the Middle East?http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/syria-missile-attack-will-australia-be-drawn-into-a-fresh-conflict-in-the-middle-east-20170407-gvfx0y.html David Wroe
Is Australia about to be drawn into another military conflict alongside the United States in the Middle East?
Not if, as seems increasingly clear, this was a one-off, punitive strike to deter further chemical attacks on civilians, rather than the start of a longer process to remove Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
We’ve learnt something remarkable about Donald Trump here. The man who has promoted “America first” and shown mostly hard-headed realism on international affairs has abruptly launched a humanitarian intervention.
Trump notably called “on all civilised nations to join us in seeking to end the slaughter and bloodshed in Syria [and] to end terrorism of all kinds and all types”.
Might he go further and intervene more fully in Syria to remove Assad while brokering some kind of stable peace?
Notwithstanding Trump’s strong words and those of US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in the past 24 hours, removing Assad remains just as tangled a proposition as it has at any time in the past couple of years during which it has eluded the international coalition.
To do so without the co-operation of Russia, Assad’s most powerful ally, would mean the US was taking on a major power. That would take a major military intervention requiring air power and ground troops, including Australia’s.
The sheer magnitude of that means it is more likely that the US military action will remain a limited strike to punish Assad over the chemical attack. Trump is finally responding to the crossing of the famous red line that his predecessor had drawn but then failed to enforce. He is saying that he will not hold all the might of the US military on a tight leash when there are such deliberate and cruel provocations.
Russia can tolerate this limited attack on its ally – indeed it may even be so frustrated by this latest chemical attack that it ditches Assad for a new leader from his Alawite tribe who suits Moscow’s purposes. Assad has no viable way to retaliate against the US. Therefore this should not escalate the broader conflict and should not mean an expanded role for Australia.
Apart from anything else, Australia’s legal basis for air strikes against the Islamic State in Syria – defending Iraq at the request of its government – does not extend to attacking the Assad regime.
But this is a complicated conflict with many players, and Trump has just proved himself to be an unpredictable president. Even if it is meant as a limited strike, the X-factor is that someone will decide to hit back somehow – Assad through some indirect means such as attacking Israel, Russia by deliberately conflicting with coalition air forces operating in Syria, or Iran perhaps through its proxy Hezbollah.
If Trump was prepared to act so swiftly and decisively over the chemical attack, he may well do the same again if the other side takes the next step. Then we are in an escalation and Australia would be hard pressed to avoid getting involved.
April 8, 2017
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AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL |
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Malcolm Turnbull ‘knew in advance’ of US strike on Syria, called for a ‘strong response’, The Age, David Wroe 8 Apr 17, The Trump administration informed the Australian government in advance of its plans to launch the Tomahawk missile attack on Syria, Fairfax Media understands.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull had pointedly said before news of the strikes broke that the chemical attack on civilians “cries out for a strong response”.
On Friday morning, Mr Turnbull linked the attacks to Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and blamed Russia for failing to rein in its ally.
But Mr Turnbull carefully sidestepped questions about what action Australia might take against the regime after Washington appeared to ramp up its rhetoric about the need for Mr Assad’s removal.
“This is a war crime of the worst sort. It is inhumane and it has been universally condemned,” Mr Turnbull told radio 3AW………
Asked on Friday morning whether Australia would step up its military effort in Syria beyond air strikes against the so-called Islamic State group, Mr Turnbull said he had spoken “a little while ago” to Defence Minister Marise Payne and Chief of the Defence Force Mark Binskin but refused to say if any action was being discussed.
“I don’t want to speculate any further about that. You know where we stand. We have condemned this attack, utterly. It cries out for a strong response and we are in very close touch, as we always are, constant communications with our allies, in particular the United States.
In a slap at the administration of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Mr Turnbull said that “Russia obviously is the principal foreign sponsor of the Assad regime”.
Asked whether Russia had behaved appropriately, Mr Turnbull said, “No.”…….
Greens senator Scott Ludlum issued a statement on Friday condemning the US strikes on Syria and calling on Mr Turnbull to rule out Australian involvement in any new military campaign.
“The horror of the chemical weapons attack in Syria this week requires a credible, independent investigation, not a random barrage of missiles ordered by a clueless President,” he said. http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/malcolm-turnbull-says-syria-chemical-attack-demands-strong-response-as-military-threats-grow-20170406-gvfnqh.html
April 8, 2017
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, politics international |
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Tim Bickmore Fight To Stop Nuclear Waste Dump In Flinders Ranges SA
Don’t get sucked in by the “medical gloves & gowns” Canberra con-job:
FACT 1 – South Australia’s current hospital waste storage regimen WILL REMAIN in-situ;
FACT 2 – Radioactive metal from the 1940’s British Montebello Atom Bomb Tests IS DESTINED for the suppository;
FACT 3 – Radioactive concrete & steel from the de-commissioned Lucas Heights HIFAR reactor WILL ALSO be supposited;
FACT 4 – If/when the 10,000 Woomera barrels arrive, Radon gas WILL LEAK. This heavy invisible radioactive odourless & poisonous gas flows like water & accumulates in low-lying areas;
FACT 5 – The so-called Intermediate Level Waste ALSO RELEASES invisible radioactive odourless gasses;
FACT 6 – The lowest area in the Wallerberdina precinct is the Hookina Creek line;
FACT 7 – GLOVES & GOWNS WILL BE A MINOR FRACTION OF THE LOW LEVEL WASTE INVENTORY.https://www.facebook.com/groups/344452605899556/
April 8, 2017
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
Federal nuclear waste dump, South Australia |
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Antinuclear 