www.politifact.com.au will rate politicians on truth or falseness in their facts
New website to rate politicians’ facts http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/government-it/new-website-to-rate-politicians-facts-20130512-2jfyx.html#ixzz2TDuKyJyi May 12, 2013 A new political fact-checking website has launched with lofty plans to keep politicians honest and voters better informed. PolitiFact Australia says it will fact-check claims by MPs, parties, candidates and other influential figures. The website is the first international affiliate of Pulitzer prize-winning US site, PolitiFact.
It will rate political statements as true, mostly true, half true, mostly false and false. The US website calls this scale “Truth-O-Meter”. Ridiculous claims will be rated “pants on fire”. The US website says facts are checked by writers and editors “who spend considerable time researching and deliberating” the rulings. “We always try to get the original statement in its full context rather than an edited form that appeared in news stories. We then divide the statement into individual claims that we check separately.
“When possible, we go to original sources to verify the claims. We look for original government reports rather than news stories. We interview impartial experts.” The first fact-checks have delivered “mostly false” to Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s statement the coalition’s broadband plan will “cost households $5000 to get connected”. Opposition Leader Tony Abbott gets the same rating for his statement that “the carbon tax is adding $400 to the cost of every car manufactured in Australia”.
The site is headed by Peter Fray, the former editor-in-chief of The Sydney Morning Herald, published by Fairfax Media, owner of this publication.Mr Fray said PolitiFact Australia is a necessary addition to Australia’s journalistic scene because politics has become ”faster and noisier” and voters are overloaded with information.
The first step in any fact-check is to ask the source for details to support the claim, before seeking independent verification. ”We are here to help sort out the facts from the fictions … we are not really out to get politicians, we don’t think they are all liars. But we do think they should be accountable for what they say,” he said.
www.politifact.com.au went live overnight on Monday.
“Solar Citizens” will tackle Queensland’s anti solar recommendations
Sun power advocacy lights up http://www.theage.com.au/business/carbon-economy/sun-power-advocacy-lights-up-20130512-2jg4w.html May 13, 2013 Peter Hannam
The million-plus Australian residents with solar panels on their roofs will be less likely to be treated poorly by power companies and politicians following the creation of a new advocacy group, its backers say.
The group, Solar Citizens, expects to muster tens of thousands of members in a bid to defend the rights of the million-plus homes with panels on their roofs. “People are feeling vulnerable having invested thousands of dollars in solar panels,” Greg Evans, manager of Solar Citizens, said. “We think there is a pushback going on.”
In recent months, corporate chiefs including Origin Energy’s managing director Grant King have blamed efforts to promote solar and wind energy for driving up electricity costs. If solar PV owners retain access to the grid but source little power from it, costs will be higher for everybody else, Mr King said in March.
Mr Evans, though, said about 2.5 million Australians live in home with solar PV or solar hot water systems, or both. He predicted many of these households, ranging from outer suburbs to the bush, had sunk $8 billion into PV alone and would be prepared to protect the value of that investment.
Among the group’s first actions would be to campaign against the introduction of recommendations from Queensland’s Competition Authority that would force solar owners to pay more to connect to the grid.
“They’re suggesting solar users should pay time of use tariffs when consuming electricity from the grid and it’s not clear other consumers will be obliged to do that,” Mr Evans said.
“If they’re going to do that fairly (in Queensland), they’re going to have to do that for everyone who gets an air-conditioner,” Craig Memery, energy policy advocate at the Alternative Technology Association, said. “Those who don’t have air-conditioners very heavily cross-subsidise those who do.” Mr Memery said it was very important that conditions PV owners signed up for are preserved. With their numbers swelling at the rate of thousands across the country, their clout is only likely to grow.
“It’s at the point where politicians will have to listen to what this group has to say.”
Queensland government guts laws protecting water from coal seam gas operations
Australia: Wide-ranging changes to Queensland’s land and water legislation passed, Clayton UTZ 11 May 2013 A petroleum tenure holder in Queensland will now be able to use associated water “for any purpose”.
The Land, Water and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2013 (Qld) was passed by Parliament on 2 May 2013 and introduces a large number of legislative amendments across a wide range of Acts impacting, primarily, the land and water regulatory portfolios, but also making important amendments that impact upon the petroleum industry, particularly in relation to water bores and the use and transportation of CSG water.
Some of the key amendments in this Act for petroleum industry proponents are outlined below.
Removal of restriction on use of CSG water Continue reading
“Solar Citizens” – Australia’s solar homeowners fight back against fossil fuel lobby
Little wonder then, that solar consumers and rooftop solar providers are starting to organise themselves to protect the interests of individual consumers, and the industry as a whole.
In Australia, a new solar campaign initative known as “Solar Citizens” is being launched this week to ensure the interests of solar owners are protected from changes to laws and policies by power companies and governments.
Rooftop solar owners vs utilities – the battle beginshttp://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/rooftop-solar-owners-vs-utilities-the-battle-begins-63919 By Giles Parkinson 13 May 2013 You don’t have to go too far into a document prepared by the US-based Edison Electric Institute (EEI) to realise what is at stake for centralised utilities from the threat of rooftop solar.
The EEI, a trade group that represents most investor owned utilities in the US, said solar PV and battery storage were two technologies (along with fuel cells and storage from electric vehicles) that could “directly threaten the centralised utility model” that has prevailed for a century or more.
How worried should they be? A lot, said the EEI. The ability of rooftop solar, battery storage and energy efficiency programs to reduce demand from the grid would likely translate into lower prices for wholesale power and reduced profits. Worse still, customers were just as likely to “leave the system entirely” if a more cost-competitive alternative is available.
“While tariff restructuring can be used to mitigate lost revenues, the longer-term threat of fully exiting from the grid (or customers solely using the electric grid for backup purposes) raises the potential for irreparable damages to revenues and growth prospects.”
In the US, utilities are now seeking to protect their business models by pushing hard against net metering and seeking to influence the pace and manner of deployment of other technologies and new energy market concept that don’t fit the decades old model.
In Australia, much the same has been happening. RenewEconomy reported on the concerns of utilities in this article last month. Feed-in-tariffs have been wound back, as they were supposed to have been as technology costs fell, but now the pendulum is swinging the other way, and utilities – with the apparent complicity of state-based pricing regulators – are now trying to extract as much revenue from solar customers as they can.
It is a dangerous game. Leading electricity executives and market analysts suggest the rollout of rooftop solar is inevitable and “unstoppable” – unless, of course, by regulation and changing tariffs. Continue reading
Murrawarri people campaign for an Aboriginal republic
VIDEO: Activists in northern New South Wales, who’ve declared an Aboriginal republic, say they will take their campaign to the United Nations. http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1765174/Murrawarri-people-take-sovereignty-campaign-to-UN The Murrawarri Republic may be the world’s newest country, but for locals it’s been around for tens of thousands of years.
The Republic’s boundaries cross over northern New South Wales and Queensland – covering about 81,000 square kilometres.
Key leaders including Fred Hooper say the push for independence follows many frustrating years of inaction and broken promises.
Clan groups say the Queen of England, the Prime Minister and the Premiers of Queensland and New South Wales have been put on notice and given 21 days to respond to the declaration. They say they will also be asking the UN to formally recognise their republic. “You know according to our laws and customs, she (the Queen of England) does not now have any say over our country,” says Fred Hooper from the People’s Council of the Murrawarri Republic People’s council of the Murrawarri Republic.
“And we’ve also asked her to produce a number of documents. We have asked her to produce a treaty.” The Murrawarri Tribe has its own constitution and bill of rights. Fred Hooper says the new country will be inclusive and is offering non-Murrawarri people incentives, including citizenship and tax concessions. “Certainly what we’re saying at the moment it is the status quo…People will maintain their land.”
The sovereign union camapaign says the declaration has now taken a step forward. Michael Anderson believes it will spark a new wave of declarations similar to Murrawarri. “The first flame has been lit, it’s now burning. The flames will spread right throughout this country. And there’s nothing Australia can do about it.”
The Murrawarri’s Council has been set up to look at a transition into the republic, including tribal law structures, industry and civil defence.
Aboriginal lawyer launches his Senate campaign for Federal election
Independent Senate candidate Ribnga Green launches campaign for Federal Election AN ABORIGINAL Senate candidate has likened the nation’s soft foreign ownership laws to the takeover of Australia by the first Europeans. Miles Kemp adelaidenow May 12, 2013
Speaking at his campaign launch at Rymill Park yesterday, independent candidate Ribnga Green, 59, said South Australia’s iconic agricultural areas such as the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale must be better protected from foreign investors.
Mr Green, an Adelaide lawyer, aims to be the first South Australian Aboriginal politician at the Federal election in September. He said if elected he would push for agricultural areas of Australia, including SA’s wine regions, to be declared essential to the “national interest”.
“I know what it is like to lose an entire continent as an Aboriginal person and I wonder if Australian people generally value the whole issue of land ownership,” Mr Green said. “There are food-bowl areas which should be protected in the national interest and as part of Australia’s ability to supply food to other areas of the world, also.
“Land is also something which is not just a commercial enterprise but a spiritual one.
“Valuing land for reasons other than commercial value is something I think I can share with the rest of Australia.”…… http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/independent-senate-candidate-ribnga-green-launches-campaign-for-federal-election/story-e6frea83-1226640641295
Climate Change is THE ISSUE in Australia’s September federal election
Why Labor should fight the 2013 election on climate change, The Conversation, Matt McDonald 10 May 2013,If climate change features prominently in the federal election campaign, it will almost certainly be driven by the Coalition. Under Tony Abbott, the Coalition has long smelled blood in the water on climate change and in particular the carbon tax. Abbott has stated repeatedly that the repeal of the carbon taxwill be his first order of government business if elected, while Coalition climate spokesperson Greg Hunt has claimed that the 2013 election will be a referendum on the tax.
But this is a risky strategy, and this is precisely why the ALP can and should consider taking on the Coalition on this issue, and taking up the challenge of making the election a referendum on the carbon tax.
First, public attitudes to the carbon tax are softening. Polling has indicated a steady decline in opposition to the carbon tax since it was first mooted. By the end of 2012 opposition to the carbon tax was still at around 56% but was continuing to decline.Complaints to the ACCC about the carbon tax dropped off substantially after three months in operation. Six months in the majority of Australians polled believed that the carbon tax had made no economic difference to their lives.
There is every reason to believe these trends will continue as the tax becomes more institutionalised. Some began to draw parallels to the GST: an unpopular tax but one that was gradually absorbed into the economy and everyday practises, and which stopped short of the economic Armageddon predicted by opponents.
Second, it seems to be working.
Greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation hit a 10 year low in early 2013, driven by increases in cost for wholesale electricity and an increase in the share of electricity provided through renewable sources. Both of these dynamics are attributable to the carbon tax.
If part of the reason for opposing or repealing the tax was that it didn’t work this is clearly undermined by the figures to hand so far. The carbon tax is also clearly helping Australia track towards its 20% renewable energy target, at present a bipartisan commitment. One recent industry analysis suggested that without the carbon tax and associated investment incentives in renewables, the Coalition couldn’t hope to achieve this target.
Third, industry wants it. Tony Abbott has long claimed that Australia’s economic competitiveness is being fatally undermined by the carbon tax. The trouble is, the leadership of many of Australia’s largest corporations support it….. http://theconversation.com/why-labor-should-fight-the-2013-election-on-climate-change-13865
Australia’s Energy Minister seems ignorant of the Reverse Nuclear Renaissance now happening
Senator Ludlam noted that Labor Party policy is opposed to nuclear power in Australia and that South Australian energy minister, Labor’s Tom Koutsantonis said nuclear power in Australia is not commercially viable.
“In Europe, Japan and the United States nuclear power is in retreat. 150 nuclear power stations in Europe alone are scheduled for closure. The world uranium price has collapsed from almost $US140 a pound in 2007 to just over $US40 today because nuclear is on the way out.
“Australia is blessed with perfect conditions for renewable energy generation
Minister’s loyalty to the mining industry warps his vision of nuclear power http://tonyserve.wordpress.com/2013/05/03/australia-ministers-loyalty-to-the-mining-industry-warps-his-vision-of-nuclear-power-senatorludlam/ 3 May 2013. “Gary Gray’s loyalty to the mining industry has blinded him to the fact nuclear power in Australia makes no economic or environmental sense,” Greens Senator Scott Ludlam said after the energy minister voiced support for a local nuclear power sector.
“The energy minister’s declared optimism that nuclear power generation ‘issues’ will ‘be attended to in a timely fashion’ is unfounded. Nuclear power generation’s ‘issues’ are fundamental and inextricable: the only way to avoid them is to avoid nuclear power completely.
“While the case against nuclear power anywhere in the world is strong, the idea of a nuclear power sector in Australia is particularly ridiculous. There is no business case for it whatsoever and that will remain the case. Continue reading
Cameco uranium project meets determined opposition from Walkatjurra Walkers
Walkatjurra Walkabout: Resisting Cameco in Australia http://committeeforfuturegenerations.wordpress.com/2013/05/04/walkatjurra-walkabout-resisting-camecos-yeelirrie-uranium-project/ Kado Muir, Traditional Owner, Yeelirrie
‘Walkatjurra Walkabout – Walking for Country’ is a celebration of Wangkatja country, a testament to the strength of the community who have fought to stop uranium mining at Yeelirrie (Cameco acquired the Yeelirrie uranium project from BHP Billiton last year) for over forty years, and a chance to come together to continue share our commitment to a sustainable future without nuclear. It is a chance to reconnect with the land, and to revive the tradition of walking for country.
“Walking for country is to reconnect people with land and culture. The Walkatjurra Walkabout is a pilgrimage across Wangkatja country in the spirit of our ancestors so together, we as present custodians, can protect our land and our culture for future generations.
“My people have resisted destructive mining on our land and our sacred sites for generations. For over forty years we have fought to stop uranium mining at Yeelirrie, we stopped the removal of sacred stones from Weebo and for the last twenty years we have stopped destruction of 200 sites at Yakabindie. We are not opposed to responsible development, but cannot stand wanton destruction of our land, our culture, and our environment.”
9 May: antidote to uranium lobby’s lies about its high taxes and royalties
AUSTRALIA’S URANIUM EXPORT REVENUE IN PERSPECTIVE YELLOWCAKE FEVER Exposing the Uranium Industry’s Economic Myths , Australian Conservation Foundation “……BHP Billiton enjoys extensive subsidies in the form of fuel-tax credits (formerly known as diesel fuel rebates). Under the mine expansion plan, the company would have enjoyed $350 million in diesel fuel rebates over five years – more than was to be paid to the State in royalties from the existing underground mine over the same period – and an effective subsidy of $85 million annually to 2050.
A 2012 Australia Institute report found that at a time when the mining industry is earning record profits, it received subsidies and concessions worth more than $4 billion per year from the Federal Government alone. The biggest single subsidy comes in the form
of fuel-tax credits, valued at $1.9 billion in 2009/10
Uranium mining companies – and the Australian Uranium Association – fought the proposed Resources Super Profits Tax in 2010. Ross Gittins wrote in The Age in February 2013: “Last year the mining industry accounted for more than a fifth of all the profit made in Australia, even though it had a much smaller share of the economy. This was mainly because the royalties charged by the state governments failed to capture enough of the market value of the minerals the largely foreign-owned miners were being permitted to extract.
When the Rudd government tried to correct this with a resource super profits tax, the industry set out to bring about its electoral defeat.”
Uranium was to be included in the proposed Resource Super Profit Tax, but it was subsequently excluded from the Minerals Resource Rent Tax. A 2011 report by the Australia Institute notes that the average rate of corporate tax paid by the mining industry in 2008/09 was 13.9% – substantially below the theoretical 30%…..”http://www.acfonline.org.au/sites/default/files/resources/ACF_Yellowcake_Fever.pdf
Australian Energy Market Operator’s report shows that 100% renewable energy for Australia is achievable
Decarbonising Australia , May 7th, 2013 John Quiggin I’ve been meaning to post about the Australian Energy Market Operator’s report on the feasibility of a 100 per cent renewable electricity supply system for Australia . In the meantime, Brian Bahnisch at LP has done a detailed summary, so I’ll refer you there and make a few points of my own.
First, this study should kill off, once and for all, claims made here and in many other places (notably, at Brave New Climate) that the intermittency of renewable electricity is an insuperable problem.[1] The AEMO is the body that manages the electricity market on a minute-to-minute basis, so it has the expertise to assess this claim, unlike the many amateurs who have tried their hands. And, since it might have to do the job, it has no reason to understate the difficulties of a renewables-based system.
Second, the estimate cost of $111 to $133 per megawatt-hour represents an increase of $60-80/MwH on current wholesale prices, or 6-8c/Kwh on retail prices. That’s much less than the increase we’ve seen thanks to the mishandling of electricity market reform. If we wound back those costs, we could actually end up with both 100 per cent renewables and cheaper electricity.
Third, although the study envisages a role for electric vehicles, it doesn’t present a full-scale program for decarbonization. But once you have a scalable, fully renewable electricity supply, everything else is comparatively easy.
Finally, if we take Tony Abbott at his word in wanting direct action to deal with climate change, this report provides him with a blueprint. If we want to, we can eliminate the great majority of domestic CO2 emissions simply by mandating renewable technology and electric vehicles. The cost would be substantial in dollar terms ($250 billion for the electricity component). But, over a couple of decades, it would be a barely detectable deduction from growth in national income…… http://johnquiggin.com/2013/05/07/decarbonising-australia/
USA’s hunt for Assange – part of global assault on freedom of speech
Assange, Manning and WikiLeaks, by making public in 2010 half a million internal documents from the Pentagon and the State Department, along with the 2007 video of US helicopter pilots nonchalantly gunning down Iraqi civilians, including children, and two Reuters journalists, effectively exposed the empire’s hypocrisy, indiscriminate violence and its use of torture, lies, bribery and crude tactics of intimidation
US government officials quoted in Australian diplomatic cables obtained by The Saturday Age described the campaign against Assange and WikiLeaks as “unprecedented both in its scale and nature.”
The global assault—which saw Australia threaten to revoke Assange’s passport—is part of the terrifying metamorphosis of the “war on terror” into a wider war on civil liberties. It has become a hunt not for actual terrorists but a hunt for all those with the ability to expose the mounting crimes of the power elite
An Interview With Julian Assange, The Nation, 8 May 13 Corporate totalitarianism is spreading rapidly, and it’s not just Assange or Manning they want. It is all who dare to defy the official narrative. Chris Hedges May 8, 2013 London—A tiny tip of the vast subterranean network of governmental and intelligence agencies from around the world dedicated to destroying WikiLeaks and arresting its founder, Julian Assange, appears outside the red-brick building on Hans Crescent Street that houses the Ecuadorean Embassy. Assange, the world’s best-known political refugee, has been in the embassy since he was offered sanctuary there last June. British police in black Kevlar vests are perched night and day on the steps leading up to the building, and others wait in the lobby directly in front of the embassy door. An officer stands on the corner of a side street facing the iconic department store Harrods, half a block away on Brompton Road. Another officer peers out the window of a neighboring building a few feet from Assange’s bedroom at the back of the embassy. Police sit round-the-clock in a communications van topped with an array of antennas that presumably captures all electronic forms of communication from Assange’s ground-floor suite. Continue reading
8 May – antidote to uranium lobby lies about the “benefit” to Western Australia
AUSTRALIA’S URANIUM EXPORT REVENUE IN PERSPECTIVE YELLOWCAKE FEVER Exposing the Uranium Industry’s Economic Myths , Australian Conservation Foundation “….In WA, the Liberal National Government’s ‘Royalties for Regions’ policy was meant to use mining royalties to fund schools, health services and other community infrastructure. But $80 million was redirected to support mineral exploration and a significant amount has gone to uranium companies despite the promise that the Government would not fund uranium mining.
This issue was highlighted in the March 2013 state election context when community opposition led to the WA Nationals commitment to end R4R uranium funding…..” http://www.acfonline.org.au/sites/default/files/resources/ACF_Yellowcake_Fever.pdf
Australian media silent on the dire state of the uranium industry. Media repeats the industry’s hype.
the media hasn’t responded at all. In March 2013, Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics reduced its mid-term forecast for uranium revenue by nearly half, and the media was silent. The Australian Conservation Foundation released a detailed, factual report on April 26 exposing the uranium industry’s economic misinformation, and the media was silent.In the mid-2000s, uranium was the ‘new black’ as The Bulletin put it and investors could take their pick in this “radioactive heaven”. The number of listed uranium juniors doubled, and doubled again … and again and again.
A company sent radioactive drill samples for assay and quickly became the most traded stock on the ASX (leading to a suspension of share trading). Residents of the small Pacific Island Niue were surprised to learn from an Australian company that they might be sitting on 10 per cent of the world’s uranium, and surprised again when the project was abandoned two months later − easy come, easy go. The uranium spot price increased ten-fold and more, peaking at $US138/lb in June 2007.
Michael Angwin, the Australian Uranium Association’s Executive Director, said in 2008 that Australia “has enough reserves to be to uranium what Saudi Arabia is to oil.” Only a pedant would note that Saudi oil generates 466 times as much revenue as Australian uranium (and that most of ‘our’ uranium revenue never comes anywhere near Australia because of the high level of foreign ownership).
Politicians from the major parties have been only too happy to regurgitate uranium industry propaganda – for example former SA politicians Mike Rann and Kevin Foley have made the comparison with Saudi oil.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission could hold uranium miners and wannabes to account for peddling misinformation – but it doesn’t. Business journalists could hold the uranium industry to account − but they usually don’t.Claims that nuclear power growth in China, India and Russia will drive huge increases in uranium exports are routinely and uncritically regurgitated yet they don’t withstand the simplest calculations. For example it is routinely claimed that uranium sales to Russia will generate $1 billion annually − but Australia would need to supply entire Russian demand twice over to generate that amount of export revenue.
Milk and cream generate almost twice as much revenue as uranium − so where are the newspaper column-inches with pithy headlines about corporate ‘moovers and shakers’; where the ponderous weekend think-pieces about how the nation that once rode on a sheep’s back is now attached to a cow’s udder? Why isn’t milk the ‘new black’? Continue reading
Deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop promotes nuclear power for Australia
Bishop urges resources industry to back nuclear energy Financial Review, JONATHAN BARRETT, 8 May 13,
Deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop has urged the resources industry to try to win public support for the politically sensitive case for nuclear energy.
Sitting in the audience at a business event in Perth on Tuesday, Ms Bishop asked a panel whether miners were doing enough to defeat “social activists” opposed to the development of the country’s natural resources……..
Many Liberals, including leader Tony Abbott, have argued that Australia should seriously consider nuclear energy as a means to reduce carbon emissions, even though it is not an official policy being promoted before the federal election.
Ms Bishop, the shadow minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, has just returned from Russia, which recently received its first shipment of uranium from Australia. Her comments indicate she would also like to see Australia consider using its own vast reserves of uranium to produce nuclear power…… http://www.afr.com/p/2100/bishop_urges_resources_industry_TxeDLLGD90FDbofFcD4R9L
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 