Kylie Sambo says Muckaty nuclear waste legal case is similar to Mabo case
Muckaty: our case is like Mabo, our land is ours to protect http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/19/muckaty-our-case-is-like-mabo-our-land-is-ours-to-protect
We’ve been fighting for eight years to stop a waste dump on our land. We brought people from different Dreamings, different clans together for this victory Kylie Sambo They’ve finally heard us. Tennant Creek, where my people, the Warlmanpa and Warumungu live, won’t become Australia’s first waste dump. We’ve been fighting for eight years to stop the dump, and the government did nothing about it. Finally, we had to take them to court before they understood that we were serious, that we didn’t want a waste dump in the Muckaty area.
My whole family and other extended families, the communities around the Tennant Creek region, and other people who are living there have all been supporting us these past few years, as we’ve been doing our rallies and speaking up.
They’ve come on board and joined us, marched with us in Tennant Creek. This year has been a very good outcome. A lot of people from different Dreamings, different family groups, different clans have come together in our struggle. I believe this is an impressive way to show we stick together, we fight together.
I was worried a bit that the case would go the other way. My sister kept saying, “We’re going to win this one, we’re going to win this one!” My mind was set that the decision was going to be made in March next year. When I got the news, I was shocked that we won. I’ll travel back to Tennant Creek and celebrate this weekend. I’ll probably celebrate all week.
I believe that our case is similar to the Mabo case, and the legal struggles other communities have been fighting against the government for years to protect their land. That’s what we’re doing.
How many times has the government seen people fighting for their country, and yet they keep doing this. They have to understand us: our land means a lot to Aboriginal people because it’s ours, because it’s ours to protect.
Australia legally bound to take back Lucas Heights high level radioactive trash from France by late 2015
The case got going in Melbourne several weeks ago and then moved to Tennant Creek where, last Saturday, there was explosive evidence that went widely unreported
Australia’s first nuclear waste dump in limbo after Muckaty Station ruled out news.com.au 21 June 14, paul.toohey@news.com.au THE Federal Government always suspected a radioactive waste dump on Aboriginal land was too good to be true. Now their fears have been realised.
The Northern Land Council, after seven years heavily backing Aboriginal land at Muckaty station for the site of the nation’s radioactive waste facility, has withdrawn its nomination for the site in the midst of a Federal Court case.
The Muckaty dump site is dead. Some are celebrating, but Australia has a problem. It needs a dump, yet no state or territory wants it.
The Commonwealth would not — you would think — succeed in asking a regional neighbour to store our radioactive waste, in the way they store asylum-seekers on our behalf in offshore detention.
PUSH BACK: Muckaty Station plan dumped
THE WAR: Where to put Australia’s nuclear waste dump
Australia needs to find a home for reprocessed nuclear fuel rods that will be returned from France in late 2015, and something needs to be done about low-level radioactive waste currently stored in hospital car parks.
Industry Minister Ian MacFarlane has bravely expressed hope that another Aboriginal group from the Territory will now step forth to nominate their land, but it is doubtful the Commonwealth would want to risk another Muckaty.
The battle over the location of the dump, for all these years contained to the relative obscurity of the remotest parts of northern Australia, could well now shift to country towns in WA, Queensland, SA or NSW as the Commonwealth continues an urgent quest to locate suitable land.
They thought they had it covered in 2005 when the then chief executive of the NLC, Norman Fry, came up with a scheme to locate the dump on Aboriginal land.
The Commonwealth, startled but grateful for the proposal after they had earlier lost a case to locate the dump in SA, changed the law so that Aboriginal traditional landowners could nominate their land for the dump.
A group from Muckaty, north of Tennant, duly proposed their land, in exchange for $12.2m (of which only $200,000 has so far been paid). But there were constant questions as to who the proper traditional owners were…….. http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/australias-first-nuclear-waste-dump-in-limbo-after-muckaty-station-ruled-out/story-fn5fsgyc-1226961714663
Ray Aylett, Muckaty cattle station manager supports nuclear waste siting there
Muckaty manager will support second nuclear waste nomination ABC News 20 June 14 The manager of Muckaty cattle station says he doesn’t care where a nuclear waste facility is put on the property, because it will mean more infrastructure. The Northern Land Council (NLC) has withdrawn its original nomination of a small section of Muckaty Station, 600 kilometres north of Alice Springs, as the site for Australia’s first nuclear waste dump.
But the NLC has not ruled out the possibility of making a second nomination on behalf of Traditional Owners from the Muckaty Aboriginal Land Trust.
The Federal Minister for Industry, Ian McFarlane, has given the NLC three months to come up with a second nomination, and says it could possibly be an area on Muckaty known as the ‘Northern Site’.
The station manager of Muckaty, Ray Aylett, says while it’s not up to him, he would support a second nomination……Ray Aylett is currently in a dispute with the Northern Land Council about his licence on the property, saying he was given an eviction notice to be out by this month.
A tender for a grazing licence on the property was advertised late last year, but Mr Aylett says he doesn’t know where the process is up to.
The NLC is yet to respond to ABC Rural’s request for clarification on the status of the property’s lease. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-20/muckaty-nomination-support/5537722
Muckaty nuclear waste dump plan has been scrapped!
Natalie Wasley, Beyond Nuclear Initiative, 19 June 14 Some fantastic news today- the Commonwealth Government has committed not to pursue plans for a national radioactive waste dump at Muckaty, 120km north of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory!
Lawyers from Maurice Blackburn Social Justice Practice have just announced the exciting development in Melbourne and a delegation of Muckaty Traditional Owners travelled to Alice Springs for a press conference that has just concluded.
The announcement comes mid-way through the Federal Court trial examining the process under which the nomination of Muckaty was made by the Northern Land Council and accepted by the Commonwealth Government in 2007.
Two weeks of the trial were completed with hearings in Melbourne, Tennant Creek and on country at Muckaty outstation. The Northern Land Council and Commonwealth Government have agreed to settle with the Applicants by committing not to act on the proposal or nomination, so the hearings scheduled for Darwin (June 23-July 4) have been cancelled.
A blog of the court proceedings is online at www.beyondnuclearinitiative.com/blog and photos posted atwww.beyondnuclearinitiative.com/photos
This campaign has followed the successful campaign by the Kupi Piti Kungka Tjuta to stop a nuclear dump in SA and been built from the ground up in Tennant Creek with help from supporters across the NT. Over the last 7 years, the community has marched in Tennant Creek every year, hosted trade union delegations, written songs and poems, made films and toured photo exhibitions. People have travelled tirelessly around the country to build awareness and support, having conversations over cups of tea in regional areas and walking the corridors of Canberra Parliament House to lobby Ministers.
The community used the May 25 rally and media attention on the federal court proceedings to reiterate they would continue campaigning until the dump was stopped- including blocking the road if needed.
So the deadly news is now public – please tell everyone that together we dumped the Muckaty plan! Traditional Owners and the broader community in Tennant Creek are very excited and relieved and looking forward to a big celebration in the coming few weeks.
We will then set about collating photos, footage and other materials from the campaign, so stay tuned for the call out to copy and/or send these to the Arid Lands Environment Centre for archiving.
There is a lot more to say but we are still all a bit shocked and processing the news so will send more updates and reflections in the coming week.
Media release from today is attached.
I was asked to finish this note with a huge thanks to everyone who has been part of this campaign and supported the Muckaty mob to be heard- every action, letter, conversation, trip to Tennant, fundraising gig and movie night has helped bring about this victory!!
Muckaty will be nuclear free!
The finish for the plan to dump nuclear waste at Muckaty
Muckaty nuclear dump scrapped Land council abandons Muckaty dump push SMH, June 19, 2014 Neda Vanovac”…… the Northern Land Council has decided to abandon its push to locate a national nuclear waste dump on Muckaty Station in the Northern Territory. The NLC announced on Thursday that it had settled with opponents of the dump and that Federal Court proceedings would be dismissed. Settlement talks had been going on since the trial began earlier this month, NLC CEO Joe Morrison said.
Last week, the court travelled from Melbourne to Tennant Creek to take evidence from a number of Aboriginal clans from the Muckaty Land Trust, located 120km north of the town, who said their wishes were overruled by a fifth clan and the NLC, who worked together to nominate the site.
The groups have been battling one another for seven years since Muckaty was formally nominated in 2007……..
Whether a dump would be located on Aboriginal land is up to the Commonwealth and traditional owners, Mr Morrison said…….The $12 million that had been on the table from the federal government as compensation for the community will not be paid, and a second site on Muckaty will not be put forward.
Both sides will pay their own legal costs.
Whether a dump would be located on Aboriginal land is up to the Commonwealth and traditional owners, Mr Morrison said. The federal government has agreed to an NLC request the site no longer be considered, and it will hold discussions to find an alternative, Minister for Industry Ian MacFarlane said in a statement.
“If a suitable site is not identified through these discussions the government will commence a new tender process for nominations for another site.”
Lawyers for the traditional land owners at Muckaty Station said their clients were overjoyed with the outcome.
“Every step of the process was opposed by people on the ground, and that may be one reason why they’ve decided to no longer rely on litigation,” Maurice Blackburn lawyer Elizabeth O’Shea told reporters in Melbourne. http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/muckaty-nuclear-dump-scrapped-20140619-3af4c.html
Origin Energy, EnergyAustralia and AGL Energy looking silly, ripping off customers?
Following a model pioneered by political activist group, GetUp!, Greenpeace has developed a mock advertisement (below) imitating the format of the power retailers own advertisements. Itswebsite carries a YouTube clip of the advert and seeks donations to pay to have the advertisement aired on television. The advertisement prominently carries the brands of Origin Energy, Energy Australia and AGL Energy, as solar panel installers posing as employees of these companies remove solar panels from a roof while suggesting the companies are trying to rip off customers by seeking to have the Renewable Energy Target reduced.
One actor states, “by ripping up Australia’s Renewable Energy Target, we can rip you off on your energy bills for years to come”.
A website – www.thegreatenergyripoff.com – has been developed to accompany the advertisement, asking people to “join our petition to the dirty energy giants to support the Renewable Energy Target. We’ll hand deliver it directly to the energy companies so they know consumers expect better.”
Australian climate denialists off to a Climate Sceptic Conference in London
Climate sceptics to fly Queensland MP to international conference, Guardian 18 June 14, George Christensen says he is closely associated with conservative thinktank The Heartland Institute Conservative climate-sceptic thinktank The Heartland Institute is footing the bill for Queensland backbencher George Christensen to travel to Las Vegas to take part in its “international conference on climate change”.
Christensen told Guardian Australia he was “closely associated with the institute” through his relationship with Australian climate-sceptic academic Bob Carter, who is also a constituent in Christensen’s electorate of Dawson.
The institute, which proudly displays the assessment by The Economist that it is “the world’s most prominent think tank promoting scepticism about man-made climate change”, says its July 7-9 conference offers attendees the chance to “learn from top economists and policy experts about the real costs and futility of trying to stop global warming” and to “meet the leaders of think tanks and grassroots organisations who are speaking out against global warming alarmism”.
Christensen will appear beside Carter – science policy adviser to the Institute Public Affairs – and two other Australian climate sceptic academics, Dr Jennifer Marohasy and Dr William Kininmonth, in a session entitled “The global warming debate in Australia”…….
The conference will hear from a who’s who of international climate sceptics, including Britain’s Lord Christopher Monckton.
Christensen quoted a Heartland Institute-sponsored document, “Climate Change Reconsidered”, as a source during the parliamentary debate on the repeal of the carbon tax bills…….
Christensen chairs the Coalition’s backbench committee on industry policy. His travel plans were discussed in Graham Readfearn’sDesmogblog.com. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jun/16/climate-sceptics-to-fly-queensland-mp-to-international-conference
Australia a drag internationally, pitted against USA on carbon policy
Carbon policy pits Aus against US: Garnaut http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/double-climate-threat-to-our-economy-ceda/story-fni0xqi4-1226958415074 19 June 14 AAP AUSTRALIA is setting itself against the US and will become a drag on global climate change efforts with the repeal of the carbon tax, prominent economist Ross Garnaut says. THE former government adviser says China, Europe and the US are gearing up for another big effort to address climate change and by scrapping its detailed and sophisticated carbon laws, Australia is going against this.
“With our existing policies, we’re not ahead of any game yet but we’re part of the game. We will be doing our fair share,” Professor Garnaut said on Wednesday. “With the repeal of the carbon laws, and in the absence of anything in their place, then we won’t be doing our fair share.”We will be a drag on the international system.” He said the move was particularly puzzling when the world’s two big emitters, China and the US, whose inaction had previously been a problem, were committing themselves to very strong action.
“We have set ourselves against our ally the United States on a major question of policy in a way that we haven’t done since the Ottawa conference in 1931,” Prof Garnaut said.
The comments came at the release of a report by the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) into the economic trouble Australia could face without an appropriate response to climate change.
The report says Australia faces the risk of growing repair bills from extreme weather and barriers to major project investment.
CEDA chief executive Stephen Martin said policy makers need to recognise climate change is an economic issue, not just an environmental issue. “Statistics show that the number of catastrophic weather events is increasing and the economic losses associated with these events are also trending up,” Prof Martin said. He said Cyclone Yasi, Black Saturday, the Queensland floods and other weather events have had a direct impact on industry and on most Australians’ hip pocket.
Professor Martin said the federal government needs to introduce a national risk register that includes strategies to manage risks of extreme weather. “Australia is reliant on foreign capital to fund major projects and new developments in international climate change policy are likely to impact international capital flow and investment decision making,” Prof Martin said.
The costs to Australia of climate inaction
Australian business and investors operate in a global business environment. While our current political and business leaders pursue an approach of not regulating the greenhouse emissions of Australian industry, the global economy is rapidly moving in the opposite direction.
Australia’s economy will suffer if we fall behind on climate action Martijn Wilder The Conversation, 18 June 2014,
Australia’s economy faces grave threats from climate change, but the greatest threat is if we do not make a serious effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
It’s not just the physical impacts of climate change that will hurt Australia’s economy. In a new report released today by the Committee for Economic Development of Australia, I and others argue that falling behind on reducing greenhouse gas emissions leaves Australia’s economy vulnerable to global efforts to tackle climate change.
But so far Australian government and business has focused on the cost of reducing emissions, despite evidence that it will be far more costly to do nothing.
Counting the costs of climate action
In Australia it has long been the view that limiting emissions through carbon pricing will directly limit economic growth. This is despite industry being largely protected from the costs of efforts to reduce emissions through the Clean Energy Act through free emissions permits and compensation. Continue reading
Senator Nova Peris sticks up for the Aboriginal Land Rights Act
Land Rights Act not an impediment: Peris Herald Sun 17 June 14, NORTHERN Territory Senator Nova Peris has rejected claims the Aboriginal Land Rights Act is holding indigenous people back. THE NT Minister for Community Services Bess Price said at a development conference in Darwin on Monday the Act has locked Aboriginal land away……..
Senator Peris said there were a number of things preventing Aboriginal economic development, such as a lack of infrastructure. “For someone in Bess Price’s position, when she opens her mouth she does speak for Aboriginal people but what she’s saying is totally untrue,” she told ABC radio, but admitted the approvals process was too slow.
Under the Land Rights Act in the NT, landowners must negotiate with a land council for an Indigenous Land Use Agreement before they can sell or use their land for commercial purposes, and lending institutions prefer longer 99-year leases in order to guarantee funds for people to buy their own homes or launch businesses, which can only be approved by the federal minister.
But land councils do not always act in the interests of traditional owners, said Senator Nigel Scullion.
“Sometimes a land council has a particular agenda and can assist with economic development; other land councils have other agendas and perhaps might not be so helpful because they have some fundamental opposition to independence from particular groups,” he told ABC.
“There’s no doubt that the system needs some adjustment but I don’t agree with Bess that it’s in the actual Land Rights Act. I can’t see any circumstance that the (Act) can’t assist with; it’s supposed to be enabling legislation.”
Both the Northern Land Council and the Central Land Council have indicated that they don’t like 99-year township leases “and they’re actively working against the interests of traditional owners in some cases”, Senator Scullion said.
“It’s my task to make sure that land councils as commonwealth agencies dance to the beat of the traditional owners’ drum, that’s their role……..http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/land-rights-act-not-an-impediment-peris/story-fni0xqi4-1226957327562
AUDIO: latest report on the Muckaty nuclear waste dump court case
Muckaty Court Case heads to Darwin http://caama.com.au/muckaty-court-case 17 June 14 Damian Williams The federal court case on the planned Muckaty nuclear waste dump has now adjourned. Paddy Gibson for the Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning is following the trial:
The court is now adjourned. The last sitting was on Saturday. The judge travelled again out to Muckaty. Aboriginal people thanked the court judge for coming to Muckaty out-station coming to country to hear from the elders directly and other Aboriginal people who are opposing nuclear waste dumping on their land. The case will now move to Darwin to take evidence from Northern Land Council
Crucial day of evidence, we heard from – a very senior man, Dick Foster known as reliable authority on who owns this land. NLC was relying on this man, Dick Foster. In their early nomination they actually used Mr Foster’s name. Whereas Dick has been crystal clear since 2007 that the NLC is wrong The NLC are relying on the wrong idea that a small piece of Muckaty belongs to just on e family group. Not alright for this family to sell one piece of the and made it clear that this was wrong. The anthropology used was not correct. They needed to slow the process down. NLC should have heard from all of the groups on how decisions would be made for that small piece of land. NLC forged ahead in 2007 far too quickly according to Mr Foster. Sold Muckaty out without the consent of Aboriginal owners. Far too much pressure.
Needed to encourage proper discussion on how that should be done. Sold Muckaty out
His evidence crucial. Process was far too rushed.
He made it clear that there was a lot of pressure on senior people like himself. with a number of government people on senior Aborigines,
That evidence was very significant. No one in this case is questioning the cultural knowledge of Mr Foster, though not a traditional owner himself. No question that he is not an authentic witness on Aboriginal culture, and the land around Muckaty
The NLC and government should back off now. They really should listen to these people. People have been saying – “You’ve got it wrong. You’re rushing us”
The other point about the evidence that came out on the country – people have not been told the real story, right back to 2007. Even the individuals who nominated the land were never told. had no idea of the true nature of what was planned. No one was ever told that there could be accidents. Those sorts of question are in the legislation, but this was never explained to the people. People were not told of possibility of drastic accident. People were never properly informed that they may lose their land forever.
The government is trying to say that it’s only for 200 years. But there are provisions sin the legislation, that the government could hold that land forever. Never explained to any traditional owners in the consultation process. That is clear from the evidence which has come out. They’re trying to say that this will be at temporary facility.
Relying on faulty flawed anthropology. Enormous amount of pressure was put on the traditional owners. They were relying on faulty, flawed anthropology. Iy was rushed through inn order to do a deal. Rights systematically stripped away from the traditional owners. Very strong case coming out now from the people who are opposed to the nuclear waste dump.. Quite shocking to learn how the government and NLC have treated these people, through this process.
Evidence is now wound up in Tennant Creek and Muckaty
Next is a trip to Darwin. The focus now will be on the NLC and the Commonwealth. They will be subject to the same cross examination that the Aboriginal people had to go through.
The Aboriginal people are happy and proud with what they have achieved. They have been so strong, so articulate.- that they have stood up to these non indigenous very highly paid, highly educated barristers for the Land Council and government attacking them in the witness stand. Some of the Aboriginal witnesses were cross examined for 3 hours – with lawyers for the government and NLC trying to trick them trap them The truth has come out on how this nomination came about back in 2007. Evidence is now wound up
We’ve had to go through 7 years of heartache, pain, stress sickness, and many people have died. A lot of people not alive now to give evidence on how they were treated. A very sad stressful thing that has happened to this community. In Darwin the pressure will be on the NLC and Government.
The greedy few will benefit from nuke waste dumping, at the cost of Aboriginal land and culture
Dennis Matthews, 17 June 14 Little has changed from the days when the Federal Government tried to locate the dump in SA.
They denied it was a dump, it was a “repository”. We won that battle.
They claimed it was for only low level waste. We won that battle by publicly asking them where the short-lived intermediate waste was going to go, Nick Minchin unashamedly admitted that it was going in the low level dump. The reporter doing the interview was noticeably taken aback by that admission.
They kept stressing volumes rather than amount of ionising radiation. We stressed that it’s not the volume or mass of the waste that is dangerous it’s the amount of ionising radiation.
The Kupa Piti Kunga Tjuta were so strong and got both Australian and International awards for their determination in the face of attacks by the Government-industry complex. The Kunga-Tjuta had experience with ionising radiation through the fallout from the British nuclear weapons tests at Maralinga.
The anti-dump campaign stressed that the waste should be left where it is and looked after by the experts at Lucas Heights – if those experts didn’t want it there then they shouldn’t make it in the first place.
Those who benefit most from Lucas Heights want the costs picked up by those who benefit least.
AUDIO: Report on Day 8 of Muckaty Nuclear waste Dump Court Case
AUDIO Report on Day 8 of Muckaty nuclear waste dump court case. http://caama.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Muckaty-Day-8.mp3
The Muckaty mob have been so strong in this court-room. It’s an intimidating system. Gladys Brown – strong indigenous woman, grilled by white men in an intimidating manner. Australian govt and NLC didn’t want the court case to come to Muckaty and Northern Territory. Awful to watch the NRC lawyer denigrating the cultural knowledge of these Aboriginal women. Trying to trip them up all the time – about their dreaming stories. But these witnesses are holding their ground, sticking to their guns. That the Land council anf govt did not listen to them A very disturbing process to watch.
Confronting for these women to be surrounded by white men – challenging their cultural knowledge.
White law is given absolute upper hand, through these whole proceedings.. It’s the Aboriginal women who are on trial. These women being put through the ringer. No acknowledgement of the strength of the law and knowledge in this area.
So much is being revealed about the consultation process.
One of the darkest aspects – The government and lawyers always emphasise the low level waste – medical equipment etc. They never talk the spent nuclear fuel – from Lucas Heights, currently overseas, but coming back as its the most dangerous industrial waste of all. It is never discussed in detail
Very obvious that in the early consultations – the people were not told a true account of what nuclear waste is. None of this contained a genuine discussion about the spent nuclear fuel rods.
As soon as the traditional owners started to get information, from the Environment Centre, they started action against the dump. From Day one it should have been explained. It was never brought up by the Northern Land Council. The NLC claim the protest comes from outsiders. Not so.
Community Energy Congress in Canberra, as Farmers warn against weakening Renewable Energy Target
Farmers, activists warn against reducing renewable energy target on Global Wind Energy Day http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/farmers-activists-warn-against-reducing-renewable-energy-target-on-global-wind-energy-day-20140615-zs8ix.html June 16, 2014 Markus Mannheim Public service editor Over the years, Boorowa grazier Paul Magee watched each of his five children become adults and leave the family farm to find work.
For him and his wife, Lynette, the opportunity to host wind turbines on their 700-hectare property, about 110 kilometres north of Canberra, may have come a little too late.
But the lamb farmer hopes the growing wind-energy industry will help lure young people back to the bush, and says the federal government must maintain its backing for renewable energy. “There is a possibility that one [of my children] could move back here and help to improve the farm and make it more productive – if the renewable energy target is not changed,” Mr Magee told a rally of activists outside Parliament House on Sunday, Global Wind Energy Day.
“There is a further possibility that others … may gain employment in the area. The economic benefits would help stop the drift to larger cities.”
A review of the so-called RET – an aim for 20 per cent of the nation’s electricity to come from renewable sources by 2020 – is due to be completed shortly, amid fears the Abbott government will reduce the target or scrap it entirely.
Last month, Treasurer Joe Hockey launched an unprompted attack on windfarms near Lake George, just outside the ACT, telling conservative radio commentator Alan Jones he found them “utterly offensive” and “a blight on the landscape”. Climate activists have also noted that the RET review’s leader, former Caltex chairman Dick Warburton, and other panel members have close links to the fossil-fuel industry.
Mr Magee said he could not understand the Treasurer’s view. “It could be argued that the very same four-lane freeway he was travelling on is more offensive and a bigger blight on the landscape, and indeed the urban development that has ruined the north shore of Sydney,” he said, referring to Mr Hockey’s electorate.
Small groups of residents near windfarms occasionally oppose the industry, saying turbines are noisy and reduce rural property prices.
However, NSW government polling in 2010 found almost nine in 10 residents in the region near the ACT border supported windfarms, including 61 per cent of people who lived one to two kilometres away from turbines.
Regardless of what happens to the federal RET scheme, ACT Environment Minister Simon Corbell told the rally that Canberra would maintain the nation’s most ambitious renewable energy policy: 90 per cent of the ACT’s electricity would be sourced from renewable energy by 2020.
He also noted that the Royalla solar farm – the largest in Australia – was just a few months’ away from being commissioned.
“The sad thing about that project is that it’s only 20 megawatts. When you look at renewable energy and solar energy around the world, you see that so many nations are investing in schemes and in projects that are in the hundreds of megawatts.
“In a country like Australia, we should be doing the same.”
Sunday’s rally preceded the 2014 Community Energy Congress, which will be held on Monday and Tuesday at the National Library. About 300 delegates are expected to attend from across Australia and overseas.
Australians’ uptake of solar power is having a dramatic effect on electricity markets
Solar turns tables on Australia’s electricity markets REneweconomy By Giles Parkinson on 16 June 2014 Australia’s electricity markets are forecast to experience more declines in consumption over the next three years, as homes and businesses conserve energy, use smarter appliances and turn increasingly to generating their own electricity.
The 2014 National Electricity Forecasting Report issued on Monday by the Australian Energy Market Operator has highlighted once again how all previous assumptions about electricity demand have been turned on their head in recent years.
As we reported on Friday, AEMO has been forced to revise down its forecast demand for 2013/14 for a second time, and it now expects demand from the National Electricity Market to continue falling for at least another three years.
AEMO notes that in the past five years, instead of surging demand, consumption from the grid has actually fallen by an average of 1.8 per cent a year from 2009–10 to 2013–14.
Ironically, this has been driven, it says, by surging network costs – which have risen in turn because of the $45 billion that was invested on the basis of high demand forecasts five years ago.
These rising costs, in turn, have encouraged consumers to conserve energy, turn to more energy efficient appliances, and look to rooftop solar to deflect their costs. Demand has also been reduced by declining industrial production.
The fall in demand, or at least the fall in demand from the grid (because many houses with solar PV are still consuming, just producing much of their own needs), is being used by incumbent generators and others with vested interests as an excuse to halt, or slow down, the pace of deployment of renewable energy in Australia……
The situation is even more dramatic in South Australia, where we explain here that a textbook decarbonisation of the grid is occurring thanks to its high penetration of rooftop solar, the big uptake of large-scale renewables, and the sidelining of old coal generators.
Of course, as we have seen in the submissions to the RET Review, the incumbent generators hate this. Origin Energy argued that the RET was never designed to force incumbent generators out of the market – it was always presumed that demand would rise and renewables would account for most of new capacity…….. http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/solar-turns-tables-on-australias-electricity-markets-81352
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 