Aboriginal landowners have been deprived of control over their land
Mabo’s native title victory squandered, says judge The Age, June 1, 2013 Jane Lee Eddie Mabo’s High Court win has been ”squandered”, with native title reduced to something of little practical significance, a retired Federal Court judge says.
Peter Gray, previously the Aboriginal land rights commissioner and deputy president of the National Native Title Tribunal, retired after 29 years at the Federal Court on May 17.
In his farewell speech to the court, he referred to the historic 1992 decision that overturned the terra nullius doctrine that Australia belonged to no one before white settlement, paving the way for native title rights for indigenous people.
”The biggest disappointment in my career has been to see the opportunity given to us by the High Court in the Mabo case squandered,” Mr Gray said. ”The concept of native title has been reduced to something of little practical significance by judges who have been unable to understand, and legislators who have been consciously averse to, the vital relationship between people and land in Aboriginal traditions.”
He said a future generation of Australians had to devise a new native title system that ”recognises and respects the rights of our indigenous peoples and returns to them a measure of control over what, but for colonisation, would have been indisputably theirs…
Where does Northern Territory’s Chief Minister Giles stand on NT becoming nuclear waste dump host?
Nuke waste for Barkly? Tennant and District Times, By By Barkly MLA Gerry McCarthy May 31, 2013, “……..The Federal Court hearing in relation to Muckaty Station as Australia’s first nuclear waste management facility should become the Chief Minister’s ‘yard-stick’ as the decision reflects, can a small family group make a decision about Aboriginal land allowing development that adversely impacts on the extended clan, moiety and tribal owners including traditional owners from surrounding Aboriginal land?
Chief Minister Adam Giles, has not declared his position or the CLP Government’s position on the NT becoming the repository for Australia’s nuclear waste including intermediate to high level waste from nuclear fuel rods and decommissioned nuclear reactor from Sydney’s Lucas Heights.
However where do Mr Giles and his Government members stand on the Muckaty nomination as Territory Labor’s position has not changed in opposition to Federal colleagues imposing Australia’s first nuclear waste dump on the NT! http://www.tennantcreektimes.com.au/story/1540673/bali-for-tiwis-nuke-waste-for-barkly/?cs=1261
Military and Mining to rule Woomera – an area larger than England
Australia eases access to world’s biggest weapon range, SMH, 30 May 13 , Australia will ease access restrictions on the world’s largest weapons test range in the remote outback – an area larger than England – to unlock an estimated $35 billion in untapped mineral resources, with legislation for the change unveiled on Thursday.
Australia will ease access restrictions on the world’s largest weapons test range in the remote outback – an area larger than England – to unlock an estimated $35 billion in untapped mineral resources, with legislation for the change unveiled on Thursday.
The Woomera Prohibited Area covers 127,000 square km of mostly barren desert and has been closed to the public since 1947, when it was used for Cold War rocket and nuclear tests by Britain, Australia and the United States.
The sprawling site, which is almost free from electronic signal interference, was also chosen this year as test site for the joint British-French unmanned supersonic stealth drone Taranis, under development by BAE Systems Plc. Defence Minister Stephen Smith told MPs that new legislation would allow miners and some members of the public with reason to be there to share access to the land with the military, to better balance national security and economic concerns………
Parts of Woomera, which hosted British nuclear weapons tests between 1955 and 1963, also lie adjacent to the Olympic Dam site, which BHP Billiton decided not to expand last year as Australia’s mining boom stalled. A small number of mines already exist in the area, including Prominent Hill and Kingsgate Consolidated Ltd’s Challenger gold mine.
Under the new access arrangements, the military would remain in charge of the area, but a permit system would give civilians the right to enter Woomera. As well as miners, indigenous Aboriginal residents can also enter the zone, and environmental or other researchers.The legislation sets up a series of zones, some of which would be zoned red for “continuous defence use” and others which would exclude mining and exploration for between 14 and 70 days a year, in a timeshare arrangement with the military.
“It allows users to make commercial decisions with some assurance as to when they will be required to leave the Area because of defence activity,” Smith said……Smith said the legislation would be passed as a priority before parliament was dissolved for September elections.: http://www.smh.com.au/business/australia-eases-access-to-worlds-biggest-weapon-range-20130530-2ne3a.html#ixzz2Uuz6nLoX
Farming the sun – Australia’s first community-run solar farm at Lismore?
North coast looks at sustainable energy alternatives, By ABC North Coast, 31 May 13, “………… Lismore could host Australia’s first community solar farm, as part of the new Farming the Sun project. Adam Blakester is in charge of the project which has received funding to establish seven or more community-owned solar farms around the country.
Mr Blakester said Farming the Sun is about bringing the community together and strengthening the local economy. It would mean local people would invest in the project and then on-sell the energy to a local organisation. “It’s really a community building project and particularly about learning and understanding electricity and energy which is an increasingly significant issue for all of us on a local scale and a global scale.
“That solar farm is owned by a local company; which is local people as shareholders – so that’s the community ownership.”……. He said while community-run solar farms haven’t been viable in the past, solar energy has just recently become more affordable than grid power. “Now, it’s financially cheaper to produce your own electricity with a solar panel, than to buy it off the electricity grid.
“By locally owning it, the money we’re spending on electricity starts to be recirculated for the life of this solar farm in the local region and local economy.”
A memorandum of understanding was signed last night by Lismore City Council, and by Starfish enterprises which – along with the NSW Office for Environment and Heritage and The Earth Welfare Foundation – has contributed funding towards the Farming the Sun project. …….
A feasibility study will now be conducted to see if it can go ahead in Lismore. http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2013/05/31/3771758.htm?site=northcoast
Investors attracted to Australia because of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation
“The latest analysis by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) indicates that new wind power projects in Australia are as much as 18% and 14% cheaper than new gas and oil plants respectively,”
CEFC boosting investor interest in Australian renewables: report REneweconomy, By Sophie Vorrath 30 May 2013Investment in renewable energy projects in Australia has become more appealing since the establishment of the federal government’s $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation, according to the latest edition of Ernst & Young’s Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index.
The index, released this week, ranks Australia’s ‘attractiveness’ in the global renewables investment market – a market it says is expected to be worth $US630 billion a year by 2030 – in fourth place, below the US, China and Germany (in first, second and third positions, respectively) and ahead of the UK, Japan, Canada, India, France and Belgium. Continue reading
Australia well on track to beat 2020 renewable energy target
Australia on course to beat 2020 renewable energy target, says study Consultancy forecasts that country will derive 22.5% of its power from renewables by 2020 Guardian UK, Oliver Milman 30 May 13 Australia is on course to surpass its renewable energy target by deriving 22.5% of its power from sources such as solar and wind by 2020, according to a new study. The analysis of government agency data, by consultancy Green Energy Markets, forecast a long-term decline in fossil fuels, with the use of coal for electricity falling by a third over the next 20 years.
Brown coal, the most carbon dioxide-heavy of all coal varieties, is set to be phased out as an energy source completely by 2050, as is oil.Meanwhile, renewables are set to grow from 13% of the energy mix to 51% by 2050, trumping the target of 20% by 2020 along the way.
Green Energy Markets says that changing consumption will also aid the bipartisan renewable energy target, predicting an average annual electricity generation growth rate of 1.47% until 2020 – a figure lower than previously thought. The report states that electricity consumption fell by 5.5% from 2008 to 2012, with half of this reduction driven by solar and energy efficiency schemes. A drop-off in manufacturing activity and energy bill price rises have also played a role.
However, clean energy groups have warned that political uncertainty over the future of the RET is undermining investment in the sector, potentially compromising the 20% target…… Kane Thornton, deputy chief executive of the Clean Energy Council, said that the RET policies needed to remain in place to ensure investment.
“The clean energy industry is tracking along well and the 20% target means there are lots of projects ready to go,” he said. “There are lots of investors looking to Australia and the key question is ‘will the RET stay in place?’ This investment will come to Australia as long as those policy settings are stable.”http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/30/australia-2020-renewable-energy-target
Aborigines’ legal push for independence
Australia’s Aborigines Launch a Bold Legal Push for Independence TIME, By Ian Lloyd Neubauer May 30, 2013 If a determined group of indigenous people get their way, the world’s newest country won’t be in Africa or the Balkans but on the eastern periphery of Australia’s outback. A bleak, foreboding, flood-prone savannah the size of Austria 750 km northwest of Sydney, the Murrawarri Republic was home to an Aboriginal nation that lived in the Culgoa River region of the state of New South Wales (NSW) tens of thousands of years before the arrival of British settlers. On March 31, they took the first step in ending more than 200 years of colonial rule when they sent letters to Queen Elizabeth II and the Australian government demanding evidence of either a treaty or deed of cessation. When those parties failed to respond to the Murrawarri’s 28-day deadline, they issued a Declaration of the Continuance of the State of Murrawarri Nation.
“When Captain Cook arrived here in 1770, he said he was claiming the continent in the name of the Crown. But on what legal grounds did he take our land?” asks Sharni Gibbons, daughter of Fred Gibbons, chairman of the Murrawarri People’s Council.
Australia’s Aboriginal-sovereignty movement can be traced back to 1972. That year, on Jan. 26 — celebrated nationally as Australia Day — a group of black militants planted a tent on the lawns of the Old Parliament House in Canberra. The Aboriginal Tent Embassy galvanized support for indigenous land rights and thrust its ambassador Michael Anderson into the international spotlight…….. Continue reading
Clean Energy Finance Corporation explains its value, to Australia’s Liberal Coalition
Green fund makes its case to Coalition The Age, May 29, 2013 –
The Clean Energy Finance Corporation’s chief executive Oliver Yates outlines the case for preserving his $10 billion green fund in an email sent to the Coalition’s finance spokesman Andrew Robb.
The Coalition has vowed to scrap the fund if it wins office at the September 14 elections, and has called for the new corporation to halt loans before it formally starts operations on July 1.
Highlights of the email include the potential benefit to the Victorian economy of projects being considered, and that “active discussions are underway” with more than 50 project proponents, which are seeking CEFC finance of about $2 billion. CEFC has also received proposals from some 119 additional project proponents seeking CEFC finance of more than $3.3 billion.
(Sub-headlines have been added to break up the text.)
‘Rigorous commercial basis’…….
Public benefits…..
Externalities…..
Simpler approach…..
Project discussions…. http://www.theage.com.au/business/carbon-economy/green-fund-makes-its-case-to-coalition-20130529-2naxp.html#ixzz2UpEjXYvQ
23 per cent of Victorian voters likely to vote for Julian Assange
New poll reveals that Julian Assange could win senate seat in Australian elections, TNT 29th May 2013 By Emma Featherstone Assange’s bid for a senate seat was seen by many as a stunt, but a poll has found 26 per cent of Australians would vote him in.
The Senate is in the upper chamber of Australia’s National Parliament and is comprised of 12 representatives from the six states, plus a pair of representatives from its territories.
The poll came from data through UMR Research, the Labour Party’s pollster. It was compiled from 1,000 Australian voters’ online answers.
They were asked: “Recently, Wikileaks has announced that Julian Assange plans to run for a seat in the Australian Senate. If he were to run, how likely would you be to vote for him and the Wikileaks Party?” 26 per cent of respondents declared themselves likely voters for the Wikileaks Party. 23 per cent of voters in Victoria, where Assange will run, consider themselves “likely” to vote for his party……. New poll reveals that Julian Assange could win senate seat in Australian elections – TNT Magazine
Strict regulations for wind energy, but not for coal and gas plants
“The next logical step would be for the Australian Energy Regulator to require monthly declarations from gas and coal-fired power stations, and their associated coal mines, that they are compliant with all air, water and noise pollution laws and regulations,”
Wind industry angered over red tape http://www.smh.com.au/business/carbon-economy/wind-industry-angered-over-red-tape-20130529-2na9h.html#ixzz2UpGEFO00 May 29, 2013 Peter Hannam Wind energy producers are in a twist after being forced to demonstrate they are operating within noise limits every time they seek to surrender renewable energy certificates.
As of the start of June, all large-scale power stations accredited under the renewable energy target will have to submit a “standing notice” of ongoing compliance with all local, state and federal planning and approval requirements.
Operators say they were only advised of the change late last week. Power stations, including hydro, will continue to be required to complete an annual electricity generation return as before. Continue reading
Australian Government knew that Aboriginals were exposed to radiation at Maralinga
Paul Langley supplies extracts from Hansard Federal Parliamentary Hansard, ABORIGINES AT MARALINGA : EXPOSURE TO RADIATION (QUESTION NO. 5786….) ABORIGINES AT MARALINGA : EXPOSURE TO RADIATION (QUESTION NO. 5786)
Mr Uren asked questions about Aboriginals’ exposure to radioactive fallout from the atomic bomb testing, and also about the “cleanup”- and got very unsatisfactory answers.
While many rejoice, Tony Abbott weeps, on departure of Martin Ferguson from Parliament
What a charade! Abbott showing his lovely side as Labor’s Martin Ferguson, firm supporter of the Liberal Party’s nuclear policies, announced his departure from Parliament.
No doubt Martin Fergsuon will go on to some lucrative position in the private sector, pushing fossil fuel and nuclear energy.
Abbott tears up as he praises retiring Labor MP An emotional Tony Abbott choked back tears as he praised former resources minister and Labor MP Martin Ferguson, who today announced he will retire from politics after the September election….. In a gushing speech Mr Abbott called Mr Ferguson a “great Australian” and said the parliament and the nation “would be poorer for his absence”…. http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/2013/05/29/16/04/emotional-abbott-praises-outgoing-labor-mp#gigyaComments
Questions in Australia’s Senate about Wiluna and other uranium projects – get not very straight answers
Christina Macpherson 29 May 13, These questions were asked in Senate Estimates today, and did not always get clear answers.http://scott-ludlam.greensmps.org.au/content/estimates/office-supervising-scientist-5
Senator Ludlam asked the Acting Office of the Supervising Scientist about the following matters:
- Toro Energy uranium project, (Wiluna W.A.) Questions about the process of final recommendation of this project – the final disposal of uranium tailings. The appropriate officers were not available to answer this question.
- Closure and rehabilitation of the Ranger uranium mine (NT) .
- Closure and clean-up of Nabarlek uranium mine (NT) – Still some outstanding jobs to be done.
- Remediation works at Rum Jungle closed uranium mine (NT) – depends on an options document to be produced by the Northern Territory Government – this document may or may not be made public.
- Question about Queensland Government’s uranium implementation committee, – The OSS has not responded to this Committee and the committee has not asked the OSS for advice.
- Question about 10 years since inqury Report critical of regulatory regime at Ranger – whether all its recommendations have been carried out. Answer – this would be better as a formal question on notice. Ludlam – ” A formal response will be greatly appreciated.”
Port Fairy, Victoria, vulnerable to sea level rise
Report says hundreds of buildings vulnerable to flooding from rising sea levels at Port Fairyhttp://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-28/report-says-hundreds-of-buildings-vulnerable-to-flooding-from-r/4716588
May 28, 2013 A report has found potentially disturbing effects of rising sea levels on the popular tourist town of Port Fairy, in south-western Victoria.
The consultants found if the sea level rises 80 centimetres by 2080, up to 390 buildings could be vulnerable to flooding.
The consultants say some of the report’s findings are disturbing and a huge amount of adaptation planning is needed.
Moyne Shire councillors will decide whether to release the full document for community consultation.
Tasmania could become net exporter of renewable energy by 2020
Blueprint For Renewable Energy Action In Tasmania http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3764 29 May 13 An ambitious plan from the Tasmanian Climate Action Council would see the Apple Isle become a net exporter of renewable energy to the mainland by 2020. The blueprint calls for Tasmania to become Australia’s renewable energy powerhouse, generating 100 percent of its annual stationary electricity needs from renewable sources by 2020 under a Low Carbon Economic Strategy, with the surplus exported via Basslink.
The plan also recommends the implementation of improved feed in tariffs arrangements for small and medium-scale renewable energy generators such as homes and businesses with installed rooftop solar energy systems. More money will go into promoting tidal, geothermal and wind power, along with developing a smart grid power network for the state.
Tasmania has previously identified that climate change will have widespread negative effects on people living in the state and has legislated to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 60 per cent by 2050 compared to 1990 levels.
The blueprint states: “By positioning itself as a low carbon, forward looking, renewable electricity producer, Tasmania will help grow its industry sectors, including agriculture and tourism.”
By 2050, the blueprint states, Tasmania’s transport system will be largely decarbonised through the use of public transport, alternative energy vehicles and removing the need to travel by using advanced technology such as the National Broadband Network. The plan employs Tassie’s farmers in the fight against climate change by further research into developing energy-efficient farming technologies to reduce and sequester carbon emissions through farming practices.
The Tasmanian Climate Action Council was established in 2008 to provide high level advice to the Tasmanian Government on emerging climate change issues and propose best practice solutions to the challenges of climate change. A Blueprint For Action can be downloaded here (PDF)
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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PETITION – To: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Australian Labor Government
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