Australian authorities covering up severity of Great Barrier Reef’s plight
Great Barrier Reef disaster: Marine biologist lashes out at reef authorities for ‘cherry-picking to try and paint a better picture’ IBT, By Ritwik Roy @ritwikroy1985 on April 14 2016 The Great Barrier Reef is getting destroyed by massive coral bleaching, and marine biologist Glen Holmes is disappointed with the statements by the Reef and Rainforest Research Centre (RRRC). Despite reports that the Great Barrier Reef may never recover from the extent of damage done by widespread coral bleaching, the RRRC has said that popular diving areas near Cairns have suffered only low levels of damage.
Recent underwater surveys have found that of the 32 reefs between Lizard Island and Cairns, only five percent have suffered from bleaching and that only has low level of damage. RRRC managing director Sheriden Morris said the bleaching was “patchy,” which means the corals have a good chance of recovery. However, Holmes believes it is too early to be passing such comments.
“It’s way too early to be hanging comments off reports on the level of mortality. I think they’re cherry-picking to try and paint a better picture,” said Holmes.
Morris on the other hand believes reefs off Cairns are more likely to recover than others, reports AAP.
Unfortunately, according to Independent Australia, the Great Barrier Reef may lose out to mining giant Adani as State and Federal governments are favouring the mining giant more than the world heritage site. This has irked conservationists around the globe and numerous Australians who want to preserve the natural wonder.
CEO of the Australian Conservation Foundation, Kelly O’Shanassy said that if Federal and State governments side with Adani, there will be “hell of a fight.” The Queensland government had already given Adani the licence to dig Australia’s biggest ever coal mine.
Adani’s Carmichael coalmine will produce massive climate pollution and as the Great Barrier Reef can undergo coral bleaching with even a little temperature change, O’Shanassy is at a loss of words and she can’t believe how the licence was given as Carmichael will be raising Australia’s water temperatures greatly.
According to The National Coral Bleaching Taskforce, almost 95 percent of the reefs in the northern region are severely bleached. The convenor of the taskforce, Professor Terry Hughes, said every reef showed highly levels of bleaching “from the reef slope right up onto the top of the reef.”
“We flew for 4000km in the most pristine parts of the Great Barrier Reef and saw only four reefs that had no bleaching. The severity is much greater than in earlier bleaching events in 2002 or 1998,” Hughes added……. http://www.ibtimes.com.au/great-barrier-reef-disaster-marine-biologist-lashes-out-reef-authorities-cherry-picking-try-paint?utm_source=www.titles.ws&utm_medium=links&utm_campaign=BolsaDeNoticias
Tasmania’s Bruny Island residents to sell solar power to the grid
after $2.9m renewable energy grant http://www.themercury.com.au/news/tasmania/residents-on-bruny-island-to-sell-solar-power-after-29m-renewable-energy-grant/news-story/945d59a87250bbfc2d533e8ff9009ace April 14, 2016 RESIDENTS of Bruny Island have the chance to turn their homes into mini-power stations and trade on the national electricity grid to boost the island’s energy security and offset their power costs at the same time.The Australian Renewable Energy Agency yesterday announced $2.9 million to help a project to help fund solar panels and batteries for up to 40 households on the island.
Harnessing the surplus power they generate is hoped to help take pressure off Bruny Island’s power system during peak times.
The systems will include software that allows homeowners to sell their power back to the grid during times of peak demand — and hence prices — on the National Electricity Market.
“The reason Bruny Island was chosen was because of the constraints they have from their undersea cables,” he said. “A battery with a solar panel can be converted into a remarkable power station. It’s fast and can both produce and consume power in an instant — it’s the type of power station the future needs.”
He said the benefit for households was they could sell their power into the market at a price of about $1 per kilowatt hour — compared to the much lower 5.5c per kilowatt hour feed-in tariffs available at present.
TasNetworks will begin consulting Bruny Island residents about the project over the coming months and seeking expressions of interest via public forums on the island this year.
New board and chairman for Australian Renewable Energy Agency
Australian Renewable Energy Agency gets new board and chairman
The environment minister, Greg Hunt, announces six new directors who have been appointed for a two-year term, Guardian, Paul Karp, 13 Apr 16, The government has appointed six new directors to the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (Arena) board, to be headed by a new chairman, Martijn Wilder, an environmental markets lawyer.
The appointments of Arena’s former board members expired in January, leaving it governed by the environment department secretary, Gordon de Brouwer.
On Wednesday the environment minister, Greg Hunt, announced six directors who have been appointed for a two-year term.
Wilder was appointed both a director and chairman of the Arena board. He is the head of Baker & McKenzie’s global environmental markets practice, an adjunct professor at the Australian National University, and board director of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC).
The other five directors are Susan Jeanes, Meg McDonald, Katherine Woodthorpe, Maria Atkinson and Jonathan Jutsen.
The appointments follow the government’s decision in March to restructure Arena and the CEFC by setting up a clean energy innovation fund. The fund will in time take over Arena’s role of providing grants to help commercialise emerging technologies.
The government said Arena would “continue to manage its existing portfolio of grants and deliver the announced $100m in large-scale solar projects”. Arena would then move from a grant-based role to predominantly a debt and equity basis under the new CEFC…….http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/apr/13/australian-renewable-energy-agency-gets-new-board-and-chairman
Australian oil and gas lobbies spent up big, to discredit science of climate change
Australian oil and gas lobby spent millions advocating against climate action: report Tom Arup Environment editor, The Age April 12, 2016 Australia’s peak oil and gas industry lobby group spent almost $4 million last year trying to “obstruct” more ambitious climate change policy, according to British research group InfluenceMap.
It was part of an overall $150 million spent globally in 2015 by five major oil companies and lobby groups.
The Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (APPEA) represents the domestic oil and gas industry and counts among its 70 members giant companies such as Woodside, Shell Australia and Chevron Australia.
According to the analysis, InfluenceMap estimated that APPEA spent about $5.5 million on climate-related advocacy in 2015 though expenditure on staff, public campaigns, advertising and other external public relations.
InfluenceMap then made an assessment of the position, tone and transparency of this work. They determined about $3.9 million of it went towards what they described as “obstructive spending”.
InfluenceMap took its definition of advocacy from a 2013 United Nations report that included activities beyond direct approaches to government, such as advertising, public relations, political contributions and industry group memberships.
The report cited APPEA’s support for less-stringent emissions targets, lobbying to remove Australia’s renewable energy target and its argument that the Turnbull government’s greenhouse gas “safeguard mechanism” should apply only to emissions above business as usual levels, as examples of its opposition to climate policies.
The report also points to consultation, messaging and two publicity campaigns by APPEA “to put pressure on policy makers to support unrestricted conventional & unconventional oil and gas production”. …….
The negative climate advocacy by APPEA calculated by InfluenceMap is a tiny fraction of the estimates it has produced for other major oil players that are assessed in the report. It says ExxonMobil may have spent $35 million in 2015, while Shell may have spent $29 million.
Alongside APPEA, the report also looked at the spending of two United States industry bodies, the American Petroleum Institute and the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA), finding negative climate advocacy spending of $85 million and $8 million respectively.
Charlotte Wood, campaigns director of anti-fossil fuels group 350.org Australia, said: “It is astounding that in the 21st century, when we know the scientific consequences of burning fossil fuels, that Australian oil and gas companies have still spent almost $4 million dollars to undermine consensus on climate change.”
Australian nuclear shill Ben Heard under fire from Canadian nuclear shill Patrick Moore
Climate Science Denier Patrick Moore Under Attack From Fellow Nuclear Energy Advocates, DESMOG, By Graham Readfearn • Thursday, April 7, 2016 Climate science 
denialist Patrick Moore is all about “consensus building.” We know this because it says so on his biography at the think tank Frontier Centre for Public Policy.
And so, fresh from delivering a coal-funded talk in Brussels where he told the audience to “celebrate CO2”, the Canadian has been out doing a bit of that “consensus building” in his own unique way.
In recent days, Moore has accused respected climate scientist Ken Caldeira of “fakery”, called him a “jerk” and then told a fellow nuclear power advocate to “GFY”.
The nuclear advocate in question was Australian energy and climate consultant Ben Heard, who had 
engaged Moore on social media. He’s written a blog about the exchange.
British environmentalist and author Mark Lynas, who is also pro-nuclear energy, weighed in too, describing Moore as “just a predictable right-wing anti-green contrarian”.
When DeSmog UK gave Moore the chance to respond to a story showing he had been paid by coal lobbyists to deliver a talk, his response was “bugger off”.
Who is Patrick Moore?
For those that don’t know, Patrick Moore is often described as a former senior member of Greenpeace, even though he left that organisation 30 years ago.
Since then, he has spent his time being an advocate for nuclear power, GM crops, forestry and, apparently, burning as much coal as you can get your hands on.
In a French television interview last year, Moore told a journalist that the pesticide glyphosate was not a carcinogen and was so safe, “you could drink a whole quart of it and it won’t hurt you”.
Moore was then immediately offered the chance to drink a glass by the interviewer, which he declined. “I’m not an idiot,” he said.
Moore is a long-time climate science denialist and claims, against all credible scientific institutions, that there is “no proof” that the extra CO2 in the atmosphere (about 40 per cent more than there was before the industrial revolution) is causing any global warming.
Acidification denial ……..http://www.desmogblog.com/2016/04/07/climate-science-denier-patrick-moore-under-attack-fellow-nuclear-energy-advocates
Traditional Owners take legal action on Adani’s Carmichael leases
Traditional Owners take legal action on Adani’s Carmichael leases;
release letter from QLD Mines Minister Lynham saying
no intention to issue leases until Federal Court challenge resolved
Wangan & Jagalingou (W&J) http://wanganjagalingou.com.au/challenge/
13 Apr 16:
“Wangan and Jagalingou (W&J) representatives today filed an interlocutory application in the 
Federal Court of Australia challenging the leases that have been issued for the Adani Carmichael coal mine, slated for their traditional homelands in Queensland’s Galilee Basin.
The Application will seek to have heard that the mining leases, announced by QLD mines minister Anthony Lynham on 3 April, with the imprimatur of Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, were not properly issued.
The QLD government issued the mine leases in the absence of the consent of the W&J people to Carmichael mine, and in the face of their three-time rejection of an Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA) with Adani, most recently at an ILUA authorisation meeting on 19 March 2016. (Attached: W&J legal counsel’s letter notifying Minister Lynham and Premier Palaszczuk of rejection of ILUA).
In another new development, the W&J people have today released a October 2105 letter … “
ERA’s uranium mining at Ranger ends: ERA can afford rehabilitation of site
ERA to unveil strategy as Ranger mining ends BARRY FITZGERALD, RESOURCES EDITOR, THE AUSTRALIAN APRIL 12, 2016 MELBOURNE BARRY FITZGERALD HAS COVERED THE RESOURCES INDUSTRY FOR 30 YEARS. THE INAUGURAL WINNER OF THE DIGGERS & DEALERS MEDIA AWARD IN 2003, BARRY IS A COMMITTEE MEMBER OF THE MELBOURNE MINING CLUB, A NON-PROFIT ORGANISATION FORMED TO FOSTER INDUSTRY DEBATE.
Energy Resources of Australia is close to releasing the outcome of its strategic review into its future. The review was forced upon the company after Rio Tinto and Ranger’s traditional owners rejected its plan to extend the life of its uranium mining and processing operations inside Kakadu by developing the Ranger Deeps deposit.
Its pending release comes as ERA continues to narrow the gap between its cash balance and the $509 million needed to complete the rehabilitation of Ranger. At last report, ERA was holding cash of $433m and had no debt after adding $72m to its cash balance during 2015.
While mining operations have stopped, ERA continues to produce from stockpiled material, and has said previously it could possibly continue to do so until late 2020.
The rate of cash accumulation over the past five years suggests ERA could end up with cash surplus to the rehabilitation costs, raising the prospect of an eventual capital return to shareholders, depending on what plans for ERA’s future emerge from the strategic review. Continue reading
A solar world first for Perth: solar panels and battery storage on apartment buildings
Apartments set for solar world first https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/31335712/apartments-set-for-solar-world-first/ Daniel Mercer – The West Australian on April 13, 2016 Dozens of apartments will be able to use, store and trade power under a world-first trial of micro-grid technology to be unveiled in Perth’s south.
Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt will today announce the Commonwealth’s green energy fund ARENA has tipped $1 million into a micro-grid project in White Gum Valley.
The $3 million project will have solar panels and batteries installed across four separate apartment developments. It would be up to the strata companies managing the apartment buildings to on-sell the electricity to tenants, rather than State-owned power provider Synergy. The strata companies could sell the electricity cheaper than Synergy or at the same price, currently set at 25.7¢ for every unit of electricity sold. Homes owners and tenants would also be able to trade power to other apartments within the complex during the day and night.
Headed by Curtin University and backed by Western Power, LandCorp, the City of Fremantle and Balance Services Group, the project aims to establish a viable model for the uptake of solar panels on apartment buildings.
Demand for solar panels has exploded across Perth, with more than 170,000 homes installing the systems on their roofs. Apartments, which make up a third of Perth’s housing stock, have been much slower on the uptake.
Curtin University’s Jemma Green said that with battery systems rapidly becoming commercially viable, there was an unprecedented opportunity for apartments to get in on the act.
And she said the implications could be huge, with micro-grids such as White Gum Valley popping up everywhere and transforming the way electricity was generated, transported and sold.
“These kinds of innovations are not only making solar power a viable option for everyone, but potentially reflect the future of power utilities,” Ms Green said.
As CSIRO slashes jobs, water science in South Australia a big loser
Water science in South Australia could evaporate as CSIRO looks to slash 350 jobs across the country April 12, 2016 CLARE PEDDIE SCIENCE REPORTER The Advertiser SOUTH Australian water science at the CSIRO is in the firing line as the national research organisation prepares to cut 350 staff across the country in the next two years.
Staff in SA have been told job losses are inevitable with “reductions in headcount” at CSIRO Land and Water, which has 103 people at its Urrbrae base.
Other research areas could also be impacted………
Former CSIRO scientist Dr Peter Dillon said the anticipated job cuts were “economic nonsense”. He said 35 of 50 staff were set to go from the CSIRO’s urban water research area, while rural research was also thought to be on the chopping block.
“Just like building submarines, in research it takes years to develop world-leading teams and shutting down a productive area can’t be quickly reversed,” he said.
CSIRO Staff Association deputy president and Waite Campus staff representative Sonia Grocke said staff felt strongly about the fundamental change to the type of work the CSIRO had done on water, agriculture and the environment.
“We think the current round of cuts and particularly the areas of science that are being targeted will severely impact CSIRO’s ability to address major environmental events as they impact South Australia,” she said. “The Murray-Darling Basin is a good example of that.”…….http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/water-science-in-south-australia-could-evaporate-as-csiro-looks-to-slash-350-jobs-across-the-country/news-story/647fd6fdbfebfca28d4c683c4166336e
Michele Madigan remembers Bob Ellis and that other nuclear royal commission
In July 2004, a six-year anti-nuclear campaign spearheaded by Aboriginal women, who themselves had suffered in the British nuclear tests, was successfully concluded with the federal government’s announcement: ‘No national radioactive dump for SA.’
who could have imagined that just 11 years later, a new and far more dangerous plan would be launched by another royal commission, perhaps the first royal commission to plan a future scheme rather than examine one past?
Since this royal commission’s ‘tentative findings’ in February for South Australia to import international high-level nuclear waste, which it actually names as radioactive for ‘many hundreds of thousands of years’, the scepticism among South Australians is growing.
Bob Ellis and the other nuclear royal commission http://wwweurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?
aeid=47194#.VwrLvtR97Gg Michele Madigan | 07 April 2016
The passing of Bob Ellis recalls his faithful accompanying of the 1984–1985 royal commission into the British nuclear tests conducted in South Australia in the 1950s and 1960s. He went ‘to England and back’ and, as he described it, ‘to each black polis’ of the royal commission hearings.
Ellis’ article on the Wallatina hearings (The National Times, 3–9 May 1985), described what he named as the commission’s ‘worst story of all’ — Edie Milpudie’s telling of herself and her family camping, in May 1957, on the Marcoo bomb crater.
She told of being ‘captured by men in white uniforms … forcibly and obscenely washed down, miscarrying twice and losing her husband who to prove to the soldiers he knew English, sang, “Jesus loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so.”
‘And how the soldiers shot their beloved irradiated dogs.’
‘The bad parts of the story,’ Ellis went on, ‘the miscarriage and afterward, were communicated to Jim (Commissioner McClelland) in secret session, in the distance in the bush, with Edie’s women friends giving her comfort, and prompting with giggles and nudges her reminiscence of a story they knew by heart, already an old legend.
‘Jim called these women the best in the world, unstinting comforters, inextinguishable friends”
Five years later I had the privilege myself of meeting Edie Milpudie at her Oak Valley camp in the SA Maralinga lands. Many of the Yalata elders had prepared me in a way with the constant mantra: ‘Milpudie — she went through the bomb.’ Continue reading
Australia cuts aid to Africa, encourages Ugly Australian Mining Companies
Last year, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists released a report called Fatal Extraction: Australian Mining Companies Digging a Deadly Footprint in Africa. It reported that Australian mining companies were the most rapidly expanding of all mining investors in Africa. From 2000 to 2009, prospecting licences held by Australian companies in Botswana alone increased from 14 to 260.
According to the report, Australian mining companies were responsible for multiple cases of negligence, unfair dismissal, violence and environmental law-breaking across Africa. It claims that since 2004 more than 380 people have died in mining accidents or in offsite skirmishes connected to Australian mining companies in 13 countries in Africa.
In comparison with Australia, African tax regulations are relatively flexible, while wages and working conditions, environmental protection, and occupational health and safety laws are weak.
Last year Foreign Minister Julie Bishop announced that the Australian government would actively promote the interests of the mining sector ahead of economic aid to Africa.
Australian miners in South Africa In the wake of a local activist’s murder, Australian mining interests in Africa are being called into question. https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/resources/2016/04/09/australian-miners-south-africa/14601240003106 PHILLIP WALKER 9 Apr 16 Thee assassination of South African community activist Sikhosiphi “Bazooka” Radebe was shocking but sadly not surprising.
On the night of his death – March 22 – Radebe had warned his colleagues in the Amadiba Crisis Committee of a hit list. An hour later, two men masquerading as police arrived at Radebe’s house and shot him eight times in the head.
Radebe had been opposing titanium mining at Xolobeni, on the ancestral land of the Pondo people on South Africa’s east coast. The mining company involved is Australian-based Mineral Commodities Limited.
At Radebe’s funeral last weekend, Chief Cinani, representing the Queen and the Royal House of the amaMpondo, criticised the government’s acceptance of Australian investment and investment from the Indian business family the Guptas. “I am blaming the government because the government gave permits for those Australians, while people were saying ‘no’ to the government . It is clear that the business community is ruling the government. It is not only about the Guptas. Now we have seen the Australians. People are coming here with huge sums of money to divide the people.”
Through its director, Mark Caruso, Mineral Commodities Limited (MRC) and its South African subsidiary, Transworld Energy & Minerals Resources (TEM), have long been in dispute with the Amadiba community. The latest tragedy marks an escalation of hostility in a conflict now entering its 10th year. Continue reading
Perth-based Mineral Commodities Limited (MRC) denies role in murder of South African activist
Australian mining company denies role in murder of South African activist
Campaigners claim death of Sikhosiphi Rhadebe is an escalation of violence against opponents of a mine owned by Perth’s Mineral Commodities Limited, Guardian, Joshua Robertson, 25 Mar 16 An Australian-owned mining company has denied any link to the murder of an activist leading a campaign against its plans to mine titanium in South Africa.
Sikhosiphi “Bazooka” Rhadebe was gunned down at his home in Xolobeni on South Africa’s Wild Coast on Tuesday, in what fellow activists claimed was an escalation of violence and intimidation against local opponents of a mine owned by Perth-based Mineral Commodities Limited (MRC).
MRC, which has repeatedly denied inciting violence involving its supporters, said it was “in no way implicated in any form whatsoever in this incident”.
Mzamo Dlamini is a fellow activist who believes he is among the “prime targets” on the anti-mining Amadiba crisis committee following Rhadebe’s death.
Despite fearing for his life, Dlamini vowed to continue organising resistance to a project that campaigners said would force the relocation of an estimated 100 households and up to 1,000 people.
“The assassination affects us all,” he said. “There will be more Bazookas long after we have died.”
Six people associated with the mining venture were subject to court orders last May after a clash over land access, during which a TEM director fired a “warning shot” in the air.
Four people, including an alleged employee of another MRC mine at Tormin, are due to face court next month over alleged assault and intimidation, including with firearms, of mining opponents in Xolobeni in December. These allegations are yet to come before a court and there is no suggestion these or any other employees were involved in Rhadebe’s murder……..
Lawyer Henk Smith of the Legal Resources Centre, which has acted for landholders opposing MRC’s Tormin mine, said the killing of Rhadebe, a “principled democrat”, had likely ended the prospect of conciliation meetings between the miner and its opponents.
“I think the company has made a few statements condemning the violence but it comes after the event and the company has never taken any steps to encourage conciliation or mediation or consultation even a meeting,” Smith said.
“In fact the company shies away from meeting the community which as a result, there’ll be little chance of simply starting a process of meetings now.
“For the rest, they’ve got [to] swallow what the company offers.” http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/mar/25/australian-mining-company-denies-role-in-of-south-african-activist
Carbon Disclosure Project lists Canberra as a global climate change leader
Canberra ranked as a global climate change leader, http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/canberra-ranked-as-a-global-climate-change-leader-20160408-go1utu.html, James Hall Canberra’s ranking as a global climate change leader by the Carbon Disclosure Project is an “important acknowledgement”, Climate Council chief executive Amanda McKenzie says.
The CDP placed the capital among the top 10 cities in the world for its “quality and completeness” of environmental risk reporting.
“It’s not just that one area of the policy is doing well [to be ranked so highly],” Ms McKenzie said. “Reducing emissions, adequately reporting and disclosing internationally, a renewable energy policy, a risk assessment of what the climate change impact will be and have a plan to adapt to those consequences.”
Despite the ACT being significantly smaller than other states and territories and not having coastal environmental concerns, she said the city had substantial environmental elements affecting its climate.
She said Canberra’s recognition by the CDP is significant because its size is more common globally and it provides a more realistic comparison on how to implement sustainable technologies and processes. “Our view is that it is a very good example of how you transition a community that has previously been reliant on fossil fuels and moving towards more renewable energy,” Ms McKenzie said.
ACT Environment and Climate Change Minister Simon Corbell said the government had shown Canberrans and the world it was committed to tackling climate change. “In doing so we are also showing the world that moving to a low-carbon economy is not only achievable and affordable, but also can be a benefit to both the community and our economy,” he said. “By attracting renewable energy companies to Canberra and fostering a positive environment for renewable energy operation, research and development through our progressive policies we have positioned the territory to take advantage of growth in the renewable energy industry”.
Much of the sustainable energy being harnessed by the nation’s capital is being supplied by interstate facilities, but Ms McKenzie said it was the implementation of the energy being produced which is both environmentally responsible and economically innovative.
“It depends on why those projects have been built and if Canberra has played a significant role in making those projects get off the ground,” she said. “And then if the electricity is then being used by Canberra, the ACT has then brought in the investment for plants.”
“That is also reflected in some of the local businesses that now exist in Canberra, like Reposit Power for instance, businesses are being attracted to Canberra because it is a better investment environment for renewable energy than other parts of the country.”
Since Liberal Coalition govt dumped carbon price, greenhouse emissions have soared
Electricity emissions soar since Coalition dumps carbon price, Independent Australia Giles Parkinson 9 April 2016 RenewEconomy‘s Giles Parkinson discusses Australia’s rapidly rising electricity emissions following the Coalition’s axing of the carbon price and in direct contradiction to the Paris climate agreement.
AUSTRALIA’S ELECTRICITY emissions continue to rise and are now 5.5 per cent higher than they were before the carbon price was dumped, putting Australia against the global trend which is seeing energy emissions flat-lining even as the global economy expands.
Pitt & Sherry analyst Hugh Saddler says in his latest monthly survey that total emissions from electricity generation in the National Electricity Market (NEM) – all but Western Australia and the Northern Territory – increased again in the year to March 2016.
Annual emissions were 5.5 per cent higher than in the year to June 2014, when the Coalition killed the carbon price introduced by the Labor Government, to much acclaim from the government.
This startling jump in emissions comes despite the fact that Australia has signed up to the Paris climate agreement, which seeks to limit global warming to 2°C, and if possible 1.5°C. Energy emissions, according to the International Energy Agency, have flatlined for the past two years.
The rise in emissions also comes amid rising global CO2 levels, soaring temperatures, and the most serious coral bleaching event ever witnessed in the Great Barrier Reef.
Saddler blames the rise in emissions on a number of factors. One is the removal of the carbon price, which paved the way for more burning of coal, black coal in particular.
Another is the rise in coal generation in Queensland to support the exports of liquefied natural gas — which will contribute an extra 8 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent a year. Continue reading
Climate denialist Maurice Newman might split the Liberal Party?
Maurice Newman claims to be head of business council disbanded by Turnbull
Former adviser to Tony Abbott says Malcolm Turnbull’s ‘left leaning positions’ could lead to formation of breakaway conservative party, Guardian, Lenore Taylor, 8 Apr 16 Businessman Maurice Newman has insisted he remains the head of the prime minister’s business advisory council, despite being informed by Malcolm Turnbull last year that the council was being disbanded.
Last September Guardian Australia revealed that Newman’s term as chairman of the prime minister’s business advisory council had expired and that a spokesman for Turnbull had confirmed he would not be reappointed………
Newman, a strong supporter of former prime minister Tony Abbott, told Lateline Turnbull’s “left leaning positions” could potentially lead to the formation of a breakaway conservative party…….
Asked whether he was saying Turnbull’s leadership could lead to the emergence of a new conservative party Newman replied “Well, I think it’s most likely that if the people who support the Liberal party and the Liberal party values find that essentially it’s a Labor-like party, then they’ll clearly be attracted to whatever alternatives might be presented to them.”
He nominated “giving more money” to renewable energy and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation as Labor-like policies being undertaken by the Coalition.
Newman has used a weekly column in the Australian to expound his views on climate change, including that the world was ill-prepared for a period of global cooling and that the United Nations was using debunked climate science to impose a new world order under its own control.
He also called for a government-funded review of the Bureau of Meteorology to “dispel suspicions of a warming bias” in its temperature record-keeping, something freedom of information documents last year revealed was under consideration by the former prime minister’s department…….http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/apr/08/maurice-newman-claims-to-be-head-of-business-council-disbanded-by-turnbull
1 This month.
PETITION – To: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Australian Labor Government
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
19 May – Webinar- Webinar: No Nuclear Weapons in Australia
Start: 2026-05-19 18:00:00 UTC Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney (GMT+10:00)
End: 2026-05-19 19:30:00 UTC Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney (GMT+10:00)
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 