Traditional Aboriginal landowners excluded from Rio Tinto land agreement
The Bark Petition: An expression of legal ownership, Green Left, September 18, 2011, By Emma Murphy Yirrkala, in north-east Arnhem land, is home to the famous 1963 “Bark Petition”. This was a protest action by the Yolngu people that led to the first native title litigation in Australia’s history. Continue reading
Misleading headlines and terms in uranium propaganda
We’ve been seeing a lot of “wobbly words” lately – from the nuclear/uranium industry. You’ll recognise them – “the fundamentals” (always great, of course). And in today’s hype for Uranium SA’s Whyalla plan – “robust” economics.
But the headline is the best in this one – “numbers stacking up”. – Well – the information that the share price of Uranium SA has fallen, and that it hasn’t secured financing – doesn’t bear out the enthusiastic headline. – C.M.
The numbers stack up for Uranium SA, The Age, Barry Fitzgerald, September 20, 2011 SOUTH AUSTRALIA is in line to get another uranium mine, this time from a new uranium province being opened up by ASX-listed Uranium SA to the south of the industrial city of Whyalla, on the Eyre Peninsula.
A study by USA into the likely financial returns from the development of one of the sediment-hosted uranium deposits it has outlined at its Samphire project – the Blackbush deposit – has confirmed ”robust” project economics…..
USA’s managing director, Russel Bluck, said USA’s financing options for the project development would include discussions with global integrated nuclear power groups. USA shares closed 0.5¢ lower at 15¢.
Liquefied Natural Gas to boom, with the decline in nuclear energy
new safety standards and changing public sentiment are likely to slow the advance of atomic energy….
Japan’s energy loss, our LNG gain, The Australian, Rick Wallace, Tokyo Correspondent ,September 20, 2011“…….Tokyo Gas says it expects the Energy Horizon will make up to 15 trips a year, bringing gas from Darwin LNG and the Pluto project in Western Australia. Sources in Japan say the surging demand for LNG from Japan has made the $30 billion Ichthys project (a Japanese-owned and operated venture bringing WA gas to Darwin) a near certainty to go ahead and boosted the business case for several other projects. Continue reading
Jeff McMullen’s passionate call against a second Aboriginal Intervention
the fight for the homelands is the new frontline.
Federal, Northern Territory and state government policy is now in collusion — and it’s across both sides of the political spectrum.
Assimilation is the essence of this government approach and what they are trying to do is, ever so slowly, prise Aborginal people up from their settlements on the homelands and move them for economic rationalisation and to clear the way for the the various kinds of development that have always taken the wealth out of Aboriginal land…..the contest with the miners, and that appetite, that greed for the wealth on Aboriginal lands, is bringing Aboriginal society once more to the crossroads……
This intervention started with a vicious lie: the one that said all of these communities had pedophile rings.
The Australian Crime Commission has now erased that lie, saying there were, and there are, no pedophile rings…….
Jeff McMullen: Don’t buy the NT intervention lie, Green Left, September 17, 2011, Outside prescribed Aboriginal communities in the NT ‘those shameful signs still exist’. Jeff McMullen, a prominent journalist and Aboriginal rights advocate, gave the address below at the Sydney launch of Walk With Us: Aboriginal Elders Call Out to Australian People to Walk with them in their Quest for Justice at Gleebooks, Sydney, on September 1. Continue reading
Upper Hunter region Councils look to renewable energy “life after coal”
Coal towns urged to consider renewable future, ABC News Newcastle, September 19, 2011 , A new $100,000 report has identified Muswellbrook and Singleton as future renewable energy hubs. The Upper Hunter Diversification Report was commissioned by the six Upper Hunter councils, co-funded by the State Government, and is being released to Singleton councillors this week.
It attempts to signal where the Hunter’s jobs will come from over the next 25 years and as the coal boom subsides. Singleton Council’s Salena Avard says because of the skilled mine labour force in Muswellbrook and Singleton, the towns would be perfect for the production of renewable energy technologies. “Singleton has a really fantastic set of skills that are associated both with the mining industry but professional services and all sorts of support industries,” she said.
“I think there is an opportunity for us to have a look at where we can transfer those skills. “Everyone recognises that the mining industry is going to be here for some time yet, but certainly life after mining is a consideration of this report.” http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-09-19/upper-hunter-renewable-energy-hubs/2905970/?site=newcastle
Global unpopularity of nuclear industry, but nuclear leaders do not ‘get it’
People do not like this [nuclear] industry, not because they misunderstand it but because they understand it perfectly
well. That is going to be very difficult to fix with little video clips on websites and new fact sheets….
… the magnitude of the disconnect, the dissonance, that exists in the minds of the strongest advocates of the [nuclear] industry. All they need to do is somehow just fix up the image of the industry and everything is going to be fine. I think we will be hearing a lot more of that on the part of the nuclear industry and its supporters in government.
Adjournment speech – Fukushima 6 months on – Australia’s Nuclear Free Alliance Spokesperson Scott Ludlam 14th September 2011 “……..It will be very interesting to see how the democratic aspirations of the people of Japan now play out in the light of the permanent radioactive nightmare that has been unleashed in the Tohoku region of Japan.
If we take a very quick trip around the world, a Washington Post/ABC poll in April 2011 found that 64 per cent of Americans oppose the construction of new reactors, so there are no surprises why the industry is at an absolute standstill there. Support for nuclear power was similar or much lower in countries as varied as Chile at 12 per cent, Thailand at 16½ per cent, Australia at 34 per cent, and the United Kingdom at 35 per cent support.
That, I think, is a problem that has dogged the nuclear industry right from the beginning but to read some of the things they say you would think perhaps they have an image problem. Continue reading
Stawell, Victoria, calls for political action for renewable energy
“We’re keen to see as much of that funding go to renewables and energy efficiency as possible and not polluting energy sources such as fossil gas and clean coal.”…
The group is calling on Federal Member for Mallee John Forrest to get behind the renewable energy elements of this package.
Climate group supports legislation for funding, The Stawell Times News, MICHELLE DELISLE 16 Sep, 2011 STAWELL – Stawell Climate Action Group welcomes the renewable energy commitments delivered by the carbon price package and is calling for them to be rolled out as soon as possible.
“There is $10 billion of new funding for renewable energy over five years which is a great result for Australia and for the Wimmera,” said Julie Andrew, Stawell Climate Action group spokesperson.
“We’re keen to see as much of that funding go to renewables and energy efficiency as possible and not polluting energy sources such as fossil gas and clean coal.” Continue reading
Wind farms for South Australia, Victoria, and New South Wales
Acciona Plans to Develop 144-Megawatt South Australia Wind Farm, Bloomberg, By James Paton – Sep 15, 2011 Acciona SA (ANA), the Spanish renewable energy company, plans to develop a 144-megawatt wind farm in the state of South Australia, according to documents filed with the Australian government.
The Exmoor wind farm, with as many as 48 turbines, would be located about 15 kilometers (9 miles) north of Naracoorte in the southeast region of the state, the Madrid-based company said in documents lodged yesterday with the Australian Environment Department. Acciona may get approval to build the wind farm as early as 2013, the company said.
Acciona, AGL Energy Ltd. (AGK) and Investec Plc are among companies planning to build more wind-power projects in Australia as the country moves toward a goal of generating 20 percent of its power from renewable energy sources by 2020. AGL’s 420-megawatt Macarthur wind farm in Victoria state, estimated to cost A$1 billion ($1 billion), will be the largest in the southern hemisphere when it is completed in early 2013, the Sydney-based company said last year.
Acciona in July opened the 107 million-euro ($148 million) Gunning wind farm in New South Wales state, the company’s third in Australia. That project has a capacity of 46.5 megawatts…http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-16/acciona-plans-to-develop-144-megawatt-south-australia-wind-farm.html
Carbon tax plan helped attract world’s largest solar maker to Australia
World’s largest solar maker opens office in Australia Radio Australia September 17, 2011 The world’s largest maker of solar panels says Australia’s carbon tax is one of the factors that has attracted it to the country.
The US-based First Solar opened its doors in Australia this month, planning to be a major supplier of solar panels for large-scale power projects. The company says costs of panels are coming down quickly but government incentives will be necessary for another five years….. SNOWDON: If the forecasts are right, solar energy will deliver half the world’s electricity production within fifty years. Australia’s target is 20 per cent renewable energy by 2020, a policy that encouraged the world’s biggest solar panel maker to open a sales and engineering office in Sydney a week ago. And the carbon tax while not essential, helped….
Government incentives he says will be necessary for another five years, after which the industry should be established…..
Research to benefit the Giant Cuttlefish, or the Giant Non Australian BHP Billiton?
In South Australia, a Flinders University team is doing the USA’s bidding, as Professor Pam Sykes pushes U.S. funded research into making low level ionising radiation look good.
Now we have another research team in South Australia,, funded by Australian governments, investigating the giant cuttlefish. We must wonder to what extent this research is geared at truly studying this unique and beautiful animal, and its specialised habitat. This is a species that will be lost to the world, made extinct by a change in the salt/freshwater balance in the upper Spencer Gulf.
The proposed desalinationn plant – needed for BHP Billiton’s expansion of Olympic Damn uranium mine – would make that change, and make that extinction of an iconic Australian species.
Will the new research study really lead to the protection of the giant cuttlefish, or the protection of the giant Non Australia – BHP Billiton? – Christina Macpherson
Federal and state funds for cuttlefish research, ABC News, September 15, 2011 Research into giant cuttlefish in South Australia’s upper Spencer Gulf will receive $105,000 in federal and state funding.
SA Fisheries Minister Michael O’Brien says a monitoring and evaluation program will look at population biomass, water quality and habitat. There has been some recent concern that fewer cuttlefish are in the upper Gulf.
Concern also has been expressed about the possible effects of discharge if a desalination plant is built in the area. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-09-15/giant-cuttlefish-research-funding/2900668
Malaysian MP disputes radiation opinion of Lynas’ Australian employee on rare earths
Fuziah belittles radiation expert’s analysis, Free Malaysia Today, K Pragalath, September 14, 2011 The Kuantan MP replies to criticisms by Lynas-hired Nick Tsurikov. PETALING JAYA: Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh today shot back at radiation expert Nick Tsurikov, who has disputed statements she made recently regarding the dangers posed by the rare earth project in Gebeng, near Kuantan.
She criticised his analysis as “shallow” and questioned his standing as an independent expert, noting that he was hired by Lynas Corp, the Australian mining company that is setting up the Gebeng operations……
She also said Tsurikov, who is based in Australia, was unable to understand the seriousness of the situation….
Fuziah quoted reports alleging that Lynas was using China Standards GB9133-88 as a benchmark.“I mentioned that there are no rare earth refineries in operation outside China at the moment. Thus we do not have a benchmark. Neither do we have a best practice in rare earth refining.”
South Australia: Labor and Liberal keep uranium mine information from the public
Last night, Labor and Liberal combined to defeat a Greens motion calling on the release of more information from the world’s richest resource company to justify BHPB’s preferred option to send Roxby ore to China for processing.
Labor & Liberal roll over on Roxby ‘China Option’, 15 Sept 11, South Australian Greens Parliamentary Leader Mark Parnell has accused the SA Labor Government and Liberal Opposition of abandoning domestic processing for the Olympic Dam expansion. Continue reading
Polluting industries’ front groups – Australia’s Climate Sceptics
(includes video) Rogues or respectable? How climate change sceptics spread doubt and denial, Independent Australia, 14 Sep 2011, Professor Ian Enting takes a look at the front groups and published texts of Australia’s climate sceptics. He says, “most prominent pseudo-sceptical scientists are…gathering together to provide apparent respectability to front organisations that are designed to spread confusion”..…
The reality is that the most prominent pseudo-sceptical scientists are …..gathering together to provide apparent respectability to front organisations that are designed to spread confusion.
This is the message from Merchants of Doubt : How a Handful of Scientists Obscured Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming.
Authors Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway, backed up by documents obtained in the course of tobacco litigation, show that not only was greenhouse denial using the same misinformation techniques as the tobacco industry, but that it was often the same groups and the same people. These anti-science activities hide behind names such as “Friends of Science”.
In Australia we have a similar phenomenon, with the additional twist of often using names that aim to capture a “martyr for science” image. They present themselves as being ignored by an entrenched establishment, when in reality they are ignoring or distorting the accumulated scientific knowledge.
An early starter was the Lavoisier Group — a single issue organisation similar in structure and name to organisations like the Bennelong Society (on indigenous affairs), the HR Nicholls society (on industrial relations) and the Samuel Griffith Society (on constitutional matters and support for the monarchy). But for the Lavoisier Group, the “martyr for science” ethos is a bit of a stretch — Lavoisier was executed for his activities as a tax collector.
The latest entry is the Galileo Movement , again co-opting the name of a “martyr for science” for an anti-science activity. The Galileo Movement’s founders funded the previous visit to Australia by Viscount Monckton. The movement’s “Independent Climate Science Group” includes Monckton, Bob Carter, S. Fred Singer and Ian Plimer as well as Garth Paltridge.
Monckton’s extravagant claims were described by John Abraham earlier in this series. Monckton’s recent testimony to the US Congress has been extensively refuted by a larger group of scientists…. http://www.independentaustralia.net/2011/environment/rogues-or-respectable-how-climate-change-sceptics-spread-doubt-and-denial/
Senator Scott Ludlam speaks on ANFA, uranium, Aboriginals, and Navajo
In 2008, a five-year cleanup plan of the Navajo lands was proposed and implemented by the US EPA, which estimated that 30 per cent of all Navajo still lack uncontaminated drinking water. It is an experience that is familiar to Aboriginal people here in Australia
Adjournment speech – Fukushima 6 months on – Australia’s Nuclear Free Alliance Spokesperson Scott Ludlam 14th September 2011“…….I had the enormous good fortune before I departed for Canberra to spend Sunday, 11 September at Seven Mile Camp on the outskirts of Alice Springs at a meeting of the Australian Nuclear Free Alliance-ANFA ……. I spent my time there in the company of a number of people: Uncle Kevin Buzzacott, who has spent the latter part of his life fighting nuclear dispossession of the land of his people by the Olympic Dam uranium mine at Roxby Downs in central South Australia; Mitch, whose sense of humour and fierce wit and passion for her people leave an indelible trace on the memory of anybody who spends time with her; the indestructible Barb Shaw, who has unfortunately spent far too much of her time having to fight the negative impacts of the Northern Territory intervention that was so unwisely carried forward by this government; and Aunty Isabel and Bunny Naparrula, who travelled down from Tennant Creek to speak to that group of people about this Commonwealth government’s shameful proposal to continue the Howard government’s radioactive dispossession of their people with the proposed imposition of a radioactive waste dump which would collect the Commonwealth obligated nuclear material which principally resides at the moment at Lucas Heights in central South Australia-though there is also a certain amount at overseas reprocessing sites in France. They do not want that material there, and they have led an extraordinary campaign, which I have been privileged to be a part of, to prevent that material being dumped in a shed on a cattle station on their traditional land so that the Commonwealth government can wash its hands of it and walk away.
ANFA has been going since 1997. It was formed in Alice Springs in response to the Howard government’s unleashing of the uranium sector to vastly more disappointing results than I imagine they were anticipating and in particular in response to the challenge of the proposed Jabiluka mine in Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory. ANFA, which was formed as the Alliance Against Uranium, has stayed very strong since then. That ANFA meeting was an amazing gathering of people whom you might consider some of the most marginalised and disadvantaged in the country. Aboriginal communities, activists, elders and some of the new leaders coming through gather once a year-this is the fourth one that I have had the extreme good fortune to attend-to share their stories of dispossession and of that e campaigns that they have waged and in many cases won against foreign and domestic uranium mining companies and against the extraordinarily misguided ambitions of successive Commonwealth governments in seeking to leave this toxic time capsule of radioactive waste on their country. Continue reading
Local anger at Australian govt plan for nuclear waste dump in Northern Territory
But on the ground, in communities near the site, many people are angry at the NLC. They say they haven’t been consulted, and can’t understand why.
What’s interesting is that Tennant Creek itself, where much opposition is focused, is just inside the jurisdiction of the Central Land Council, not the NLC: Muckaty, bang in the middle of Australia, lies just on the NLC side. So people in Tennant Creek can complain about the site all they like, but the NLC is not compelled to listen to them.
LAND COUNCIL COPS DUMP FALLOUT, SBS World News, Living Black,08 September 2011 Video journalist Bill Code on the controversial proposal to store nuclear waste on Aboriginal land in the Northern Territory. Continue reading
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