Queensland Premier will demolish environmental funding programs
Australia: Queensland Premier axes environmental funds 28. MARCH 2012 PV Magazine, BY: SHAMSIAH ALI-OETTINGER The new premier of Queensland Liberal National Party’s (LNP) Campbell Newman plans to axe the state’s climate change and renewable energy programs, including funds allocated for solar flagship programs. The Newman government is said to be planning the abolishment of eight of the former Labor government’s environmental funds, the 300 million Australian dollars (AUD) climate change fund and the AUD50 million renewable energy fund.
The other funds identified were the Queensland smart energy savings fund, the future growth fund, solar initiatives
package, waste avoidance and resource efficiency fund and the local government sustainable future fund. The FITs will however remain for Queensland’s home solar power systems at AUD0.44/kWh for surpluselectricity fed into the grids….
Victoria backs out too The state of Victoria also decided to back out of the 2020 20% emissions reduction target that was set by the Labor government. The conservatives supported this scheme when Labor was in power. The pressure mounted on the Victorian government from opponents such as Exxon Mobil.
: http://www.pv-magazine.com/news/details/beitrag/australia–queensland-premier-axes-environmental-funds_100006254/#ixzz1qXst4p48
Malaysia insisting that Australia agrees to accept Lynas radioactive wastes
‘Onus is on Lynas to get nod for waste shipment’, The Malaysian Star Reports by MARTIN CARVALHO, YUEN MEIKENG, RAHIMY RAHIM and TASHNY SUKUMARAN , 29 March 12, THE onus of obtaining permission from the authorities to ship waste from the proposed rare earth plant in Gebeng, Pahang, to Australia lies with operators Lynas Corporation, said Science, Technology and Innovations Minister Datuk Seri Dr Maximux Ongkili.
“There has been no official word from the authorities in Australia over the shipment (of the waste) and I have not received any formal communication,” he said at Parliament lobby.
Though helping facilitate Lynas’ investment in setting up the plant here, he noted there were conditions that the company must fulfil with the onus on them to obtain approval for waste shipment to Australia if the need arose. “We are not here for the purpose of just helping Lynas. We have set conditions and they must follow,” he said.
The Atomic Energy Licensing Board’s (AELB) imposed five conditions for the issuance of a temporary operating licence for the Lynas plant which includes locating a suitable site for a permanent disposal facility. “If Lynas cannot process the wastes here according to our standard or cannot find a permanent disposal site, then they have to seek a site outside this country…..
“Otherwise, I am not giving the licence as they have signed for that,” Ongkili repeatedly said….. Ongkili said Lynas Corporation chose to have its rare earth plant in Malaysia because the cost to operate the facility here was 30% of that in Australia….. http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/3/28/parliament/11002216&sec=parliament
In 1998 South Australian Aboriginals fought against plan for radioactive waste dump
Dumping on Traditional Owners: the ugly face of Australian racism The Drum, Jim Green, 29 March 12 “…..A win for the Kungkas In 1998, the federal government announced its intention to build a national radioactive waste dump near Woomera in South Australia. Leading the battle against the dump were the Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta, a council of senior Aboriginal women from northern South Australia. Many of the Kungkas personally suffered the impacts of the British nuclear bomb tests at Maralinga in the 1950s.
The Kungkas were sceptical about the government’s claim that radioactive waste destined for the Woomera dump was ‘safe’ – after all, the waste would be kept at the Lucas Heights reactor site south of Sydney if it was perfectly safe, or simply dumped in landfill.
The proposed dump generated such controversy in South Australia that the federal government secured the services of a public relations company. Correspondence between the company and the government was released under Freedom of Information laws. In one exchange, a government official asks the PR company to remove sand-dunes from a photo selected to adorn a brochure. The explanation provided by the government official was that: “Dunes are a sensitive area with respect to Aboriginal Heritage”. The sand-dunes were removed from the photo, only for the government official to ask if the horizon could be straightened up as well.
In July 2003, the federal government used the Lands Acquisition Act 1989 to seize land for the dump. Native Title rights and interests were extinguished at the stroke of a pen. This took place with no forewarning and no consultation with Aboriginal people.
The Kungkas continued to implore the federal government to ‘get their ears out of their pockets’, and after six long years the government did just that. In the lead-up to the 2004 federal election, with the dump issue biting politically, the government decided to cut its losses and abandon its plans for a dump in SA.
The Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta wrote in an open letter:
“People said that you can’t win against the Government. Just a few women. We just kept talking and telling them to get their ears out of their pockets and listen. We never said we were going to give up. Government has big money to buy their way out but we never gave up.”
Toxic trade-off: dumping on Northern Territorians
The ears went straight back in the pockets the following year with the announcement that the government planned to establish a radioactive waste dump in the Northern Territory.
A toxic trade-off of basic services for a radioactive waste dump has been part of this story from the start. Governments have systematically stripped back resources for remote Aboriginal communities, placing increased pressure on them to accept projects like the radioactive waste dump…. http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/3919296.html
New South Wales Upper House passes uranium exploration legislation by 20 votes to 18
the Government had no mandate for uranium exploration……..Mr O’Farrell had declared to Parliament in August 2011 that the Government had no plans to allow uranium mining or exploration.
Uranium ban lifted by NSW Parliament, Herald Sun AAP March 28, 2012 LEGISLATION to repeal a ban on uranium exploration has passed through the NSW Parliament, with MPs in the state’s Upper House supporting it by 20 votes to 18. The legislation passed through the Legislative Council unamended today, despite opposition from Greens and Labor
MPs…
.. Separate legislation would be required to lift the NSW ban on uranium mining. Continue reading
NSW’s new uranium Bill extinguishes need for consent from Land Councils, and excludes uranium from Aborignal Land Rights Act
Natalie Wasley, 29 March 12, New South Wales’ new Bill allowing fro uranium exploration alters a series of other legislation, including The Mining Act, Radiation Control Act, State Environment and Planning Act and Aboriginal Land Rights Act.
USA militarisation in Australia; drones might upset our Asian neighbours
There is increasing concern among strategic analysts and defence experts about what the growing US military presence on Australian territory might mean… the strengthening US presence in Australia appears to be drawing us into a potentially dangerous game of Chinese containment.
why [do] we want a big fleet of subs to contain and deter our largest trading partner ?
These Drones Will Irritate The Neighbours. New Matilda, By Ben Eltham, 29 March 12, What’s our priority – trade with China or strategic links to the US? Reports of US surveillance drones in the Cocos Islands are raising some awkward questions about our ties in the region, writes Ben Eltham
First it was US Marines in Darwin. Then it was proposals for more US Navy ships to operate out of the HMAS Stirling naval base in Fremantle — including aircraft carriers and nuclear attack submarines. Now it’s USsurveillance drones in the Cocos Islands. America’s interest in Australia as a base for its south Asian and Indian Ocean operations appears to be growing…….
The object of that strategy, although few are prepared to talk too openly about it, is of course China. Continue reading
Racism in Australia’s uranium mining industry
Dumping on Traditional Owners: the ugly face of Australian racism The Drum, Jim Green, 29 March 12 “…….Uranium mining
The patterns of nuclear racism are also evident in Australia’s uranium mining industry. Racism in the mining industry typically involves some or all of the following tactics: ignoring the concerns of Traditional Owners insofar as the legal and political circumstances permit; divide-and-rule tactics; bribery; ‘humbugging’ Traditional Owners (exerting persistent, unwanted pressure); providing Traditional Owners with false or misleading information; and threats, most commonly legal threats.
To give one example, the 1982 South Australian Roxby Downs Indenture Act, which sets the legal framework for the operation of the Olympic Dam copper-uranium mine in South Australia, was amended in 2011 but it retains exemptions from the SA Aboriginal Heritage Act. Traditional Owners were not even consulted. The SA government’s spokesperson in Parliament said :
“BHP were satisfied with the current arrangements and insisted on the continuation of these arrangements, and the government did not consult further than that.”
That disgraceful performance illustrates a broader pattern. Aboriginal land rights and heritage protections are feeble at the best of times. But the legal rights and protections are repeatedly stripped away whenever they get in the way of nuclear or mining interests.
Thus the Olympic Dam mine is largely exempt from the SA Aboriginal Heritage Act. Legislation was passed specifically to exempt the Ranger uranium mine in the Northern Territory from the Aboriginal Land Rights Act. Native Title rights were extinguished with the stroke of a pen to seize land for a radioactive waste dump in South Australia. And Aboriginal heritage laws and Aboriginal land rights are being trashed with the current push to dump in the Northern Territory.
The situation is scarcely any better than it was in the 1950s when the British were exploding nuclear bombs on Aboriginal land. http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/3919296.html
Aboriginal landowners in court – their case against Muckaty nuclear waste dump will continue
news today from the federal court in Melbourne re the Muckaty legal case – Dave Sweeney, 28 March 12
The judge did not accept moves by the Commonwealth and Northern Land Council (NLC) to have the Traditional Owners case struck out.
A wide range of previously secret documentation – including the nomination deed and key anthropological advice and evidence – will now become public and a trial date will be set sometime in the future.
A move by the NLC/Commonwealth to have proceedings re-located to Darwin was also rejected and proceedings will continue in Melbourne:
Asian countries not so happy, as Australia to be base for US spy drones
US could fly spy drones from Australian territory, Google News, (AFP) 28 March 12, SYDNEY — Australia on Wednesday said it may allow Washington to use its territory to operate long-range spy drones, as part of an increased US presence in the Asia-Pacific that has rankled China.
The United States and Canberra are planning a major expansion of military ties, with the first of a 2,500-strong Marine deployment to northern Australia unveiled last November by President Barack Obama due to arrive next month.
The plan has irked China and worried some Asian countries who see it as a statement by Washington that it intends to stand up for its interests in the region amid concerns of increasing assertiveness by Beijing.
Australian media carried reports Wednesday citing a Washington Post story that the United States was considering using the Cocos Islands, an atoll in the Indian Ocean off northwest Australia, to launch unmanned surveillance aircraft.
They said the Cocos would replace the present US Indian Ocean base of Diego Garcia, which America leases from Britain and is due to be mothballed in 2016.
Aircraft carriers and nuclear-powered attack submarines could also be based in Perth as part of efforts to refocus American defence resources in the region, the reports added. Australian Defence Minister Stephen Smith said the use of the Cocos Islands was a longer-term option for closer Australia-US engagement and its airstrip would need to be upgraded before it could be used….. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gLfEBJS3cyp9DztcZ-7U6oTHIzJQ?docId=CNG.78ebb96f24b87291c30fc84ff624c48a.381
Western Australia’s Premier complacent about increasing number of nuclear submarines to Perth
Barnett relaxed over nuclear subs 9 News Mar 28 2012 West Australian Premier Colin Barnett says he has no objection to more American nuclear submarine visits to Perth’s Garden Island naval base if US-Australian defence co-operation is boosted.
The two nations are planning an expansion of military ties including the rotation of US Marines through the Northern Territory and more access to HMAS Stirling at Garden Island in Perth’s south. Mr Barnett told ABC radio on Wednesday he would accept a boosted American presence….. Mr Barnett said the ANZUS defence treaty was the centre of Australia’s
defence policy and Garden Island was a strategic base on the Indian
Ocean which was becoming more central to world affairs. … http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8442686
Uranium exploration in New South Wales? – call for inquiry into govt OK to this
Since Premier O’Farrell announced his intention to open up uranium exploration in this state, thousands of people have signed a petition calling on the government to maintain the uranium ban.
Inquiry should probe O’Farrell’s okay to uranium search – ecology groups, Cowra Community News,
http://cowracommunitynews.com/viewnews.php?newsid=142&id=4 28 March 12, STATE and national environment groups have called for an independent public review into uranium mining in New South Wales as legislation to allow exploration is due to be debated in parliament today (Wednesday).
Premier Barry O’Farrell has no mandate to change a long-standing and popular policy banning uranium projects in the state, the Nature Conservation Council of NSW, the Australian Conservation Foundation and the Beyond Nuclear Initiative say in a joint statement. The groups have criticised the lifting of the ban on uranium exploration, urging the State Government to set up a public inquiry into the uranium industry. Continue reading
Renmark Council concerned about radioactive waste transport – may declare nulcear-free zone
Council considers nuclear-free declaration, ABC News, March 28, 2012 The Renmark Paringa Council says it is worried about the possible transport of nuclear waste through South Australia’s Riverland. Federal Parliament recently passed legislation to set up a nuclear waste dump in the Northern Territory. The council decided at last night’s meeting to write to the federal Resources and Energy Minister, Martin Ferguson, seeking more information about transport arrangements.
Council CEO Tony Siviour says it is also considering declaring its district nuclear-free.
“The only understanding that we have is that the proposed route is through the Riverland instead of going through the Blue Mountains, so that concerns us,” he said….. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-28/council-considers-nuclear-free-declaration/3917592
Queensland’s Land Court’s decision for Xstrata – a devastating blow for the environment
Green group attacks Xstrata mine nod Yahoo Finance By Annie Guest and Sam Burgess | ABC –28 March 12 The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) has criticised the Land Court over its ruling on the Wandoan mining project in the Surat Basin on southern Queensland’s Western Downs.
Yesterday, the state’s Land Court gave the final go-ahead for the Xstrata mining company to develop Australia’s biggest open-cut coal mine near Wandoan, north-west of Toowoomba.
The Land Court recommended the Queensland Government approve the project and new Liberal National Party (LNP) Premier Campbell Newman says he is excited at the prospect.
Lobby group Friends of the Earth and seven local landholders had tried to halt the project on environmental grounds and say they are devastated with the court’s decision. Farmers say the development will consume prime food-production land and destroy lifestyles….. Continue reading
Glencore and Xstrata: an anti environment monster rears its ugly head
From THE Australian 28 March 12 –on the merger of Glencore and Xstrata “Xstrata-Glencore will be worth $86bn, still less than BHP Billiton or Rio Tinto, but it promises to be a shark among whales. Glencore’s trading skills will be allied to Xstrata’s global production … Glencore was a company with a dubious past — it was founded by Marc Rich, the sanctions-busting oil trader who received a presidential pardon from Bill Clinton — and a reputation as a group of smart, influential and wealthy traders.”
from Wikipedia: ” Glencore “has been accused of illegal dealings with rogue states: apartheid South Africa, USSR, Iran, and Iraq under Saddam Hussein“, and has a “history of busting UN embargoes to profit from corrupt or despotic regimes”. Specifically, Glencore was reported to have been named by the CIA to have paid $3,222,780 in illegal kickbacks to obtain oil in the course of the UN oil-for-food programme for Iraq.” – and that’s only a minor part of Glencore’s dubious dealings – Christina Macpherson
Commercial Eco Whisper wind turbine installed near Tullamarine, melbourne
The Eco Whisper Turbine is set to revolutionise delivery of renewable electricity supply to midsize commercial, manufacturing or industrial facilities, particularly in rural or remote locations that rely on diesel replacement.
Queensland renewable energy company Eco Whisper installs first commercial turbine, NewsMaker, , March 28, 2012 – The first commercial application of the Eco Whisper turbine, the world’s quietest 20kW wind turbine, is being installed and will be connected to the grid near Tullamarine in Melbourne. Produced and developed by Queensland-based Renewable Energy Solutions Australia (RESA), the 30 blade Eco Whisper turbine delivers virtually silent operation and produces up to 30 percent more power than conventional 3-bladed turbine designs.
Ideal for mid-sized facilities and perfect to replace diesel generation facilities, the Eco Whisper collects wind more efficiently and can operate in both high and low wind conditions. One turbine can produce enough power for around three average homes. Continue reading
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