New renewable energy course in 187 Australian secondary schools
Students help get world on renewable path, Illawarra Mercury, BY KATE MCILWAIN 05 Mar, 2012 A new course focusing on renewable energy at Corrimal High School is helping to inspire the next generation of scientists. The Science and Technology Education Leveraging Relevance, or STELR, course provides colourful, interactive equipment for Year 10 students
to experiment with different ways of generating solar and wind energy. It was developed by the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and is now taught at 187 schools nationally…..
http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/news/local/news/general/students-help-get-world-on-renewable-path/2476193.aspx
Climate change severely affecting Torres Strait islands
A SINKING FEELING IN THE TORRES STRAIT, ABC Radio National, Hagar Cohen.4 March 2012, There are six islands in the Torres Strait facing inundation from tidal flooding. The encroaching sea is slowly washing away everything from building foundations to ancestral graves, and mosquitoes are thriving. One island has had its worst malaria outbreak in 50 years. There is a temporary solution—building seawalls—but the federal and state governments are showing little interest in paying for that, and in the meantime these island communities have a sinking feeling that relocation may be the only option left for them.
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/backgroundbriefing/2012-03-04/3857272
The pro nuclear Thoughts of new Foreign Minister Bob Carr
“Australia has a theological objection to nuclear power. It’s illogical but deeply entrenched. Still polls have been moving and younger people are more open-minded than those who come of age politically in the 1980s. It remains the only serious base-load alternative to incinerating more coal.
One should applaud every move in India and China to try nuclear plants..
You need two things.
One, a longer term education campaign by a coalition of pro-nuclear industry, science, union and indigenous groups . Second, a Lib-Lab consensus.
A fourth generation reactor, with its high level safety and minimal waste ..” Bob Carr http://bobcarrblog.wordpress.com/2010/12/01/the-nuclear-thing/
“Of course the O’Farrell Government is right to attempt legislation to permit uranium exploration in New South Wales. I said this two months ago. The Federal Government has expanded uranium mining and opened exports to India. South Australia boasts what will become the world’s largest uranium mine“. Bob Carr http://bobcarrblog.wordpress.com/2012/02/15/uranium-mining-in-nsw/
USA’s secret plan for criminalising Julian Assange
On Monday, WikiLeaks began releasing more than 5 million Stratfor emails which it said showed ”how a private intelligence agency works, and how they target individuals for their corporate and government clients”.
Revealed: US plans to charge Assange, SMH, Philip Dorling, February 29, 2012 UNITED STATES prosecutors 
have drawn up secret charges against the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, according to a confidential email obtained from the private US intelligence company Stratfor.
In an internal email to Stratfor analysts on January 26 last year, the vice-president of intelligence, Fred Burton, responded to a media report concerning US investigations targeting WikiLeaks with the comment: ”We have a sealed indictment on Assange.”
He underlined the sensitivity of the information – apparently obtained from a US government source – with warnings to ”Pls [please]
protect” and ”Not for pub[lication]”. Continue reading
Amidst Malysia’s court proceedings about Lynas, the corporation’s website was hacked
Australian miner hacked, WA Today, Rania Spooner February 27, 2012 In a show of opposition to a near-complete rare
earths processing plant in Malaysia, the website of Australian miner Lynas Corporation has been hacked. WAtoday.com.au understands the miner’s website was brought down on Sunday as reports emerged of more than 5000 protestors converging on
the seaside city of Kuantan, near the site of the controversial facility.
The Lynas website was still down at 7.30pm (EST) Monday, with a message from the company advising: “We are currently experiencing some technical difficulties at the moment. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”
A hacker, using the name “4z1” and claiming to be a Malaysian citizen, has taken credit for bringing the site down in a statement on a personal blog.
In a rough translation of 4z1’s statement from Chinese into English, internal Malaysian race issues and fear of radiation from the 
plant was the explanation for the hacking….
A group of Kuantan residents have launched court proceedings against Malaysia’s Atomic Energy Licensing Board, the Malaysian Department of Environment and Lynas Malaysia over the plant, the company reported on Thursday. The group has sought a review of the plant’s temporary operating license granted by the AELB early this month and a halt to the commencement of operations, due in the coming weeks, while such a review is undertaken….
The plant would be used to process concentrate from the Mount Weld deposit in Western Australia’s Goldfields region, believed to be the largest of its kind in the world. The company previously announced plans to transport the concentrate from Mount Weld to Malaysia via road and sea. http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/australian-miner-hacked-20120227-1tyn0.html#ixzz1o5i4ZS2d
Why Australia should kick pollution politician Martin Ferguson out of the government Ministry
REMOVE MARTIN FERGUSON FROM ENERGY, by Tom Swann (and Swann doesn’t even mention Ferguson’s unswerving loyalty to the nuclear lobby! – C.M.) )
Here’s just a short list of what Fergo gets up to:
– He invited climate skeptics to launch their book at Parliament House;
– He had the AFP and private companies spy on climate volunteers and campaigners, under the pretence of protecting the energy supply–are we being tracked right now?;
– On a 16 person panel designing future energy policy, he chose only one from the renewables industry, and only after pressure;
– He’s infamous for his ‘open door’ to coal and gas lobbyists;
– He advocates massive expansion of coal and gas, and is pushing ahead with the new HRL coal plant despite HRL missing deadlines, community outrage and the PM’s promise for no new coal;
– He has a long history of holding back our struggling renewables industry, from irregular funding to poor program administration;
– For example, he is responsible for the poor design and continued delays in the Solar Flagships program, which hasn’t yet issued a single flagship grant;
– Gillard acknowledged he is a liability when she made sure he was not in charge of setting up the new Clean Energy Finance Corporation;
– As Ministerial Chair of the International Energy Agency, he ignores the IEA’s recent push for urgent climate action through strong support for big solar;
– Meanwhile, government reports overlook the projections, from the IEA and elsewhere, of rapidly falling renewables costs, especially in solar, as well as new evidence showing support for renewables can actually cut costs;
– He agitates for nuclear power in Australia, nevermind the cost, emissions impact and health risk (the recent Energy White Paper makes a big deal out nuclear power in Australia even while showing all too clearly how expensive it would be!);
– He wants Australia to become a global nuclear waste dump, and has started by forcing a dump on Muckaty, a remote Aboriginal community that wants nothing to do with it – Senate debate on Muckaty started when everyone was focused on leadership spill!
– As the Minister for Tourism, he’s responsible for hundreds of thousands of jobs provided by the Great Barrier Reef — many times more than in fossil fuels. But the reef is under extreme threat from climate change — and so are those jobs! http://www.communityrun.org/petitions/move-martin-ferguson-out-of-energy
Rare earths: what if Malaysia puts public health over Lynas’ profit?
Lynas languishes as Malaysian radiation protests grow, BY:BARRY FITZGERALD, The Australian, March 01, 2012 RARE-EARTHS stock Lynas cannot pull a trick at the moment. Uncertainty about its ability to win over the local community
at its soon-to-be completed finishing plant in Malaysia has driven the stock down 53 per cent from from its April 2011 peak of $2.60 a share to the $1.22 a share on offer at the close of trade yesterday.
Radiation fears surrounding the plant have become something of a cause celebre in Malaysia, prompting concerns that Lynas’s ability to make finished products from concentrates sent from its Mount Weld mining operation in Western Australia to fully maximise its returns is now under threat.
In the meantime, the West Australian government has amended the state’s Mining Act to impose a 2.5 per cent royalty on Mount Weld production. Rare earths is a new industry for the state and the 2.5 per cent rate has been part of the assumptions surrounding the Mount Weld project since Lynas got serious with feasibility studies into its integrated development, with the offshore finishing plant, in 2005…
.. Last weekend thousands of protesters rallied around the Malaysian plant, calling for its closure. Wong Tack, a key organiser of the event, said: “Malaysians have made our stand and we do not want this hazardous project.”
Protesters also attacked the Lynas website, which was still down yesterday. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining-energy/lynas-languishes-as-malaysian-radiation-protests-grow/story-e6frg9df-1226285564001
Lynas’ radioactive waste: Malaysia doesn’t want it, Australia won’t take it back
How to dispose of the waste? MY Sin Chew Daily,, 2012-03-01 By LIM SUE GOAN, Translated by SOONG PHUI JEE, Four government departments have earlier recommended that Lynas should ship back waste material produced by the refinery plant to Australia. They have a certain representativeness as four departments account for 16% of the total 25 departments.
It was reported that the Cabinet has accepted the recommendation and required Lynas to ship back all waste material back to Western Australia. It is indeed a positive development, but is it feasible or just a wishful thinking?
Western Australian Minister for Mines and Petroleum Norman Moore told the Parliament in April last year that the Australian Government would not accept responsibility for any waste produced by Lynas. Continue reading
“Stronger Futures” legislation, an indignity to all Australians, not only to Aborigines
They are policies that have been shamelessly trialled on the Aboriginal people of the Northern Territory and that are now to be imposed on other so-called areas of disadvantage across Australia. The degrading trail of internal colonisation continues, discriminating one moment on the basis of race and the next moment on the basis of class.
The ‘Stronger Futures’ legislation might strengthen the futures of the powerful but it is an attempt to weaken the dignity of those who are subjected to its control.
Picking the scab of colonisation, Eureka Street JOHN FALZON MARCH 01, 2012
There’s a deep wound in Australia.
There’s a gash in our story.
It is a wound that is known by different names:
Colonisation.
Dispossession.
Coercion.
Control.
It is still with us. Continue reading
Australia positioned to lead in renewable energy, says global engineering investor ABB
ABB undeterred by carbon tax controversy, BY:SARAH-JANE TASKER , The Australian , March 02, 2012 GLOBAL engineering company ABB Group will continue investing in its Australian arm despite the political upheaval. ….. ABB, one of the largest engineering companies in the world with a market value of about $38 billion, is targeting the renewable energy sector as a significant growth area. It believes Australia is in pole position because of the carbon tax.
ABB Australia country manager Axel Kuhr said the company had not given up on the renewables sector in Australia, despite the opposition’s promise to scrap the carbon tax.
Its confidence in the sector was reflected in its decision in November to buy Darwin-based Powercorp, a renewable power automation company.
“All the discussions around the carbon tax and the delay around that wasn’t helpful but we believe global warming is happening and that countries are really looking at doing something about it,” Mr Kuhr said. “This is a sector where we see further growth in the future years.”
ABB describes itself as a global leader in power and automation technology that enables utilities and industrial users to improve their performance while reducing their environmental impact.
“Our equipment is geared to help our customers save energy, so for us (the carbon tax) should generate new business as it helps companies look to make carbon tax savings,” Mr Kuhr said.
He said wind and solar power would take off in the long term, and prices would fall…… http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining-energy/abb-undeterred-by-carbon-tax-controversy/story-e6frg9df-1226286684365
Australia’s big utility industries holding back renewable energy development
frustration from having its wind farm development options restricted by the dominance of the big three energy utilities.
the secretary of the Department of Energy, Drew Clarke, conceded that the market power of the three big retailers and their impact on the deployment of large scale renewables was an issue that was being monitored.
Big three utilities hindering renewable energy, BY:GILES PARKINSON, :The Australian , March 02, 2012 AFTER spending more than three years waiting for Australia’s dominant energy utilities to sign contracts to build new wind farms, the country’s largest renewable energy developers have decided to take matters into their own hands and write the contracts themselves.
The announcement by Pacific Hydro last week that it would establish its own energy retailer by July 1 was driven primarily by its immediate need to find an off-take agreement for the power to be generated by the 150MW Moree Solar Farm.
Without it, the consortium in which PacHydro is involved had little chance of retaining the tender for the Solar Flagships project. But the decision to push into retailing has been brewing for some time and could provide some interesting dynamics as Australia embarks on a $20 billion-plus spend to meet the country’s 20 per cent renewable energy target by 2020. Continue reading
Nuclear submarines for Australia? – drawing us further into the American military machine
the Australian fleet could be maintained at a US base in the Pacific Ocean or a US nuclear submarine base could be established in Australia.” That is, the proposal could provide the rationale to construct a new facility on Australian territory jointly operated with the US military.
All these moves would be viewed in China as highly aggressive.
US ambassador suggests nuclear submarine sale to Australia, World Socialist Website, By Oliver Campbell 29 February 2012 A front page article in the Australian Financial Review on February 22 reported that the US ambassador in Canberra, Jeffrey Bleich, has floated the possibility of Washington selling or leasing nuclear submarines to Australia—a first for any country.
While Defence Minister Stephen Smith restated the Labor Party’s position that it would not consider the “nuclear option”, the report is a further indication of Washington’s moves to strengthen military ties with Australia as it aggressively confronts China….. Continue reading
Tasmania’s unique opportunity as leader in renewable energy
Opportunities for Tasmania in the impacts of climate change, 1 March 2012 The Tasmanian Energy Forum was opened in Hobart today with an address from Minister for Climate Change and energy efficiency, Cassy O’Connor, outlining the opportunities that co-exist with the impacts of climate change.
“Tasmania has an opportunity like no other state in Australia to become a leader in renewable technology,” she said. “Through our early investment into renewable energy technology, Tasmania is perfectly positioned to become a green battery for mainland Australia and an economic powerhouse in a carbon constrained world.
“We have the Climate Futures work from the Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems CRC that tells us how rainfall patterns will change, what to expect in the way of extreme events like flooding and bushfire, and which parts of our state will suffer more severe frost, and longer dry spells.
“The change in rain patterns will affect flows into our hydro dams, investment in renewable energy production must happen now if we are to maintain our competitive advantage. “We have amazing opportunities in:
Renewable energy with excellent wind resources, and potential in solar, tidal and geothermal
Energy efficiency across industry, business and the community with big in roads into energy efficiency upgrades in public housing, and
Innovative and sustainable agriculture, and a sustainable forestry industry
“The time is now to act upon advice from the Tasmanian Renewable Energy Industry Development Board, to secure our clean, green, energy future.” http://www.media.tas.gov.au/release.php?id=34357
South Australia happy to flog off uranium – but says nuclear power’s no good
Uranium industry in major turnaround, Adelaide Now by: TIM DORNIN AAP February 29, 2012 AUSTRALIA has no need for nuclear power and no licence from society to develop it, South Australian Mineral Resources Minister Tom Koutsantonis says.
The minister says he fully supports uranium mining in SA but not nuclear power. “The truth is, you need a social licence to operate, and there is not a social licence for nuclear power,” Mr Koutsantonis told a uranium
conference.
“The Australian public don’t want it. “I don’t think it’s economic, I don’t think it’s viable, and I don’t think it’s politically saleable.”
Adelaide uranium conference disrupted by anti nuclear protestors
Protesters disrupt uranium conference THE AUSTRALIAN AAP February 28, 2012 ANTI-NUCLEAR protesters have disrupted a uranium conference in Adelaide, with the small group calling for a halt to uranium mining.
A lone protester wearing white protective overalls and a mask stood at the back of the Paydirt conference during opening speeches today and called for SA’s uranium to be left in the ground. He said South Australians did not want the waste generated by uranium mining. Several others joined him chanting similar slogans before being
removed as SA Mineral Resources Minister Tom Koutsantonis completed his address.
Mr Koutsantonis said the State Government strongly supported the development of the state’s uranium resources, including the world’s largest deposit at Olympic Dam. But he also maintained the Government’s decision to ban all
exploration, including the search for uranium, in the environmentally sensitive Arkaroola Sanctuary in the Flinders Rangers was the right one….
… If we had not banned mining in Arkaroola, I think this room would have been full of young protesters,” Mr Koutsantonis said. “I think we would have galvanised a whole generation against uranium mining.”
1 This month
Help Aunty Sue Protect Her Land and Sacred Sites From Destructive Rocket Testing.
.
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 