Australia’s Panel to Review Renewable Energy target – close ties with polluting industries!
(VIDEO) Alleged conflict of interest in energy review panel Australian Broadcasting Corporation Lateline Broadcast: 04/06/2014 Reporter: Kerry Brewster The expert panel which is deciding how much renewable energy Australia should produce is defending itself against claims of conflict of interest because an economist on the panel is using work he did for the oil and gas industry to argue the case for scrapping the renewable target.
Transcript
TONY JONES, PRESENTER: The expert panel which is deciding how much renewable energy Australia will continue to produce is defending itself against claims of conflict of interest. Solar advocates say economist Brian Fisher should step down from the Government’s review of the Renewable Energy Target. They say he previously did work for the oil and gas industry and that’s being used to argue the case for scrapping the Renewable Energy Target. This exclusive report from Kerry Brewster.
KERRY BREWSTER, REPORTER: For 14 years, the oil and gas industry has lobbied for the 20 per cent Renewable Energy Target, or RET, to be dumped.
DAVID BYERS, AUST. PETROLEUM PRODUCTION & EXPLORATION ASSN: We would like to see the Renewable Energy Target removed.
KERRY BREWSTER: Now a Government-appointed panel is reviewing the target. And it hasn’t ruled out scrapping it altogether, a move that the renewable energy industry says would halt billions of dollars in new solar and wind projects and potentially bankrupt some large companies……..
KERRY BREWSTER: The modelling used to argue for the target to be scrapped is two-year-old work from BAEconomics, headed by economist Dr Brian Fisher. Dr Fisher is one of the four experts tasked by the Prime Minister to decide the target’s future.
Solar advocates are calling this a serious conflict of interest. They point to the fact the same modelling was rejected by the last RET review conducted 18 months ago by the Climate Change Authority.
JOHN GRIMES, AUSTRALIAN SOLAR COUNCIL: He’s been an active player, providing advice that’s been absolutely one-sided in the past, advice that’s still being used. Brian Fisher should step down from his position on this review committee……..
In the complex world of modelling, Bloomberg New Energy says it’s crucial to reflect not just the cost of renewables, but also the benefits. Its submission includes what it says APPEA’s modelling doesn’t: the ability of solar and wind to drive down the wholesale price of electricity when the sun shines and the wind blows.
KOBAD BHAVNAGRI, BLOOMBERG NEW ENERGY: That’s essential, really. You have to look at both the costs and the benefits of the scheme. Just like when you’re going to buy a house you look at the cost of buying a house versus the benefits of not having to pay rent anymore. It’s quite easy to highlight the costs and completely ignore the benefits.
MILES GEORGE, INFIGEN: In that modelling that was done for APPEA two years ago, there was no attempt to identify or model the wholesale price reduction that’s associated with renewable energy.
KERRY BREWSTER: Wind energy company Infigen says APPEA’s modelling doesn’t stand up to scrutiny……….http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2014/s4018998.htm
Coalition Ministers say that Moree solar energy plant funding is assured
Moree solar on track for Commonwealth funding http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-04/moree-solar-on-track/5500668 By Tim Lamacraft 4 Jun 2014,The Federal Coalition is confident the Moree Solar Farm will secure Commonwealth funding despite plans to axe its finance source.
The Government is looking to axe the Australian Renewable Energy Association, which has expressed interest in providing finance to the Moree Solar Farm, a joint initiative of Pacific Hydro and Fotowatio.
The two companies are nervous that tens-of-millions of dollars in funding is in jeopardy.
But Federal Parkes MP Mark Coulton recently met with Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane on the issue.
He says the Moree Solar Farm is on track to meet Commonwealth funding approvals.
“I’ve been reassured by the Minister and his Department that there’s nothing with this project that’s ringing alarm bells and they’re very happy with it the way it is,” he said.
“Certainly the Moree Solar Farm has no reason at this stage to be fearful that the ARENA funding wont be there.”
It’s not yet clear when the Coalition will approach the Senate in an attempt to repeal the Arena Act, but projects that do not already have agreements in place will not be funded.
Muckaty nuclear waste case highlights financial irregularities in the project
Financial irregularities in Muckaty compo http://localtoday.com.au/get-local/local-news/137684-financial-irregularities-in-muckaty-compo.html By AAP 03/06/14 There were financial irregularities in the compensation package for indigenous people who face a nuclear waste dump on their land, a court has heard. A $200,000 up-front payment to a narrow group of indigenous families was not part of the package that was negotiated, lawyer Ron Merkel QC told the Federal Court on Tuesday.
Mr Merkel pointed to letters and meeting minutes which showed the Northern Land Council’s (NLC) 2007 discussions with the Commonwealth, in which it secured use of the remote land near Tennant Creek as a radioactive waste management facility.Negotiations ultimately arrived at a package of $9 million to be held in a charitable trust, $2 million for a road on Aboriginal land and $1 million, over five years, for scholarships.
“There was no mention of a $200,000 payment, which was the only payment to go directly into pockets,” Mr Merkel said.
“It was the only money to be paid up-front.”
A $200,000 payment was made to a narrow group of indigenous families who, Mr Merkel said, did not represent all traditional owners of the land.
The court was also told the same group was cited in letters in which the NLC sought to reassure the federal government it had obtained informed consent from all traditional landowners.
The case is being heard by Justice Anthony North, who also sought to confirm whether Mr Merkel’s clients were opposed to “the dump or the deal”. “My clients are not trying to get a penny of this,” Mr Merkel said. “They were never given the right to consent or not to consent and if they were included, as they should have been, then the NLC would not have got consent (of all traditional land owners) at all.”
Highlighting process flaws was the only legal avenue to challenge the project, Mr Merkel said, and his clients did not want it to proceed.
The Commonwealth and the NLC are yet to make opening submissions.
Forty witnesses will be called for the hearings being held in Melbourne, Muckaty Station, Tennant Creek and Darwin.
Aboriginal art exhibition “Flow of Voices” highlights environment and history
Aboriginal elders paint pre-mine tragedy GINA FAIRLEY Visual Arts Hub, 3 JUNE, 2014
A new exhibition from remote mining country provides a ‘prequel’ tale that goes back to colonial frontier massacres Jacky Green’s potent pictures of the environmental impact of the Macarthur River Mine’s (MRM) on the remote Gulf Country of Borroloola recently offered a powerful example of the way art tells an important contemporary story.
But the region, which sits just below the Gulf of Carpentaria in the Northern Territory, has an equally charged story of land and dispossession from colonial times which is now the subject of a matching exhibition Flow of Voices 2: Stewart Hoosan and Nancy McDinny……….in this unrecognised frontier war about one-sixth of the population lost their lives in lawless massacres and violence (600 men, women and children in official records),’ said Cross Arts Projects director Jo Holder.
‘Nancy McDinny and Stewart Hoosan insist that the settlement of Australia wasn’t a simple story of Aboriginal people acquiescing to the occupation of their land, but one of resistance where many people fought back against violence, sexual abuse and dispossession’, Holder added in a statement.
‘When they were powerful old people, didn’t know how to speak English but used to talk in language, saying, “We not going to give away our land. This is our land. It belong here. This is our history, our story and our dreaming”,’ said McDinny.
The old people who set up Waralungku art centre – including McDinny, Hoosan and the late Ginger Riley (from Ngukkur) – wanted to make history paintings to account for their peoples’ agency and overwhelming belief in their just claim on their land. Renowned for their colour and realism, ‘many paintings from the Gulf are unique conceptual and analytic documents about history and contemporary issues,’ explained Holder………The partner exhibitions ‘argue for proper consultation, environmental monitoring, restoration and community benefit in exchange for resource extraction. Without proper respect for people and country racial hierarchies and “imperial” attitudes persist,’ said gallery director Jo Holder.
Green’s work captures that sentiment: ‘I want to show people what is happening to our country and to Aboriginal people. No one is listening to us. What we want. How we want to live. What we want in the future for our children. It’s for these reasons that I started to paint. I want government to listen to Aboriginal people. I want people in the cities to know what’s happening to us and our country.’
The artists and Waralungku Arts are proud to announce their plan to found a Yanyuwa, Garrwa, Marra and Gudanji People’s Keeping Place and Knowledge Centre at Borroloola.
Flow of Voices 2:
Cross Art Projects, Kings Cross
22 May – 28 June 2, 2014
www.crossarts.com.au
www.waralungku.com http://visual.artshub.com.au/news-article/news/visual-arts/aboriginal-elders-paint-pre-mine-tragedy-244014
Victoria’s anti-wind energy Premier Napthine decides that gas is “renewable” energy
Napthine government wants gas included in renewable energy target June 3, 201 Tom Arup Environment editor, The Age Australia’s renewable energy target would include gas-fired power – derived from fossil fuels – under a controversial proposal by the Victorian government.
The state also suggests the target should also be scaled back to reflect falling demand for power……….
Greens Leader Greg Barber said including gas in the target would be “a huge hit to the earth …….”If Premier Denis Napthine has convinced himself that gas is a renewable energy source, then he is confused,” he said. “Adding gas to the renewable energy target means it is no longer about renewable energy.”
The Victorian opposition said the government should be fighting to maintain the target in current form.
Labor energy spokeswoman Lily D’Ambrosio said: “As it stands, the [target] provides investment in new industries and will create thousands of jobs for Victorians. We wholeheartedly support that – Denis Napthine should too.”……..
The Victorian submission puts it at odds with renewable energy firms and NSW, which supports the target as it stands but wants the timeframe to achieve it pushed out…….
Environment Victoria campaigner Nick Aberle said keeping the target would allow Victoria to tap into billions of dollars of clean energy investment, creating skilled jobs in regional areas. “There is also good evidence that keeping the target will ultimately lead to lower electricity prices for consumers,” Dr Aberle said.
In a separate submission, the City of Melbourne strongly backs the retention of the target as it stands. It says the policy is pushing down wholesale electricity prices, benefiting consumers including manufacturers in the city.
The Melbourne City Council submission also says the advent of renewable energy technology, such as rooftop solar panels, has strengthened the resilience of the energy grid and both put curbs on demand and lowered prices during extreme heatwaves.http://www.theage.com.au/environment/energy-smart/napthine-government-wants-gas-included-in-renewable-energy-target-20140603-39gs0.html
Australian govt to open up nuclear weapons test site to Aboriginal people, AND to uranium mining!
Traditional Maralinga Tjaruta people gain unrestricted access to rehabilitated land where nuclear testing occurred news.com.au 3 June 14 The federal government will on Wednesday announce 1782 square km in area will be formally excised from the Woomera Prohibited Area at the request of the Maralinga Tjaruta people……..
Maralinga Tjarutja general manager Richard Preece said the decision would enable the traditional owners to enter section 400 without seeking approval from the Defence Department.
“We didn’t think it’s sensible to have within the range something that would probably be the last place in Australia you’d want to drop bombs on,’’ Mr Preece said…….
Nuclear testing was conducted by the British government in Australia between 1952 and 1963.
Maralinga was officially closed in 1967.
The federal government hopes a bill opening the Woomera Prohibited Area for exploration and mining will be passed by Parliament during its winter sittings. Up to $35 billion worth of iron ore, gold and uranium is believed to lie beneath the ground in the prohibited area.
If the bill becomes law, it will create a new access regime for non-Defence users.
The State Government and federal Labor MPs have been pushing for the bill to be passed as soon as possible, arguing it will create new economic opportunities for South Australia, which could help offset the impact of the Holden closure. http://www.news.com.au/national/south-australia/traditional-maralinga-tjaruta-people-gain-unrestricted-access-to-rehabilitated-land-where-nuclear-testing-occurred/story-fnii5yv4-1226942188796
Spying by people employed by coal companies to infiltrate activist groups
Australian Coal Companies Used Spies To Infiltrate Group Of Activists Climate Progress, BY WILL FREEMAN ON JUNE 3, 2014 Two Australian coal companies have been exposed for hiring former soldiers and intelligence officers to spy on anti-coal protests in New South Wales, according to revelations published by the Sydney Morning Herald on Monday.
In interviews with Fairfax Media, the undercover agents revealed they were employed by the Centre for Intelligence and Risk Management (CIRM), a private intelligence firm run by Tony Groves, a former Australian military intelligence officer. The Idemitsu mining company openly admits it contracted CIRM in order to gather information about protesters. For five months, the firm’s undercover operatives pretended they were anti-coal activists and used fake names, secretly sending detailed field reports back to CIRM relaying sensitive information about protest leaders and plans of action.
The spying “could fall foul of provisions in the corporations, consumer and privacy laws,” Barbara MacDonald, a law professor at Sydney University, told the Sydney Morning Herald, particularly if “someone had acted on the deception to the material detriment” of those being spied on. Given the information that has recently come to light, Idemitsu and Whitehaven Coal could be charged with seriously violating Australian law.
Both the Boggabri and Maules Creek mines have stirred up considerable controversy among locals and international environmental groups alike, who claim the large scale mining projects will exacerbate already intense effects of climate change in Australia. The past few years have seen record high temperatures and several extreme weather events in the nation, such as droughts and increasingly severe wildfires in the Australian bush.
Despite these warning signs, the government of Prime Minister Tony Abbott has dismantled much of the country’s progressive environmental legislation and, as leader of the G20 summit, argued that climate change should be excluded from the meeting’s agenda. Greg Hunt, Abbott’s Minister of the Environment since 2013, gave the green light to Whitehaven Coal to proceed with construction of the Maules Creek mine despite mounting evidence that the coal industry is endangering public health.
If the Maules Creek mine is finished, it will release nearly 20 thousand tons of dust into the surrounding area, causing severe health problems and destroying fields of crops.
A coalition of local farmers and aboriginal groups, concerned that the Maules Creek mine will bring a similarly devastating tide of environmental degradation to their communities, have actively resisted the construction project for over six months. Farmers fear the impact of drought on their livelihood, as the mine threatens to drain up to seven meters from the water table in the area. The Gomeroi people, an aboriginal group and the traditional owners of the land, will see destruction of sacred sites and historical artifacts if the mine is completed.
Over the months, a group of doctors and medical students, dubbed Medics Against Coal, and religious leaders from several faiths joined in the protests as well. Since December, police have made over 120 arrests, even detaining a 92-year-old World War Two veteran for his participation in the protests. http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/06/03/3443822/australia-coal-spies/
Abbott government cuts Aboriginal funding, and promotes discrimination
Budget cuts stir Aboriginal anger in Australia Ft.com By Jamie Smyth in Sydney, 3 June 14, “……This is our land. They have pulled our houses down and want to replace them with student accommodation and shops,” says the 66-year-old, who has lived for a half century in Redfern, seen by many Aboriginals as their spiritual home in Sydney.
This battle for social housing is just one of the many struggles Aboriginal communities face as they strive to emerge from two centuries of discrimination and grinding poverty.
The Redfern protest – timed to coincide with National Reconciliation Week – is taking place against the backdrop of a A$500m cut in Aboriginal funding programmes in the federal budget, which includes A$160m in health services alone. It also comes as Canberra proposes a watering down of the racial discrimination act, which was introduced in 1975 following a long and bitter political battle.
The government changes are alarming Aboriginal leaders, who were told by Tony Abbott when he was elected in September 2013 he would be a “prime minister for Aboriginal affairs”. Critics say it is a broken promise by Mr Abbott, who has been accused of backtracking on several key election commitments since May’s budget – the toughest in Australia for almost two decades.
“What beggars belief is they are saying they support freedom of speech while at the same time they are taking away money from [Aboriginal] advocacy bodies,” says Thomas Calma, an Aboriginal elder from Darwin and former race discrimination commissioner
The coalition wants to repeal a section of the race discrimination act, which makes it unlawful to “offend, insult or humiliate” another person because of their “race, colour or national or ethnic origin”.
“People do have a right to be bigots,” said George Brandis, Australia’s attorney-general, when he proposed the changes to parliament as a way to bolster free speech.
“With this budget the government is really moving back to the discriminatory policies we saw in the past. It is back to the future in Australia.” http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/5d031d70-eab5-11e3-80fb-00144feabdc0.html#axzz33hiLRfqj
Federal Court hears of invalid plan to dump nuclear waste on Aboriginal land
Nuclear waste dump on Aboriginal land invalid, court told The West Australian, 3 June 14. Sydney (AFP) – The earmarking of a remote Australian outback area as a nuclear waste dump was invalid because officials failed to contact all traditional Aboriginal landowners affected, a court heard Monday.Muckaty Station in the Northern Territory was nominated in early 2007 as a site to store low and intermediate radioactive waste under a deal negotiated with the Aboriginal Ngapa clan.
While Australia does not use nuclear power, it needs a site to store waste, including processed fuel rods from the country’s only nuclear reactor at Lucas Heights, on the outskirts of Sydney,…..Opponents have fought against the dump for years, with a trial starting in the Federal Court in Melbourne Monday alleging Muckaty’s nomination was invalid due to a failure of the government and the land council to obtain the consent of all Aboriginal owners.
“What we’re here to say is ‘no more’ and that this process was so legally flawed that it is invalid,” Ron Merkel, who is representing traditional owners, told the court.
“The opposition is in no small part based on a spiritual affiliation to the land and that radioactive waste will poison the land,” he said in comments cited by Australian Associated Press.
The court was told the consent of all groups with a claim to the land was required for the facility to go ahead, but some Aboriginals whose country was affected have never had a chance to voice their concerns until now……..Speaking to reporters, Kylie Sambo, of the Warlmanpa people, said the idea of a waste facility on the land, which is in the centre of the country, was “poison”.
“We don’t want it to spoil our country because we love our land and we’ve been there for centuries,” she said. “My uncle once told me, ‘You may think you own the land, but in fact the land owns us’.”
The Australian Conservation Foundation said the case raised questions about the country’s management of long-lived radioactive waste.
“Australia has never has an independent assessment of how best to manage radioactive waste; now we urgently need one,” campaigner Dave Sweeney said.
The case is set to run for five weeks. https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/world/a/24084083/nuclear-waste-dump-on-aboriginal-land-invalid-court-told/
Abbott unable to censor Climate Change from G20 and from talks with Obama?
Barack Obama’s climate change moves put heat on Tony Abbott The Age, June 3,Mark Kenny Chief political correspondent A dramatic acceleration of America’s response to climate change, including strong caps on coal-fired pollution threatens to expose Australia’s humble 5 per cent emissions reduction target by 2020 as too low and out of step with the rest of the world.
The US move may overshadow the first bilateral talks between Prime Minister Tony Abbott and President Barack Obama to take place in Washington next week. Those talks will cover trade, economic and strategic issues but with climate change again dominating the US political cycle, the environmental challenge is likely to arise.
And that may see Mr Abbott under direct presidential pressure to re-include climate change as a key economic issue on the agenda of the G20 when Australia hosts the premier international economic forum later this year.…….http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/barack-obamas-climate-change-moves-put-heat-on-tony-abbott-20140602-39f0s.html#ixzz33djzH13e
Aboriginal elders were misled by Northern Land Council over Muckaty nuclear waste dump plan
Northern Land Council ‘misled’ elders over Muckaty Station nuclear dump site http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/policy/northern-land-council-misled-elders-over-muckaty-station-nuclear-dump-site/story-fn9hm1pm-1226940619084# PIA AKERMAN THE AUSTRALIAN JUNE 03, 2014 ONE of the country’s most powerful Aboriginal bodies has been accused of misleading Top End residents about the safety of using Muckaty Station as a nuclear waste dump site.
In the opening day of the legal challenge to the proposed nuclear waste facility at Muckaty, 110km north of Tennant Creek, opponents of the plan said they would never accept nuclear waste there.
Ron Merkel QC, representing Mark Lane Jangala and three other elders who oppose the waste dump, told the Federal Court that the Northern Land Council had acted outside its powers and misrepresented the facts during “consultations’’ with traditional landowners.
“This is a matter which has literally torn the Muckaty community apart,” he said.
Mr Merkel’s submissions claim the NLC failed to ensure traditional owners understood the effect of nominating Muckaty as a nuclear waste site, telling them it was safe to bury it and downplaying any risks. The NLC is also accused of incorrectly identifying people with an interest in the land and not consulting in a culturally appropriate manner with Aboriginal interpreters.
Muckaty Station was chosen by the Howard government in 2007 after being volunteered by the NLC in a deal worth more than $12 million to the NLC and $10m initially to the Northern Territory government, which would receive another $2m a year from other governments once the facility was operational.
Mr Merkel said “not one” Aboriginal person at Muckaty had any right to any money if the dump went ahead according to a deed that nominated the site.
The hearing continues in Melbourne this week before moving to the NT.
Uranium company gives up – switching to property development
United Uranium Limited moving from resources exploration to property development United Uranium Limited moving from resources exploration to property development http://www.proactiveinvestors.com.au/companies/news/55373/united-uranium-limited-moving-from-resources-exploration-to-property-development-55373.html June 02, 2014 United Uranium Limited moving from resources exploration to property development
United Uranium Limited (ASX:UUL) is exploring opportunities that will most likely result in a shift away from resources exploration to property development in a bid to increase shareholder value.
This follows completion of a strategic review that identified the unwillingness of the investment community to invest in junior resources companies, particularly those focused on uranium.
It added the early stage status of its projects required significant funding to explore, with no guarantee of commercial success.
These add to the continued depressed uranium prices, and commodities prices in general.
In contrast, it noted that investors were willing to invest in property developments with the sector currently experiencing strong housing demand.
Permanent gloom for the uranium industry – the crisis is terminal?
We are heading for a uranium crisis , Investor Intel, June 2, 2014 by Robin Bromby“……Welcome to the “perma-gloom” with spot uranium now at $28.25/lb. But it really does portend a very troubling situation. We could be on the brink of a real uranium crisis, one that could have serious ramifications down the road. This is because, on top of all the doubts about nuclear post-Fukushima and the slowness of Japan to get reactors back on line, uranium is caught up in the general malaise affecting the mining industry ……….the uranium price has fallen by 30% over the past year. If it keeps falling, and it well might, more and more companies will either go into hibernation mode or quit the sector all together ……..
A surer sign that all is not well can be evidenced from an ominous trend — exploration companies quitting the sector. Others are making cuts: Cameco closed its Cheyenne office, while BHP Billiton has deferred its expansion at the world’s biggest uranium deposit, Olympic Dam in South Australia. Australia’s Paladin Energy (ASX:PDN) has put one of its mines, Kayelekera in Malawi, on care and maintenance.
Back in 2007-8, after spot uranium hit $137/lb, this was the place to be. Suddenly every mining explorer was keen to be in the uranium hunt. At one stage, more than 260 companies listed on the Australian Securities claimed to have uranium projects (many of them in what the Canadian miners call “moose pasture”).
Now, it seems, those small number remaining can’t wait to get out. FYI Resources (ASX:FYI), which got into uranium after quitting the eye care business (it’s previous name was Freedom Eye) in 2009, is now concentrating on potash in Thailand. Uranex (ASX:UNX) is staying in Tanzania, but has put its uranium on the back-burner in order to pursue graphite.
But possibly the most startling change was reported today. Junior United Uranium (ASX:UUL) which has six projects in Western Australia [and A$3.41 million in the bank as at March 31] is getting out of uranium and into — wait for it — property development.You can’t exactly blame the directors. The shares are trading at a discount to the company assets (the market capitalisation being just A$2 million), all its projects are early-stage ones that will require considerable sums to explore and may not turn out to be viable, no one is investing in the sector, the uranium price is depressed as is the resource sector generally.
Just two weeks ago another uranium explorer working in Western Australia, Prime Minerals (ASX:PIM), signalled it was changing direction. It is merging with Cocoon Data Holdings which has data security software. The news lifted Prime’s stock from A0.9c to A2.2c.
Back in 2007, announcing you were getting into uranium could see your stock price double. Now announcing you’re switching focus away from uranium does the trick. This is not a good trend. http://investorintel.com/rare-earth-intel/may-heading-uranium-crisis/#sthash.l5sn96vF.dpuf–
Aboriginal owners fear that radioactive waste dump will poison their land
NT nuclear dump will ‘poison’ land: trial The indigenous owners of Muckaty Station, which is earmarked for a nuclear waste dump, fear it will poison their land. SBS News, 2 June 14, Source AAP “….…The indigenous owners of the Northern Territory’s Muckaty Station were asked to welcome a nuclear waste dump while waving away their rights to compensation, a court has heard.The remote site near Tennant Creek has been earmarked, since 2007, as the site of a major Commonwealth-run radioactive waste storage facility.
A seven-year bid to halt the project reached the Federal Court on Monday, where Justice Anthony North was told its indigenous owners were being short-changed………
Mr Merkel said the waste to be stored at the site would remain dangerously radioactive for 200 years, and indigenous people he represented had a connection to the land for 50,000 years. The indigenous owners did not want it to proceed, he said, because they believed it would affect their spiritual affiliation with – and “poison” – the land.
The court was also told proper process to determine Muckaty Station’s indigenous ownership, or to obtain consent from all affected families, was not followed.
“It is an unusual structure for what is a compulsory acquisition of land,” Justice North said………
Kylie Sambo, 20, of the Warlmanpa people, said it was a relief for her community to get its day in court after more than seven years of campaigning against the waste dump. “It’s a poison. We don’t want it to be there,” she told reporters. “We don’t want it to spoil our country because we love our land and we’ve been there for centuries. “My uncle once told me, ‘You may think you own the land, but in fact the land owns us’.”Muckaty Station has been selected as the preferred site to provide long-term storage for radioactive waste that is now being held at Lucas Heights and then sent to France for further processing. http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/06/02/nt-nuclear-dump-will-poison-land-trial
Solar thermal energy a step closer with CSIRO breakthrough
CSIRO Newcastle solar breakthrough for supercritical steam ABC News 3 June 14 The CSIRO is describing research at its Newcastle energy centre as a game-changer for the renewable energy industry. The CSIRO is describing research at its Newcastle energy centre as a game-changer for the renewable energy industry.
Researchers have used solar energy to generate hot and pressurised ‘supercritical’ steam at the highest temperatures ever achieved outside of fossil sources.
Supercritical solar steam is water pressurised at enormous force and heated using solar radiation.
Around 90 per cent of Australia’s electricity is generated using fossil fuel, but only a small number of power stations are based on the more advanced supercritical steam.
The world record set at the CSIRO’s Energy Centre in Newcastle this month, was at a pressure of 23.5 megapascals and temperatures up to 570 degrees Celsius.
Project leader, Robbie McNaughton says it is the combination of pressure and temperature demonstrated at scale, that makes it such a breakthrough for solar power…… CSIRO’s Energy Director, Dr Alex Wonhas says the milestone is a game-changer for the industry.
“It’s like breaking the sound barrier,” he said.
“This step change proves solar has the potential to compete with the peak performance capabilities of fossil fuel sources.”
The $9.7 million research program is supported by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).
ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht says although more work is needed before the technology is ready for commercialisation, it is an important breakthrough and demonstrates the importance of research and development.
Mr Frischknecht says it brings solar thermal energy a step closer to cost competitiveness with fossil fuel generated power.http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-03/csiro-newcastle-solar-breakthrough-for-supercritical-steam/5495744?§ion=news
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)
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