Vanessa Rauland, renewable energy advocate, is Greens candidate for Canning by-election
Greens name renewable energy advocate Vanessa Rauland as Canning by-election candidate, ABC News, 23 Aug 15 The WA Greens have named a renewable energy advocate as their candidate for the Canning by-election.
Vanessa Rauland, a small business owner and a lecturer at Curtin University, will run in the September 19 federal by-election brought on by thesudden death of Liberal MP Don Randall last month.
Ms Rauland said it was important to give voters a Green option.
“We know it could be a long shot to win this by-election, but we’re always trying to push up the vote and allow people to have the the option to vote Greens,” she said.
“We’ve seen it in Melbourne recently, the Greens took a seat from the Liberals there.
“Right across the board, Labor and Liberal have failed our community, from climate change to equal marriage to data retention.”
Ms Rauland said she would focus her campaign around renewable energy, arts and education issues……..http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-23/greens-name-canning-by-election-candidate/6718148
Death of highly respected Aboriginal anti nuclear activist Nabarula
Traditional owner and Muckaty anti-nuclear waste dump activist Nabarula dies in Tennant Creek ABC Alice Springs By Emma Sleath, 22 Aug 15 A senior traditional owner and activist against the proposed Muckaty nuclear waste facility has died in Tennant Creek.
The Warlmanpa elder, now known as Nabarula for cultural reasons, died on August 5.
Nabarula was part of an eight-year campaign against the Northern Land Council’s (NLC’s) nomination of Muckaty Station, 110 kilometres north of Tennant Creek, as a nuclear waste storage facility.
She was one of a group of traditional owners who took legal action against the NLC and the Australian government saying they were not consulted and did not consent to the proposal.
At a special sitting of the federal court at Muckaty, Nabarula threatened to “block the road and let the truck run us over” if the waste dump was approved.
In an out-of-court settlement, the Northern Land Council withdrew its nomination on June 10, 2014.
Nat Wasley, from the Beyond Nuclear Initiative, remembers delivering the news to Nabarula.
“I remember she did a little dance and put her fist up in the air,” Ms Wasley told 783 ABC Alice Springs.
“She was an extraordinary woman; I’m so proud and lucky to have known her.”
Nabarula’s family members were too distraught to speak to the ABC, asking Ms Wasley to speak on their behalf.
“There’s a lot of sadness and a lot of grieving,” Ms Wasley said.
“But there’s [also] a lot of joy in just pulling together photos and stories of her life …”
Ms Wasley said Nabarula was determined to fight the Muckaty proposal and did not falter throughout the long campaign.
“She was always making sure the young people were engaged and involved in the campaign events,” she said.
“But also with visitors … media, lawyers, interstate supporters, she always made time to sit down to meetings and to take people out bush if they wanted to.”
Earlier years……….http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-21/traditional-owner-and-muckaty-activist-dies-in-tennant-creek/6711306
Big Business, Liberal-Labor Duopoly out to wreck South Australia with grandiose #nuclear scheme
Dennis Matthews, 23 Aug 15, By their own economic standards, the Liberal-Labor duopoly, the Business Council, the mining industry, right wing political parties and their media supporters have all failed the people of South Australia.
The “get-rich-quick at any cost” mentality has been proven to be the wrong approach to ecological and economic sustainability but business and political interests still persist in promoting high-risk, capital-intensive, grandiose schemes.
A large number of diverse, labour intensive projects provides built-in insurance against the sort of catastrophic failure that has dogged the car and mining industries.
Despite prominent failures of the “big is beautiful approach” the same discredited groups are now pushing for an even bigger basket to put all their eggs by turning South Australia into the world’s radioactive cesspool, an action formerly reserved for impoverished third world countries desperately trying to drag themselves out of their colonial past.
NO economic argument for starting any nuclear facility in South Australia
An expanded nuclear industry in South Australia makes no economic sense http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/18/an-expanded-nuclear-industry-in-south-australia-makes-no-economic-sense Richard Denniss
The idea that the South Australian taxpayer should underwrite the cost of a nuclear waste dump or nuclear power station is as bizarre as it is expensive Some techno-optimists have managed to convince South Australians to bet on nuclear technology even as the rest of the world is walking away from its risk and cost.’ WMC Resources’ Olympic Dam uranium mine in the remote outback of South Australia.
The South Australian government is conducting a royal commission into expanding the nuclear industry in the state. If the pro-nuclear positions taken by the majority of the commission’s advisory committee are anything to go by, this would mean two things: expensive nuclear power, and expensive nuclear waste.The economic case for nuclear power is already shaky. Continue reading
Victoria can lead Australia to its clean, safe, Renewable Non-Nuclear future
CaptD, 17 Aug 15, Unless all the people of Australia step up and challenge the Abbott government’s sabotaging of Australia’s clean energy future, states such as Victoria must take lead on renewable energy.
Because Australia is similar to Europe, why not have one part of Australia like Victoria, lead the race to clean safe Non-Nuclear Energy just like Germany is doing in Europe?
The first to go Renewable, Non-Nuclear will be the first to offer its citizens a safe, low cost energy supply that will not only power their economy but create the most good jobs for its citizens. Germany also receives most of its Energy from all the “small” private Energy generators that feed their Grid, not just a few Big Utilities, so the German people get to profit from the Energy they produce.
While this model may not benefit Big Utilities shareholders, it does allow a large number of German homeowners to pay off their Solar investments much faster which then allows them to enjoy “free” Solar Energy from then on. It is no wonder that electric Vehicles (eVehicles) are selling fast, since they too can be recharged using residential Solar which eliminates paying high prices for gas or fuel at the gas station.
It is no surprise that ever more people are starting to question the cost of their Energy and/or their reliance upon Big Utilities to supply that Energy, since they continually raise prices keeping ratepayers in “Energy Slavery”. Solar (of all flavors) provides a pathway toward “Energy Freedom” (once the loan is paid off) with little to no Utility bills for decades to come, which is why Big US Corp.s (like Apple, Google and Walmart) are now installing their own Solar farms.
Solar also can provide charging for eVehicles which again offer a path toward no more buying gas or fuel at the pump. BTW: Electric Motorcycles that can be driven on the highway cost about a penny a mile to operate* and require little to no maintenance as compared to an Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) Motorcycles. * http://www.zeromotorcycles.com…
Naomi Klein says Tony Abbott is a climate change ‘villain’
Tony Abbott is a climate change ‘villain’, says Canadian author Naomi Klein, Guardian, Oliver Milman, 17 Aug 15 The writer, who is coming to Australia on a speaking tour, says she cannot tell where the coal industry ends and the federal government begins. Tony Abbott is a climate change “villain” who is repeating the slogans used by the coal industry in the US, according to bestselling author and social activist Naomi Klein.
Klein, who is heading to Australia for a series of public events, said the level of inaction on climate change in Australia was only matched by her native Canada.
“In Canada I can’t tell where the oil industry ends and the government begins and in Australia the same is true when it comes to coal,” she told Guardian Australia.
“The Abbott government is repeating the talking points of the coal industry, the same stuff I heard at the Heartland Institute, that ‘coal is good for humanity’ and ‘God bless coal’.
“We have elections in Canada in October and I hope we have a different government. If that happens, Australia will be isolated as a climate villain. At the moment we are giving you a run for your money.”
Klein, whose latest book, This Changes Everything, argues governments have fundamentally failed to deal with the issue of climate change, said Abbott’s promotion of coalmines and the attempt to keep climate off last year’s G20 agenda “crossed a line where it’s impossible to come back from”.
“One part I find particularly shocking is that Australia is very much on the frontline of climate change,” she said.
“Also, being a Pacific nation, your closest neighbours are facing a truly existential threat. So I find it even more shocking that Australia is a hotbed of climate denial.”
Klein said climate change would exacerbate social problems such as racism and inequality, predicting Australia would become “meaner” as it gets hotter.
“You see that in Australia where the treatment of migrants is a profound moral crisis,” she said. “It’s clear that as sea levels rise that this mean streak and open racism is going to become more extreme – climate change is an accelerant to all those other issues.”……..
According to the CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology, climate change will hit Australia harder than many other countries, with a temperature increase of up to 5.1C by the end of the century if the burning of fossil fuels isn’t curbed.
In this scenario sea levels would rise by up to 82cm by 2090, the number of days with severe bushfire danger would increase, snow cover would decline and droughts would become more extreme.
Klein said the denial of climate science was prevalent in English-speaking countries such as Australia, Canada, the US and the UK because of a “colonial settler mentality”.
“Countries founded on a powerful frontier mentality have this idea of limitless nature than can be endlessly extracted,” she said.
“Climate change is threatening to that because there are limits and you have to respect those limits. Where that frontier narrative is strongest is where denialism is strongest.
“The rest of Europe has a keener sense of boundaries – they’ve lived against the limits of nature for longer.” http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/aug/17/tony-abbott-is-a-climate-change-villain-says-canadian-author-naomi-klein?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Australian Electric Vehicle Association launched in Tasmania
Electric car push shifts into overdrive http://www.themercury.com.au/lifestyle/electric-car-push-shifts-into-overdrive/story-fnj64o6u-1227484964654 MATT SMITH SUNDAY TASMANIAN AUGUST 15, 2015
TASMANIA’S electric car industry is driving forward with the official launch of the local branch of the Australian Electric Vehicle Association.
Energy Minister Matthew Groom and Opposition Leader Bryan Green joined about 100 electric vehicle owners and enthusiasts for the launch at the State Cinema in North Hobart.
Mr Groom said the Government was committed to the market-driven growth of the industry in Tasmania.
Opposition Leader Bryan Green, who has made a $10 million commitment to invest in electric vehicle technology if elected, said the future was here.
“The technology is catching up with us now,” he said.
Hobart electric car owner Andrew Cash said he loved his new Nissan Leaf.
“It is super smooth, it is a really plush sort of ride, it is eerily quiet inside, it is not pumping out any smoke and it just makes sense.”
Mr Cash said he drives about 120km before recharging the vehicle at home.
“In Tasmania, with Hydro power, it is just crazy that we are not all driving electric cars.”
Glencore set for more flash coal shutdowns
August 16, 2015 Amanda Saunders Resources Reporter Glencore is expected to run more shutdowns across its Australian coal business in the next six months, similar to its unprecedented blanket shutdown last Christmas, to avoid selling coal at a loss or heavy discount into a depressed market…….http://www.theage.com.au/business/mining-and-resources/glencore-set-for-more-flash-coal-shutdowns-20150815-gizyuv.html#ixzz3j1LJ1lvO
News Corpse’s Adelaide Advertiser faithfully parrots pro #NuclearCommissionSAust propaganda
Dennis Matthews., 15 Aug 15 Is there is to be no end to the amount of rubbish being heaped on us by the ruling elite?
Putting a pro-nuclear, militaristic commissioner in charge of an inquiry with a jaundiced terms of reference has produced the predictable pro-nuclear propaganda from vested interests (The Advertiser, 11/8/15).
And for what purpose?
So that their powerful friends can build more mines to dig up state-owned mineral resources as fast as possible, returning a pittance to the state, ignoring the wishes of the land’s rightful caretakers, consuming vast amounts of precious resources of water and energy, radioactively polluting large tracts of land stolen from the First Australians, employing as few people as possible and dismissing them at a moment’s notice?
Or worse?
International Radio: Dr Helen Caldicott on Japan’s nuclear power restart
“the doctors have been told not to tell their patients that their symptoms are related to radiation. It’s a horrifying medical situation.”
Q&A: Dr. Helen Caldicott on Japan’s nuclear power restart, Free Speech Radio News BY PRODUCER · AUGUST 12, 2015 DOWNLOAD AUDIO ………”The majority of Japanese people, 60 or 70 percent, are opposed to the reopening of reactors. There’ve been many, many demonstrations, but I’m afraid money counts over there. And Tepco and Toshiba are really the government, and when they decide it goes ahead. It is also being…it’s also happening 
because the nuclear industry in America is exerting a huge amount of pressure upon the Japanese industries to open again, for several reasons: a) It will increase the amount of uranium; b) [It will] encourage the nuclear industry in America; and c) Japan is a major producer of parts of nuclear reactors – the reactor vessel, etc. etc. – which they export all over the world, to Turkey and elsewhere. So there’s a huge amount of money involved and they don’t really care, let’s be frank, about people’s health. Continue reading
Conservative British Lord ‘staggered’ at Tony Abbott’s hubris on climate change
“If the rest of the world followed Australia’s lead, the Great Barrier Reef would disappear”
‘Tony Abbott’s hubris is staggering’: UK’s climate adviser on emissions target, Guardian, Oliver Milman, 12 Aug 15 Lord Deben, head of the British government’s climate change advisory body, says Australia’s 2030 emissions reduction target puts it among the ‘don’t cares’ Australia’s “pathetic” 2030 emissions reduction target shows the country has opted out of the global effort to limit warming, according to the head of the British government’s climate change advisory body.
Lord Deben, previously a minister in the government of Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher, said Australia’s 26% to 28% reduction in emissions by 2030, based on 2005 levels was “simply not enough”.
“Australia is fundamentally out of step and this decision puts Australia among the ‘don’t cares’ of the international community,” said Deben, who is the chairman of the Committee on Climate Change.
“Global warming won’t wait for Mr Abbott and his government. Mr Abbott’s hubris is staggering.” Continue reading
New Matilda explains Abbott’s 3 big lies on climate change
Three Ways Abbott And Hunt Misled The Public Over Their Climate Change ‘Plan’, New Matilda, 12 Aug 15 – From straight up fibs to heinous misrepresentations, you can expect to see these talking points wheeled out again and again. Thom Mitchell takes a hatchet to the half-truths.
Okay, so here’s the rub.
…..1) Tony Abbott: “This [target] is fairly and squarely in the middle of comparable economies”
No. It’s not. It’s just not, and that’s the most important point.
The Climate Institute think tank has crunched the numbers — which is actually so much harder to do than you’d think, and much more so than the government wants you to think — to show how we compare to other economies in real terms. Continue reading
AGL Energy chief Andy Vesey: carbon tax axing cost millions
Gas and electricity group AGL Energy lost $800 million of revenue and $189m of profit because of the abolition of the carbon tax last year, and has warned the federal government it still has to find ways to encourage the removal of high carbon emission power and make way for renewable energy. …..(subscribers only) http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining-energy/agl-energy-chief-andy-vesey-carbon-tax-axing-cost-millions/story-e6frg9df-1227481052155
South Australia’s Conservation Council slams Abbott’s climate targets
SA critical of climate targets AAP AUGUST 11, 2015 http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/sa-slams-australias-climate-targets/story-fni0xqi4-1227478987565 THE federal government’s carbon emissions reduction target “is clinging to coal like a smoker to their last cigarette”, says the South Australian Conservation Council.
PRIME Minister Tony Abbott on Tuesday confirmed a reduction target by 2030 of 26-28 per cent, based on 2005 emissions levels.
But Conservation Council SA says that is not enough to limit global warming to two degrees, a goal that forms the basis of an expected agreement between almost 200 countries at a UN summit in December.”The Abbott government is clinging to coal like a smoker to their last cigarette,” chief executive Craig Wilkins said.”If all countries took such a weak position, the world would see three or four degrees of warming.”
The South Australian government also said the federal government’s target fell short of international and community expectations.”The prime minister’s own expert body, the Climate Change Authority, has recommended cuts of 40 to 60 per cent on 2000 levels by 2030,” SA Climate Change Minister Ian Hunter said.“But today’s announcement falls well short, amounting to a 19 per cent reduction on 2000 levels.”
Time that Australia stood up to USA and voted for a nuclear weapons ban treaty
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has argued that a nuclear weapons ban treaty “would not provide a short cut to some sort of security nirvana”. Of course it won’t; no one claims it will. But what a nuclear weapons ban treaty will do is change our way of thinking about the bomb, and that is the critical step that’s needed. It will establish a global norm of not only non-use but of nuclear weapons abolition, a standard to which all nations will be held responsible regardless of whether they sign on or not.
Australia’s reliance on US nuclear weapons and the “extended nuclear deterrence” they are said to provide (despite many unchallenged and dangerous assumptions about deterrence) is stated explicitly. The 2013 defence white paper reiterated that, “As long as nuclear weapons exist, we rely on the nuclear forces of the United States to deter nuclear attack on Australia.”
Perhaps we need more of that famous Anzac courage to stand up to our great Pacific ally on the big security issues, of which nuclear weapons are No 1.
Seventy years after Hiroshima momentum is building to ban nuclear weapons, The Age, August 5, 2015 Dr Sue Wareham Unlike the saturation coverage that has focussed our attention on the events of April 25, 1915, two split-second events 30 years later are likely to be very low-key in the national commemorative calendar, despite their profound ongoing significance.
They were, of course, the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima on August 6 and Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, whose 70th anniversaries are now being marked.
These two bombs were responsible for over 200,000 deaths by the end of that year. The “luckiest” among the victims died quickly; the rest succumbed slowly to multiple injuries, burns, radiation sickness and deprivation in a landscape where very few services remained. Still the damage continues, with elevated cancer rates among the survivors.
Even in a war marked by inhumanity, this new weapon was recognised as one that brought unprecedented destructive capacity and risk. Despite attempts to abolish them, including by the first ever UN resolution, their number grew, reaching a peak of around 70,000 in the 1980s. ……..
after 70 years, the tide is turning. 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 