Adani’s latest approval reveals a disregard for the Great Barrier Reef
Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS):
http://www.marineconservation.org.au/news.php/758/adanis-latest-approval-reveals-a-disregard-for-the-great-barrier-reef 2 Feb 16:
“The Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) has today expressed deep concern about the Queensland Government’s environmental approval of Adani’s Carmichael coal mine, which will adversely impact the Great Barrier Reef.
Imogen Zethoven, the Great Barrier Reef Campaign Director said today that the decision demonstrated that the Queensland Government is putting the interests of the coal industry ahead of the interests of the Reef and a sustainable economy.
“The mining and burning of coal is the leading cause of global warming. … “The Queensland economy and the tourism industry rely on a healthy Reef. … “Approving this mine is madness. There’s hardly a profitable coal mine in Queensland. …
“Adani has failed to secure finance. … “Economically, environmentally, rationally or emotionally, there is no choice. The Reef should be here for future generations. And future generations power should come from renewable sources,” said Ms Zethoven. … “
Environmental authority for Adani threatens climate and reef
Queensland Conservation Council: https://www.qldconservation.org.au/2016/02/environmental-authority-for-adani-threatens-climate-and-reef/
3 Feb 16:
“Queensland Conservation Council today expressed disappointment that the Queensland Government issued an Environmental Authority for the Carmichael coal mine that will be Australia’s largest
coal mine and will cause dangerous greenhouse pollution.
“It seems that the government’s support for the Paris climate talks has melted away at the first test”, said Kirsten Macey, climate campaigner for the Queensland Conservation Council. “We know that the mining and burning of coal causes dangerous global warming and this massive mine will wreak havoc on our climate as well as our reef. 60,000 jobs that depend on the reef are in jeopardy as a result of this decision.” … “
End for mains-only power, with solar energy storage?
The dream of households easily storing energy is being realised in a Sydney home with the first system of its kind in Australia……….. (Subscribers only)
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/technology/writings-on-the-wall-for-mainsonly-power-with-tesla-powerwall/news-story/f00acc5b8fab87331c07a9d231d8e378
Tony Abbott govt destroyed confidence in Australia’s renewable energy sector
Confidence in renewable energy sector ‘evaporated’ after Abbott cut: Bloomberg, The Age, Peter Hannam ENVIRONMENT EDITOR, THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD January 14, 2016 Investment in large-scale renewable energy in Australia remains stagnant almost two years after the Abbott government began a review of the sector, according to an annual survey by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
Investors spent just $15 million since February 2014 on big wind, solar or other clean energy projects that were not otherwise supported by government programs such as the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.
The Abbott government’s repeal of the carbon tax in July 2014 – which removed long-term price support – and a mishandled review that led ultimately to a cut of about one-fifth in the 2020 Renewable Energy Target (RET) meant “confidence evaporated” in the sector, said Kobad Bhavnagri, head of Bloomberg New Energy Finance in Australia.
“It can’t be understated that the actions of the Abbott government have destroyed confidence in the renewable energy market,” Mr Bhavnagri said. “Lenders in the market are almost all of the view that the political risks in the RET … have made it too risky to invest in.”
The picture is not all gloomy, however, with the capacity of new rooftop solar photovoltaic systems rising in 2015. Continue reading
Australia’s hypocrisy about nuclear weapons
North Korea hydrogen bomb: Australia has a dangerous double standard when it comes to nuclear weapons The Age, January 7, 2016 Richard Lennane
Our reliance on nuclear deterrence for security only encourages other countries to acquire them. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop wasted no time in joining the chorus of international condemnation of North Korea’s latest nuclear weapon test.
“North Korea’s actions fly in the face of international non-proliferation norms, and challenge the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,” Bishop said. Certainly, whether or not the weapon really was a hydrogen bomb, the test is a disturbing development that threatens international peace and security. Despite the comically strident claims of the North Korean regime, nobody is made safer by North Korea’s acquisition of a nuclear arsenal.
But behind Bishop’s ready condemnation lies an awkward contradiction. Like North Korea, Australia believes that nuclear weapons really do make it safer. Of course, Australia claims that it supports nuclear disarmament and is working for a world free of nuclear weapons. But our actions say something different: Australia relies on extended nuclear deterrence for its security, has no plans to change that, and has been actively opposing and resisting international steps to stigmatise and prohibit nuclear weapons on humanitarian grounds. Continue reading
“New Matilda” refutes the pro nuclear spin of Geoff Russell
the economics of new nuclear power doesn’t stack up. And we’ve got much more important things to do (like exposing the well-funded lies of some in the fossil fuel industry and planning for a much different and smaller grid), than arguing with well-intentioned but intellectually conceited proponents of nuclear energy
Nuclear And Nonsense: An Insider’s Guide On Making Renewables Work, New Matilda
By Terry Leach January 4, 2016 Renewable energy advocate Terry Leach takes up the fight for an inexhaustible power supply.
Geoff Russell’s recent New Matilda article ‘Batteries and Bulldust’ makes the argument that renewable energy can’t displace fossil fuels due to the problems of the intermittency of renewable energy and the difficulty of storing electrical energy.
Russell compares the stupidity of Germany’s renewable push to France’s wisdom in generating most of their power from nuclear. Obviously, the superior governance, cheaper electricity and lack of inefficient subsidies results in France consistently outperforming Germany economically. Sadly for the French this isn’t true. Germany is the economic powerhouse of Europe.
Maybe, just maybe, the Germans aren’t ‘puddle shallow thinkers’. Problems of intermittency and storage of renewable energy are solvable, and the Germans are doing just that.
Despite our current government’s opposition, technological development and entrepreneurship means that Australia is well placed to solve those problems here. Continue reading
Australians at high risk of skin cancer
Is your family playing it safe in the sun? http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/your-family-playing-it-safe-sun/2890077/
Summer is a peak time for sunburn and irreversible sun damage and with many out and about on holidays during this time of year it is essential we remember the five S’s:
- slip on sun-protective clothing,
- slop on SPF30 (or higher) broad-spectrum water-resistant sunscreen,
- slap on a brimmed hat,
- seek shade and
- slide on sunglasses.
For Aussies (particularly Queenslanders), having the highest rates of melanoma in the world is not something we should be proud of.
We can’t use the excuse that we don’t know about the damage too much unprotected sun exposure causes.
We have been educated with campaigns warning us of the dangers for decades.
Yet about 2000 people in Australia still die from skin cancer each year and two in three Aussies are diagnosed with skin cancer by the age of 70.
These statistics are shocking when you know most skin cancers can be prevented by the use of good sun protection.
Before heading out, check the UV index – a way of describing the daily danger of solar UV radiation intensity – and avoid the peak times.
The higher the UV Index value, the greater the potential for damage to your skin.
The UV Alert in your newspaper shows the time of the day people need to be particularly SunSmart.
Prevention is better than a cure so also have each member of your family’s skin checked regularly.
Nuclear challenges for Australia in 2016
Dave Sweeney, 24 Dec 15
Looking ahead:
2016 is shaping up as a very significant year. A federal election always provides colour and movement along with opportunity and threat. Against this backdrop some of our key work will include:
· SA Royal Commission: the Commission’s interim report is expected on February 15 with a final report by May 6. It is likely that this will be largely supportive of nuclear expansion plans with a chorus line of industry boosters. We need to prepare for a media blitz and ensure there is public contest, support those communities – especially Aboriginal people – most directly affected, and buttress federal Labor’s opposition to domestic nuclear power and international nuclear waste.
· National radioactive waste: the community comment period around the six current sites closes on March 11 (Fukushima’s fifth anniversary). We will continue to support affected communities and provide information and access to resources – including the film Containment. We need to keep finding ways to advance the long standing civil society call for a detailed, public and independent review of responsible waste management options.
· Uranium: maintain pressure to help ensure ERA transitions from creating to cleaning radioactive mine mess in Kakadu, hold the line against any full project approvals in WA ahead of the March 2017 state election by taking this story from Cottesloe to Canada, track heap leaching plans at Olympic Dam and support calls for action on BHP’s failings in Brazil.
· Federal election/policy: ensure no nuclear policy retreats and oppose moves to fast-track state and federal project approvals through changes to environmental laws and the ‘one stop shop’ At election time we need to remind all politicians that no one has a mandate to radiate.
· Lest we forget: 2016 is a big anniversary year – 5 years since the Australian uranium fuelled Fukushima crisis, 30 years since Chernobyl and 60 years since the creation of the flawed International Atomic Energy Agency. All provide opportunities to reflect and revisit.
· Braid the pieces and tell the story: join the dots nationally and internationally about how Australian uranium drives local damage and division and fuels global insecurity in the form of risky reactors, nuclear weapons and forever wastes.
Adelaide Advertiser’s misleading hype about the nuclear industry
Dennis Matthews, 24 Dec 15 Optimism about the growth of the nuclear plant industry (The Advertiser, 22/12/15) is in stark contrast to the facts. Such professed optimism is a characteristic of an increasingly desperate nuclear industry.
Even before the disastrous meltdowns in Fukushima, the industry was in decline. This decline was accelerated by Fukushima and by the accelerated growth of the renewable energy industry.
Frequent attempts over several decades by the nuclear industry to bolster its fortunes by claims to be an environmentally sustainable solution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions have deservedly failed.
The nuclear energy industry was the product of the nuclear weapons industry, a continuing connection which nuclear advocates still fail to acknowledge. To try to revive it via nuclear submarines is a strategy that deserves to be rejected.
Given the facts, it would be a rash government that commits public funds to an industry that is showing all the signs of a slow and painful demise.
A smart, 21st century government would exploit the increasing trend to alternatives to fossil and nuclear power.
Australia’s bad nuclear news for 2015
Dave Sweeney, 24 Dec 15
Negatives:
· South Australian nuclear Royal Commission: with a surprise announcement in February this initiative has opened the door to all sorts of unfounded and unhelpful pro-nuclear talk. There is a clear need for industry review, but not framed around industry expansion. At best it is a dangerous distraction from the real energy challenges we face – in practise it is a cause for massive community stress and a platform for the promotion of domestic nuclear power and the toxic Trojan horse of international high level radioactive waste dumping.
· Indian uranium sales: despite a unanimous JSCOT recommendation against any sales at this time due to severe and unresolved safety and security concerns the federal government moved swiftly into override mode with Andrew Robb and Julie Bishop fast-tracking a deal. This dismissal of Parliamentary process and evidence based policy is a shameful retreat from any pretence at nuclear responsibility.
· Resource curse: Generally this refers to the situation where nations with extensive natural resources find these a constraint rather than an aid to equitable development. In relation to the Australian nuclear free movement it more relates to the fact that we swear and gnash teeth over how little cash and resources we have to cover so many issues. Our movement’s appetite, vision and ideas are not matched by our capacity. That we do so much so well is a profound tribute to people’s passion, smarts, tenacity and generosity – but this planetary benefit for all comes at a personal cost to many.
· Lack of evidence based assessment: Still no review of the Australian uranium sector post Fukushima as requested by the UN Secretary General, incomplete project applications routinely accepted for fast tracked assessment by state agencies while the federal government talks ‘one stop shop’, no public release of long overdue accident and incidence assessments, JSCOT’s India concerns overridden, absurd and unsubstantiated industry claims re economic benefits and the prospects for future nuclear power accepted and rehashed by politicians and commentators, critics misrepresented or derided as emotional or ill-informed – the nuclear industry’s tiresome pattern continues……
News on Queensland’s Carmichael coalmine: once again, Aboriginals lead the opposition
Federal Government approves Abbot Point port expansion, disappointing environmentalist, but pleasing industry group
The Federal Government has approved the Abbot Point port expansion near Bowen in North Queensland.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-22/federal-environment-minister-aprroves-abbot-point-expansion/7048460
Indigenous activist holds out against Carmichael mine
Aboriginal activist Adrian Burragubba is delaying final approval for the $16bn Carmichael mine.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/indigenous/indigenous-activist-holds-out-against-adani-carmichael-mine/news-story/16e493a5f790ccaa8787e11d948d4006
Abbot Point port expansion receives federal approval
Queensland’s government has warned Indian mining giant Adani it must finance the controversial Carmichael coal mine on its own.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/abbott-point-port-expansion-receives-federal-approval/news-story/8ec2d22e0fb05124c9cd61620f9ca739
Adani must fund mine: Queensland premier A major expansion of the Abbot Point coal terminal in north Queensland has been approved by federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt.
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/12/22/adani-must-fund-mine-queensland-premier
International Energy Agency doubts the viability of Adani’s Galilee Basin mine
Adani’s Galilee Basin mine unlikely to go ahead, says International Energy Agency http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-18/galilee-basin-projects-unlikely-to-go-ahead/7042526 national environment reporter Sara Phillips, ABC News: 18/19 Dec 15:
“The latest Global Coal Outlook from the world’s peak energy agency says mining projects worth nearly $40 billion in Queensland’s Galilee Basin are unlikely to go ahead. The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) forecast for the coal industry predicts demand for the fossil fuel will grow by less than 1 per cent a year for the next five years.
The fall-off in demand is largely a result of a declining Chinese market, with air pollution and climate change regulations reducing development of coal-fired electricity. …
However the coal quality in the Galilee Basin is not premium. And IEA says it has doubts about the viability of the huge development planned for Queensland. … “
Australian govt has legal power to act against massive Carmichael coal mine, but will it?
Australia’s moment in history: will it ban the Carmichael coal mine?
http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2986707/after_cop21_australias_moment_in_history_will_it_ban_the_carmichael_coal_mine.html 18 Dec 15:
“The Paris Agreement is facing its first big test in Queensland, Australia, writes Justine Bell. After a long process beset by legal challenges, the massive Carmichael coal mine is inching closer to approval – which would open up the entire 250,000 sq.km Galilee basin and its 28
billion tonnes of coal to exploitation. …
Saying ‘no’ to the Carmichael mine would undeniably be controversial, and a significant departure from Australia’s historical reluctance to reject mining proposals.
Regardless, the legal power does exist for Australian governments to act, both at the federal and state levels, to prevent a project that could be at odds with the renewed global commitment to tackle climate change.”
Two waves sink Malcolm Turnbull’s rhetoric on Adani coal mine
Two waves sink Malcolm Turnbull’s rhetoric http://www.canberratimes.com.au/comment/two-waves-sink-turnbulls-rhetoric-20151217-glqja7.html Richard Denniss The Australia Institute chief economist, The Canberra Times: 18 Dec 15:
“… thanks to the Queensland Land Court decision to recommend the approval of the enormous Adani coal mine, we know that suggestions that Australia is planning to be competitive in a low-carbon world amount to nothing more than a cruel hoax. …
Ironically, one of the reasons the court recommended approval of the Carmichael mine was its
view that “it is apparent that [Adani] must pay tax on income earned or deemed to be earned in Australia”. The judge accepted the “prima facie evidence of the corporate tax payable” and rejected opponents’ claims that Adani would pay far less.
The ATO data shows Adani paid zero tax
on revenues of $268 million in 2013-14. Whoops. … “
For Australia, nuclear power makes no sense, and no answer to climate change
Nuclear Power In Australia: Too Slow, Too Expensive, Too Dirty And Too Dangerous https://newmatilda.com/2015/12/17/nuclear-power-in-australia-too-slow-too-expensive-too-dirty-and-too-dangerous/ By Margaret Beavis
Australia does not have a nuclear future, writes Margaret Beavis. Geoff Russell’s article this week spruiking new nuclear power as a solution for Australia’s woeful carbon emissions mentions Greens policy and then spends a lot of time personally attacking Greens leader Richard DiNatale. It is often a sign of a weak argument when people spend most of their time “playing the man and not the ball”.
The Paris agreement demonstrates widespread international support for limiting emissions. But Australia’s pledges fall a long way short. Nuclear enthusiasts promote new nuclear power as the answer to Australia’s emission reduction. This ignores the lived reality of building nuclear power plants. Continue reading
1 This month
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/2352741955560
15 April – Zoom –Nuclear Power is Not the Solution
Apr 15, 2026 01:00 AM in Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney
Join the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) on Tuesday, April 14th for a timely webinar exploring the risks associated with nuclear power and challenging the myth that it offers a simple, safe, carbon-free solution to the climate crisis
21 April Webinar: No Nuclear Weapons in Australia
Start: 2026-04-21 18:00:00 UTC Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney (GMT+10:00)
End: 2026-04-21 19:30:00 UTC Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney (GMT+10:00)
Event Type: Virtual
A virtual link will be communicated before the event.
Host Contact Info: australia@icanw.org
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity
Antinuclear 