Malcolm Turnbull – Australian Liberal’s moderate voice on Climate Change
As Turnbull said: ”There has been a very effective campaign against the science of climate change by those opposed to taking action to cut emissions – many because it does not suit their own financial interests – and this has played into the carbon tax debate.”….
Turnbull on a crusade, The Age , Michelle Grattan, July 23, 2011 “…….In Thursday’s Virginia Chadwick Memorial Oration The Age in Sydney, Turnbull took on the climate sceptics – naming Lord Christopher Monckton who appeared at the National Press Club earlier this week – and appealed to Liberals to stand up for the science.
”Those of us who do not believe that the CSIRO is part of an international Green conspiracy to undermine Western civilisation, or that leading scientists like Will Steffen are … you know, subversives, should not be afraid to speak out and loudly on behalf of our scientists and our science….. Continue reading
North Korea’s nukes a threat to Australia
Australia may be nuclear target: Kevin Rudd, THE AUSTRALIAN, Peter Alford in Nusa Dua , July 23, 2011 FOREIGN Minister Kevin Rudd says North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile programs are a direct threat to Australia……He lashed out following an intervention by Foreign Minister Pak U’i-chu’un at the ASEAN Regional Forum blaming the US, South Korea and Japan for provoking the current dangerous instability on the Korean Peninsula.
Mr Rudd told Mr Pak it was “unacceptable” for North Korea to blame on others the security problems it had caused for the whole region, Continue reading
South Australia to ban uranium mining in Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary
Premier Mike Rann announces permanent protection for Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary, Herald Sun, By Greg Kelton and Sarah Martin , July 22, 2011 ARKAROOLA will be protected for all time from mining, South Australia Premier Mike Rann has announced during a visit to the wilderness sanctuary. Continue reading
Australia’s polluting industries gear up for campaign against carbon pricing
Industry launches anti-carbon tax campaign, ABC News, chief political correspondent Sabra Lane, 21 July 11 A lobby group is opening up a new front against the Federal Government’s carbon tax plans by kicking off an advertising campaign.
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Coal Association, the Minerals Council and the Housing Industry Association have formed a group they call the Australian Trade and Industry Alliance.
It says the Government’s deal with the Greens and the independents is flawed and will harm businesses.
In an echo of the mining industry’s tactics against the resources tax last year, the group says it will run a range of media ads against the carbon price.
Last year the Minerals Council spent $17 million in its campaign against the super profits tax and it was successful in watering it down. It was also credited with helping to oust Kevin Rudd from the Lodge.
“The key message is the carbon tax means pain but no environmental gain,” Alliance spokesman Peter Anderson said….http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-07-21/industry-group-steps-up-carbon-ads/2803794
Clean Energy Finance Corporation a business plus for Australia
…Far from being a slush fund for the ALP, the proposed CEFC would be a commercially-minded independent authority enabling Australian businesses to commercialise and deploy Aussie renewable energy innovations…..The CEFC is a critical institution for driving Australia’s long-term reductions in emissions at least cost with maximum economic benefit. …
Why we need the Clean Energy Finance Corporation CEFC, Climate Spectator, Simon O’Connor. 22 July 11“……The Export Finance and Insurance Corporation (EFIC) has enabled Australian businesses to overcome financial barriers to doing business by bridging market gaps the commercial banks dared not bridge.
Far from being a risky strategy, this commercially-oriented authority has delivered to government dividends totalling more than $100 million in the last decade. Continue reading
Tony Abbott’s climate plan just can’t work
If you stop to think about it for a minute, it’s obvious that Direct Action won’t work. It doesn’t introduce a proper market mechanism for carbon abatement. It doesn’t seek to cap Australia’s carbon emissions. The odds are against it, even before we examine the depth of the Coalition’s actual commitment to addressing climate change. No wonder Tony Abbott can’t find any economists or climate scientists prepared to support it.
A close look at Abbott’s Direct Action plan, ABC Drum, Ben Eltham, 21 JULY 2011, “……What exactly are the policies of the Coalition, and would they work? After all, there’s been plenty of media scrutiny of the Government’s carbon tax. There’s been precious little on the Opposition’s own carbon policy, which it calls “Direct Action”, or the many sweeping statements on climate change and the carbon tax by Tony Abbott. Continue reading
Anti nuclear protest at Australian Uranium Conference on in Fremantle.
Anti-uranium protest in Fremantle, Anti-uranium campaigners have staged a protest outside Australia’s largest annual uranium conference., ABC News, July 21, 2011 “…….Politicians and uranium industry delegates are attending the forum to discuss the future of the industry in WA, which as yet has no operational uranium mine.
The Conservation Council of WA organised the rally, which included Australian Manufacturing Workers Union WA boss Steve McCartney, Greens MP Robin Chapple and Fremantle Mayor Brad Pettitte.
The protesters say they hope to draw attention to the decline in the nuclear industry and reflect on the recent tragedy at the Fukushima plant in Japan…
Fukushima ‘incident’ makes nuclear industry safer, says Paladin chief
He said the Fukushima incident in Japan had been nothing more than a smokescreen obscuring the positive underlying fundamentals of the industry.A positive side to the Fukushima incident, where there were no deaths despite alarmist reports, was that it will make the industry even safer
Paladin Energy CEO delivers broadside against Greens Party, A leading Australian uranium industry figure fired a broadside at the country’s Greens Party which has pushed a case that Australia could be run totally on renewable energy by 2040. Ross Louthean, Mineweb 21 Jul 2011 PERTH – –
Speaking in the last session of the Australian Uranium Conference in Fremantle this evening, Paladin Energy Ltd’s chief executive John Borshoff described the case made by the country’s Greens Party that Australia could be run totally on renewable enrergy by 2040 as stupid. Continue reading
Lynas’ Malaysian rare earths plant an experiment in irradiating local community
“We will see whether there is any increase of people afflicted with radiation-linked diseases or cancer,”…So what if the future health of the people is adversely affected. Nothing is mentioned about compensation….
It is now abundantly clear that the project had been scheduled to proceed right from the beginning, when it was surreptitiously approved without consultation of the people, way back in 2008.
How else can you explain Lynas construction of the plant, now at 40% completion, when they didn’t have government approval or sanction in the first place?
Gebeng residents mere guinea pigs for Lynas project, Malaysi Kini, Kuantan Resident, Jul 21, 11, All is not quiet on the western front. Some may think they have won the battle. But they have not won the war yet!
Yesterday’s Star report (20.7.2011) on ‘Lynas to compile residents’ health data for future comparison’ is laughable.
Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) director general Raja Abdul Aziz Raja Adnan said it would serve as a baseline data for Lynas before the operation began.
“It will be used later to provide a comparison for assessing the operation’s impact on the people living in nearby areas such as Balok. Continue reading
A second Australian govt Aboriginal Intervention to provide land for uranium industry
Labor’s next phase seeks to go further in closing “unviable” remote communities, opening up Aboriginal land for exploitation and creating a “work-ready” cheap labour force….. Long-term leases are also being established over Aboriginal land to give open access to mining
Australian government deepens Northern Territory “intervention”, World Socialist website, By Susan Allan , 21 July 2011, The Gillard government last month marked the fourth anniversary of the Northern Territory Emergency Response Intervention by announcing a further intensification of its regressive measures against Aboriginal people. A “second stage” of the intervention will commence next year, when the emergency legislation was due to expire. Continue reading
Australia’s democracy sinking under Rupert Murdoch’s media monopoly
Most troubling for our democracy is the Murdoch press. ….
the Murdoch media’s campaign against Kevin Rudd over the mining tax, with the support of the Minerals Council and mining billionaires such as Twiggy Forrest and Gina Rinehart (Australia’s richest person), spelled the end of Rudd’s prime ministership…..Murdoch has similarly set his sights on toppling Julia Gillard and seeing the end to Australian action on climate change.
Carbon tax and the News Limited parallel universe, Independent Australia, By David Donovan, 12 Jul 2011 , We live in a parallel universe. On one side, we have the Government, the Greens, the Independents (except Bob Katter), most of the business lobby, the renewables sector and pro-environment groups claiming the carbon tax will be a long term benefit for Australia and its economy and that, with the Government rebates, it will be a largely painless change.
On the other side, we have the Opposition, the big polluters and the Murdoch press declaring “we’ll all be rooned!”
Drifting around in the void in between is a baffled and confused Australian public.
Continue reading
Australia a multi party democracy, but the media doesn’t “get this”
It reflects badly on journalists and commentators who run the Opposition line that minor parties have no legitimate rights to be major players in our parliamentary democracy….Australia is not, and has not been for decades, a two-party political system and old school members of the media who struggle with that are going to have to come to terms with the political reality.
Groundhog day as some media indulge in anti-Green spin Online Opinion, By Vivienne Wynter – , 20 July 2011 I nearly choked on my kangaroo curry the other night watching the commercialtelevision news anchor ask viewers: “Who is running this government?”
This question was posed in an introduction to a story about the Greens announcing the Renewable Energy Agency, prior to the Carbon Tax announcement. Continue reading
Australia’s Commonwealth Bank joins in the Murdoch press’s pro-nuclear marketing hype
Long-term contract prices are forecast to move steadily higher, following upward-trending spot prices and consistent with production increasing and shifting up the industry cost curve, the bank said….
Fukushima Accident Delays, Doesn’t Stop, Nuclear Renaissance -CBA, Fox News, By Ray Brindal, July 20, 2011,CANBERRA – The accident at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex, which reignited concerns about the safety of nuclear power worldwide, hasn’t stopped the industry’s growth plans in many countries, though it has delayed the process, Commonwealth Bank of Australia reported Wednesday. Continue reading
On solar energy – Victoria, wind power -New South Wales
5MW Solar Farm Constructed In 6 Weeks, Energy Matters, Renewable Energy News, 20 July 11, “….Last week, the UK’s largest solar farm was fully commissioned and connected to the mains grid. The 4.9MW station was developed by Lark Energy and is located at Hawton in Nottinghamshire. The project consisted of 21,000 solar panels situated on 30 acres of former quarry land and will provide enough energy for the electricity needs of 1,300 homes. As Australia finally begins the journey towards a low-carbon economy in earnest, it’s reassuring to know that solar power can quickly replace a substantial amount of coal-fired capacity. While a 4.9MW solar farm is by no means enough to make up the shortfall created by an early closure of Hazelwood, Environment Victoria recently pointed out there is currently 3,000 megawatts of renewable energy projects approved in Victoria, along with thousands of megawatts of gas projects that could be constructed in two to four years.
How fast Victoria will be able to make the switch away from coal will be largely dependent on the political will to make it happen….
http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=1640
Acciona’s third wind farm in Australia, reve, july 20, 2011, The Gunning Wind Farm, 46,5 MW, is located in New South Wales and represents a 107 million € investment. Acciona’s Chairman, José Manuel Entrecanales, congratulates the Government of Australia for its initiatives to increase the development of renewable sources of energy.
The Gunning Wind Farm is a 46.5 MW wind power plant consisting of 31 Windpower AW-1500 wind turbines. The wind energy project represents an AUD $147 million investment (107 million euros)…..http://www.evwind.es/noticias.php?id_not=12528
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Toro uranium company to press W.A. govt for exemptions to royalty payments?
Toro managing director Greg Hall said he would examine the proposal and consider approaching the government for possible exemptions
State royalty plan hits Toro hopes for uranium project, THE AUSTRALIAN, SARAH-JANE TASKER , July 21, 2011 TORO Energy’s plans to become the first new uranium miner in Western Australia have been hit by news the state government will force the emerging industry to pay a royalty. Continue reading
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