Australia’s renewable energy policy an inspiration for America
What America Can Learn from Australia’s New Clean Energy Future Package http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/09/29/929441/what-america-can-learn-from-australias-new-clean-energy-future-package/ Sep 29, 2012 by Jennifer Morgan, via WRI Insights Australia, one of world’s most carbon-intensive countries, recently began implementing a comprehensive national policy to address climate change and transition to a clean-energy economy. Yesterday, WRI had the pleasure of hosting Mark Dreyfus , Australian Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, who outlined his country’s plans to a group of business, congressional, and NGO representatives.
One point that came through at the event is that Australia’s recent energy and climate choices can be very instructive to the United States. This post provides a quick look at Australia’s new policy and explores how it can inform and inspire U.S. efforts to move toward a low-carbon future.
Why Did Australia Adopt a National Climate and Energy Policy? Continue reading
Melbourne University’s plan for 100% renewable energy for Australia in just 10 years
100% renewable energy in Australia in only 10 years – no carbon tax
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qImNRuV4G0Q&feature=colike
Melbourne University has released a 194 page blueprint for how to convert all Australia’s existing power generation to 100% renewable in just 10 years. The report is scientifically based, well researched and takes into account all aspects of such a plan including technology, jobs, upgrades, placement, transitionary effects and it is completely costed.
This country needs a plan that is bold. This country needs a plan that doesn’t involve a massive increase in the cost of living that will do NOTHING to reduce emissions but will ensure coal miners and their union heavies are kept in employment within their polluting industry.
I urge everyone to visit the link I have at the end of the video and below and download the plan. Set yourself a couple of hours to go through it. If you agree with it, email your local member and raise it with them.
It is time this country did something bold, something that will create 10’s of 1000’s of jobs and make the Snowy River Scheme look like a Sunday picnic. This could be our opportunity to show the world what we are capable of and set ourselves up as the global leaders in renewable energy technology.
Please go to the link.
http://www.energy.unimelb.edu.au/uploads/ZCA2020_Stationary_Energy_Report_v1.pdf
Australia to work with New Zealand to strengthen nuclear test monitoring
Australia-New Zealand agreement to strengthen nuclear test monitoring. Global Times 29 Sept 12, Government scientists from New Zealand and Australia Friday announced a new agreement to work together to strengthen detection of nuclear explosions under the framework of the international Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). Continue reading
Big mining companies again exercise their power over the Australian government
Miners’ push for inquiry successful The Observer, Daniel Burdon | 29th September 2012 FOUR Australian mining industry heavyweights dominated a “policy transition group” which two years ago recommended the Federal
Treasurer launch an inquiry into the regulatory hurdles for minerals and energy exploration.
On Thursday, Resources Minister Martin Ferguson and Assistant Treasurer David Bradbury announced the Productivity Commission inquiry would go ahead.
Mr Ferguson also sat on the policy transition group, alongside former BHP Billiton chairman Don Argus; non-executive chairman of uranium explorer Toro Energy, Dr Erica Smyth; non-executive chairman of Clough Ltd, Keith Spence; and David Klingner, a former Rio Tinto executive and current director of uranium miner Energy Resources
Australia….
… The commission will recommend changes to the Federal Government, as well as what could be done at the state level, which the Commonwealth has committed to refer to the states for action under Council of Australian Governments arrangements. http://www.gladstoneobserver.com.au/story/2012/09/29/miners-push-inquiry-successful/
Australia would back USA and Israel attacking Iran, just like it backed attack on Iraq
Gillard’s statements on Iran were a declaration of Australian support for war.
Gillard asserted that Iran “refuses to take the urgent steps necessary to build confidence that its nuclear program is exclusively peaceful.”
In fact, Iran is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Inspections of Iranian nuclear facilities have repeatedly uncovered no evidence of the development of nuclear weapons—any more than UN inspectors found “weapons of mass destruction” in Iraq.
Australian PM demands UN rubberstamp war on Syria and Iran World Socialist Website By James Cogan 28 September 2012 Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard delivered a speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, demanding that the UN endorse imperialist intervention into Syria and rubberstamp a US bombardment of Iran… Continue reading
Australian company Mantra Resources duped Tanzania out of taxes for its uranium profits
the transfer of Mantra Resources Limited to ARMZ enables its former shareholders to pocket $1.04 billion without paying capital gains to the Tanzanian government…. Mantra Resources Limited of Australia was supposed to have paid capital gains tax to Tanzania.
Sh320bn loss looming over uranium project , 29 September 2012 By Felix Lazaro, The Citizen Dar es Salaam. Tanzania risks losing about Sh320 billion in mining taxes because of weak legal checks, particularly when it comes to uranium.
Local mining experts said yesterday that the country must go back to the drawing board and put in place a watertight policy and regulations before it allows uranium mining.Earnings from the mineral are believed to have the potential to turn around the lives of thousands of poor Tanzanians.
The chief concern right now, though, is that some subsidiaries of multinational firms licensed to explore uranium in Tanzania are capitalising on a weak legal and institutional framework to transfer ownership to affiliated companies. In the process, there are missed opportunities to collect revenue. Continue reading
Fossil fuel industries losing revenue with the success of the Renewable Energy Target.
Putting wind up generators BY: GILES PARKINSON The Australian September 28, 2012 BERNIE Fraser built up an enviable record of responsible economic reform as head of Treasury, governor of the Reserve Bank, and as chairman of two prominent superannuation funds. …
He is a shrewd analyst with a special interest in consumer equity. He is not likely to be easily fooled by the subtleties of the campaign against renewables when the Climate Change Authority, which he heads, sits down to its first major task working through the submissions to its review of the Renewable Energy Target.
First, Fraser will want to cut through the numbers, and in doing so may well wonder if there has ever been such a concerted campaign by big business to act in what they describe as the “public interest”, and to lobby so aggressively for a change in key public policy that they say will save householders 14c a day
….. the real number that concerns the incumbents [fossil fuel energy generators] is not the purported saving to consumers, it is the loss of revenue from the fall in wholesale energy prices.
It is not 1c or 14c a day, or $840 over 18 years, it is $2.7bn a year. That is the potential loss of revenue for the incumbent coal and gas-fired generators if the RET continues as a fixed target of 41,000GWh. Continue reading
Civil liberties trampled, as Australian govt ignores plight of Julian Assange
‘Enemy’ tag poses fresh test of citizens’ rights, The Age editorial September 28, 2012 The law must be the same for Assange as for everyone else. THE designation of WikiLeaks and its co-founder, Julian Assange, as enemies of the US adds to the gravity of the consequences for releasing classified embassy cables two years ago.
The development, revealed in newly released US Air Force documents, puts Assange in the same category as al-Qaeda terrorists and the Taliban. Personnel who contact him risk being charged with crimes that may carry the death penalty.
Senior US politicians have called Assange a terrorist and demanded he be charged with espionage, hunted down or assassinated.
The Age has refuted Australian government claims of ignorance of US plans to pursue Assange. When coupled with public denunciations – Prime Minister Julia Gillard declared Assange to be a criminal – this government inspires little confidence that it would be any more diligent than the Howard government was in standing up for its citizens’ rights.
A member of the military charged with a military offence can expect to be tried in a military court. US Army private Bradley Manning faces a court martial charged with aiding the enemy by transmitting information that became available to the enemy via WikiLeaks. However, as a result of being deemed ”enemy combatants” – an expedient but legally dubious categorisation – Australians David Hicks and Mamdouh Habib endured long detentions without charge at Guantanamo Bay until a special military tribunal was set up to try detainees.
That points to the risks for anyone declared an ”enemy” of the US military. Assange, though, is not a combatant; as WikiLeaks editor-in-chief, he sees himself as a journalist. The Age published excerpts from the cables by arrangement with WikiLeaks, as did The New York Times in the US and The Guardian in the UK. This information exposed the truth
about the conduct of governments involved in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Publication was based on the conviction that citizens have a right to know about glaring differences between what governments say in public and what they say and do in private. We had no compunction about making public the secret business of governments and their militaries when the public had been deceived about grave decisions of state,
which went to the justifications for and progress of two wars. At the time, The Age cited an obvious historical precedent. Four decades ago, the Pentagon papers, also illegally copied and provided to The New York Times, showed the Johnson administration had deceived Congress and the public about the Vietnam War.
It is hard to mount a credible argument that exposing deceptive conduct and collusion by elected governments is against the public interest. If governments are embarrassed, lose credibility and are politically damaged, they deserve to be……. http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/editorial/enemy-tag-poses-fresh-test-of-citizens-rights-20120927-26o6e.html#ixzz27o1kr02U
Family First Party tries to stop wind energy for homes
Push to close turbine loophole before 10m-high structures are erected
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/push-to-close-turbine-loophole-before-10m-high-structures-are-erected/story-e6frea83-1226482927714 Emma Altschwager The Advertiser September 27, HOUSEHOLDERS can cash in on wind power by erecting turbines up to 10m high in their backyard that could transform suburban skylines.
But the window of opportunity could be slammed shut by Family First, which wants to change development regulations and allow neighbours to have a say in the erection of any wind turbines in their street. Continue reading
South Australia’s history of small and effective wind turbines
KJBeinke of ADELAIDE September 27, 2012 I grew up in rural SA and we generated all of our own power as there
was no grid available. When it did become available in the late 1960’s it was cost prohibitive to pay for the poles and transformer to the farm house. The wind power was used to charge a bank of batteries and we used them in lieu of 240 volts.
Now days batteries are much cheaper, more efficient and inverters are more efficient and cheaper. For those who don’t understand, you can become self sufficient on solar and wind power with battery back up to store un-used energy. It
has nothing to do with base load and that argument is irrelevant.
The problem with some of the wind-turbines is they can be noisy. Bird strikes are almost non-existent as in my 17 years relying on wind power, never once did I see a dead bird at the base of the tower. – comment at http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/wattle-park-mans-development-application-shows-10m-high-wind-turbines-are-allowed-in-adelaides-suburbs/story-e6frea83-1226481983640
Small home wind turbines allowable in South Australia, without Council consent
Wattle Park man’s development application shows 10m-high wind turbines are allowed in Adelaide’s suburbs
(picture shows home wind turbines in England – so it’s not really a new idea) http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/wattle-park-mans-development-application-shows-10m-high-wind-turbines-are-allowed-in-adelaides-suburbs/story-e6frea83-1226481983640
A WATTLE Park man’s bid to build a 6m-high wind turbine in his
backyard has revealed a loophole that could transform suburban skylines. Continue reading
Australia: $11 billion for energy infrastructure that is rarely used
$11B Spent On Electricity Infrastructure Used Only 4 Days A Year http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3400 by Energy Matters, 27 Sept 12, A survey carried out by consumer group Choice shows electricity price rises are one of the biggest concerns of Australian households.
Massive power rises have occurred throughout Australia in recent years, but in New South Wales the hikes have hit particularly hard. “Since 2007, the average NSW household’s electricity bill has more than doubled to around $2,200, and the main driver of that – over $650 a year – is the multi-billion dollar price tag of electricity poles and wires,” says Choice head of campaigns, Matt Levey.
Choice states $11 billion has been spent on energy infrastructure that is only used four days out of every year. Continue reading
Australia getting dangerously locked in to USA military operations in the Pacific
An Australian General, Major General Richard Burr, has become a deputy commander of United States Army Pacific. He will be responsible for planning and advising on the further expansion of American armed forces throughout the Western Pacific.
Australia hostage to the politics of the US in the Asian Century, The Drum, MALCOLM FRASER, 27 Sept 12,
This week Malcolm Fraser delivered a speech on Australia-US relations in the Asian Century. In this edited extract, the former prime minister says our Government has made us hostage to the politics of the United States. Australia has, under this Labor Government and with apparent consent of the Coalition, become the southern bastion of America’s re-arming in the Western Pacific and Southeast Asia. This is an extraordinary consequence of Australian Government ineptitude and of military planning, which might recognise America’s interest, but pays little account of our own.
It makes us complicit in any military activity that the Americans might undertake. Continue reading
Aboriginal elders of Western Australian Nuclear Free Alliance (WANFA) fight uranium mining
WANFA’s Elders speak out from Kutunatu Ngurra http://indymedia.org.au/2012/09/22/radiation-exposure-looming-for-wiluna Gerry Georgatos Traditional Aboriginal Elders have never been more concerned about the sovereign risk to Country, and of its very health, with the loom of uranium mining. The Western Australian Nuclear Free Alliance (WANFA), made up of Aboriginal Traditional Land Owners from the Pilbara, the Kimberley, the Goldfields, the Great Victorian Desert, the Central Desert, the Gascoyne, Perth and the South West, and alongside their supporters, have declared “that it is a must do in preventing uranium mining on Country.”
The WANFA met for its annual conference on September 16 at the registered sacred site of Kutunatu Ngurra camp just outside of Leonora, in the ochre heart of Western Australia.
WANFA chairperson Kado Muir said, “(The Elders and Traditional Land Owners) support Aboriginal sovereignty across all Aboriginal territories in WA. The State Government and its industries need to respect the basic human rights of Aboriginal peoples.”
Mr Muir said that everyone is concerned in light of the “fast-tracking of the Toro Energy Wiluna uranium project assessment.” Mr Muir had invited Environment Minister Bill Marmion to meet with WANFA representatives, Elders and land holders but he declined. “He shows an unwillingness to engage with our local Elders and community,” said Mr Muir.
Despite one approval after another, and the dismissal of appeals, by the Government to the prospective uranium miners Mr Muir said that WANFA is determined “to stop the poison of uranium mining contaminating Aboriginal lands.”
Mr Muir said that WANFA will “challenge the Australian Uranium Association’s Indigenous Dialogue Group who are representing the industry rather than a true Aboriginal community view.”
“We will also continue to expose anthropologists, archaeologists and pro-industry consultants who attempt to validate negligent practices of the mining industry.”
“We want our Land Councils, Native Title representative bodies and Native Title organisations to fulfil their legal requirements to be accountable, transparent and representative of their communities views.”
Ultimately, WANFA is calling for an independent public inquiry or royal commission into uranium mining. “We need an inquiry and it will be called for, and when this happens then maybe Governments and the nuclear industry will be forced to stop minimising and trivialising the dangers of radiation,” said Mr Muir.
USA classifies Julian Assange on same level as al-Qaeda terrorists and Taliban
US Vice-President Joe Biden labelled Mr Assange a “high-tech terrorist” in December 2010 and US congressional leaders have called for him to be charged with espionage. Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee – both once involved in presidential campaigns – have both urged that Mr Assange be “hunted down”.
Mr Assange’s US attorney, Michael Ratner, said the designation of WikiLeaks as an “enemy” had serious implications for the WikiLeaks publisher if he were to be extradited to the US, including possible military detention.
US calls Assange ‘enemy of state’, http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/us-calls-assange-enemy-of-state-20120927-26m7s.html#ixzz27joofxHc SMH, September 27, 2012 Philip Dorling THE US military has designated Julian Assange and WikiLeaks as enemies of the United States – the same legal category as the al-Qaeda terrorist network and the Taliban insurgency.
Declassified US Air Force counter-intelligence documents, released under US freedom-of-information laws, reveal that military personnel who contact WikiLeaks or WikiLeaks supporters may be at risk of being charged with “communicating with the enemy”, a military crime that carries a maximum sentence of death. The documents, some originally classified “Secret/NoForn” – not releasable to non-US nationals – record a probe by the air force’s Office of Special Investigations into a cyber systems analyst based in Britain who allegedly expressed support for WikiLeaks and attended pro-Assange demonstrations in London. Continue reading
1 This month
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 