Australia at ‘the back of the pack’ in renewable energy progress
In Australia, while the RET changes will reduce the growth of renewables from the previously legislated target, the scheme will still produce a dramatic lift in the amount of renewable energy in the system.
Paths to renewable energy efficiency THE AUSTRALIAN SID MAHER, JUNE 24, 2015 As Australia moves to rein in the growth of renewable energy in its electricity generation mix, Germany, Europe’s most powerful economy, is doing the opposite.
Germany is doubling down on its bet that solar, wind and hydro-electricity will become cheaper as more is produced, underpin its future as an economic powerhouse, and allow it to take on China in industrial production………..
Climate Institute chief executive John Connor says it is important for Australians to understand Australia is the only country scaling back on renewables and on carbon abatement markets.
“We are at the back of the pack when it comes to the carbon intensity of advanced economies,” he says. “It is walking backwards when others are striding forward.’’ Continue reading
Economist Ross Garnaut says nuclear power is too costly
Nuclear power may be too costly for us: Ross Garnaut THE AUSTRALIAN JUNE 22, 2015Nuclear energy may be too costly in Australia to compete with renewables, a prominent economist says.
Ahead of his 2015 Luxton Memorial Lecture at the University of Adelaide tomorrow, Ross Garnaut told The Australian the world was moving decisively towards a low-carbon economy and Australia was uniquely placed to benefit from this.
However, Australia needed to remove political debate from discussion on renewable energy and instead let economics decide, Professor Garnaut said…….
His doubts about the economic merits of nuclear energy come during the South Australian royal commission into nuclear energy and ahead of debate at Labor’s national conference next month over its position on nuclear energy.
Antony Hegarty sings out for the Martu people in their struggle against uranium mining
“For the Martu in Parnngurr, the community nearest the proposed uranium mine, the plan is causing distress,” she says. “Some of the women elders of Parnngurr seem not only to fear the potential danger that any uranium mine will obviously pose to the watershed and the local environment, but they also feel an existential burden of responsibility as the stewards of that land to protect dangerous resources from being exploited.”
Antony Hegarty, the Martu and the mine: land custodians fight corporate might, Guardian, Paul Daley, 21 June 15 The New York avant garde transgender singer joins the Martu people of Parnngurr in Western Australia to oppose a uranium mine 80km away When an international mining company surveys the Australian land for minerals it sees few physical impediments.
If necessary rivers can be rerouted, hillocks flattened and giant boulders shifted in order to access the wealth beneath.
Traditional custodians, mindful of the human ancestors and the creationist animals, view terrain quite differently. For them that river is the rainbow serpent, and the hills the spine of a goanna or a crocodile. And those boulders? They could be the eggs – or the newly hatched babies – of the owl or the platypus.
For many Indigenous Australians the sanctity of country transcends the commercial value of what lies beneath. Continue reading
Wind industry opponent Senators likely to prevail in Senate vote
More barriers to wind farms likely by Senate vote CHRIS MCLENNAN THE WEEKLY TIMES JUNE 19, 2015 THE Federal Senate will likely vote on the renewable energy target on Monday. The vote, schedules for yesterday, was delayed by last-minute negotiations between the Government and crossbenchers to further control wind farms.
The RET is critical to investment in more renewable energy power in Australia and political debate has caused long delays to projects ready to be built in Victoria.
Wind farms worth almost $5 billion are poised to go in Victoria. Thirteen projects with 854 turbines have won municipal council and State Government support. Wind farm developments near Mortlake, Ballarat, Ararat, Warrnambool, Port Fairy, Ballan, Colac and St Arnaud can begin the moment the Federal Government signs off on the RET.
Energy companies have said turbines could be built within two years of the RET getting the green light.
There are concerns the Federal Government will introduced new rules with its RET to reflect Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s personal dislike of turbines…..
One trade-off in talks with crossbenchers has been the appointment of a wind farm commissioner and an ombudsman to investigate wind farms’ possible impacts on health.
Senators Bob Day, David Leyonhjelm, Jacqui Lambie and John Madigan have raised concerns about health impacts.
There are currently 14 wind farms in Victoria, with 500 turbines.
The Victorian Government has tried to promote more investment in wind farms by reducing the exclusion zone around dwellings from winds farms from 2km to 1km. http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/news/politics/more-barriers-to-wind-farms-likely-by-senate-vote/story-fnkerdda-1227405886378
Ranger 3 Deeps uranium project now dead in the water
BBC’s whitewash banishes those here way before Phillip
Is Australia’s federal government now learning from its nuclear waste mistakes at Muckaty?
One key concern is that the Minister’s self-imposed truncated timeline will not allow for meaningful community consultation and might again lead to Canberra’s political imperatives being prioritised above good public policy and the national interest
Beyond Muckaty: The Path Towards Responsible Radioactive Waste Management, New Matilda, By Dave Sweeney, 18 June 15 The federal government has clearly taken on some of the lessons from previous mistakes. Can Macfarlane finally get it right, asks Dave Sweeney.
A year ago this week a small group of Traditional Owners of country in the Northern Territory won a big victory for Australians everywhere when the Federal Government announced an end to plans for a national radioactive waste dump at Muckaty, north of Tennant Creek.
The decision, an important win for the community, the environment and responsible radioactive waste management in Australia, is a tribute to the tenacity and courage of the many Traditional Owners who were tireless in their defense of country and culture.
After seven years of sustained campaigning the Muckaty community provides a clear example of the power of people to successfully resist the flawed actions of the people in power. It is also an important landmark on the continuing road to advancing responsible radioactive waste management in Australia.
The campaign against the dump included national speaking tours, regional rallies, community delegations, political advocacy and extensive media and public profile work. This combined effort saw a profound environmental and human rights abuse in a remote region make it on the national radar and won strong civil society and wider community support, including important assistance from legal firm Maurice Blackburn.
Muckaty was always a bad deal based on a broken promise and as senior Traditional Owner and campaign spearhead Dianne Stokes conveyed, it is a great relief that it will never be a done deal: Continue reading
South Australia already a world leader in renewable energy – could reach 100% by 2030
South Australia powered by renewable energy in 2030
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/breaking-news/sa-100-per-cent-renewable-by-2030/story-fni0xqi3-1227399824523AAP JUNE 16, 2015
SOUTH Australia could be completely powered by renewable energy in just 15 years.
A REPORT released by the Conservation Council on Tuesday says the 100 per cent target is achievable based on extensive modelling of future power needs.The report says renewable energy is a safe, reliable and affordable option and rejects suggestions South Australia will need more base load power.
“South Australia has a very real opportunity to become the first Australian state to reach 100 per cent renewable energy,” report author Professor Mark Diesendorf from the University of NSW said.
“Our research team has taken years of real time data and matched it with detailed weather results and run hourly simulations to see if 100 per cent renewable energy is possible.
“It’s not only possible, but could be done effectively and reliably within 15 years.” The report comes after news last week that Alinta Energy plans to close down its South Australian power stations and the Leigh Creek coal mine that supplies them as early as March next year.
South Australia already gets 40 per cent of its power from wind and solar energy and around a quarter of local households have rooftop solar systems.
Conservation Council chief executive Craig Wilkins said South Australia was already a world leader in renewable energy. “The exciting thing is we don’t need to wait for the federal government to act.
“If we are smart, our state is uniquely poised to attract sorely needed job-rich investment into this important industry,” he said.
Christine Milne carries environmental battle globally, trusts Greens to do this nationally
Christine Milne has left as Greens leader but continues to fight for the environment CHRISTINE Milne has resigned as Greens leader, but she still has ambitions to protect our future….
After the Abbott Government dismantled key climate-change policies she negotiated with former prime minister Julia Gillard, Milne has lost faith in Australia’s ability to help save the world from global warming. “There is no way Australia is going to do the right thing in any way, shape or form as long as he [Tony Abbott] is the prime minister but even if there was a Labor government elected there’s still going to be slow progress,” Milne says.
“Australia is not the place that’s going to drive the kind of policy action that’s necessary in the time frame that’s necessary because we’ve only got a few years to do this.”
It seems an oddly defeatist stance for someone in Milne’s position. If she has given up, why should other green-minded Australians bother fighting for change locally? She quickly qualifies her remarks by saying she has complete faith in the rest of her party to keep up the fight against Abbott while she tackles things globally. http://www.themercury.com.au/lifestyle/christine-milne-has-left-as-greens-leader-but-continues-to-fight-for-the-environment/story-fnj64o6u-1227394566374
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s intention to kill renewable energy
Facts lost amid political bluster, The Age June 14, 2015 “From today I declare Australia is under new management and is once more open for business.” Thus declared Tony Abbott in claiming election victory almost two years ago.
Last week the Prime Minister made clear that under this management Australia would be far better off if certain industries just went away and silently died.
The wind power industry (a multibillion-dollar business), for instance. And, by inference, the entire renewable energy sector. Despite the outrageous nature of this attitude, it is for those who look beyond the election cycle and to Australia’s long-term future, all the more predictable a stance.
Mr Abbott last Thursday revealed to broadcaster Alan Jones that he would prefer there to be fewer wind farms. “What we did recently in the Senate was reduce, Alan, capital R-E-D-U-C-E the number of these things that we are going to get in the future. Now, I would frankly have liked to have reduced the number a lot more … but we got the best deal we could.”
Mr Abbott mentioned the recently agreed renewable energy target of 33,000 gigawatt hours by 2020 was only the lowest the government could be assured of getting through the Parliament. Mr Abbott also said wind farms were “visually awful”, made a lot of noise and were injurious to health. ……..http://www.theage.com.au/comment/the-age-editorial/facts-lost-amid-political-bluster-20150613-ghn94w.html
Clean progressive South Australia as renewable energy provides many jobs across the State
Dennis Matthews, 13 June15, As demonstrated by its claims concerning jobs created by renewable energy vs coal-fired power stations (The Advertiser, 13/6/15), the Energy Supply Association (ESA) appears to be out of touch with reality.
The ESA nonchalantly says that jobs are created by “clean energy generators” but then dramatically claims “that they ultimately result in big job losses”.
Whilst ancient, decaying, coal-fired power stations have been a growing liability, the 21st century, growing, renewable energy industry has been employing people not just in Port Adelaide and Port Augusta but all around SA, wherever there are wind farms and photovoltaic panels.
And the move away from fossil fuels has not stopped. Once solar hot water and energy efficient buildings become the norm then the jobs will keep flowing.
It’s time for the ESA and other shock-jocks to get with the 21st century and to stop throwing obstacles in the way of having a cleaner, more progressive and enjoyable South Australia.
Dr Helen Caldicott on the need for Australians to understand the implications of Fukushima nuclear disaster
“The misinformation about this is endless. Radiation is an invisible killer — that’s the ace up the nuclear industry’s sleeve. You don’t get cancer immediately, it takes years … and it doesn’t bear a sign denoting where it came from.”
She adds:
“The latent period for leukemia is five to 10 years and solid cancers, 15 to 80 years.”
Thus, she says, it is premature and “misleading” to conclude that there are no radiation-related deaths from the Fukushima accident.
Educating Australians about Fukushima’s implications: Dr Helen Caldicott, Independent Australia Michelle Pini 13 June 2015, In April last year, Michelle Pini interviewed Dr Helen Caldicott on the Fukushima disaster. As IA was the first to report the nuclear melt down in Australia with some dozen updates as the full disaster unfolded, we think you’ll find this story highly relevant.
DR HELEN CALDICOTT is hard to ignore. Her breadth of knowledge and fervour for her subject seem limitless. She gesticulates often, her gaze is direct, and there is a practical sense of urgency in her voice.
An Australian physician and world-renowned anti-nuclear activist and educator, she makes time to be interviewed despite having just returned from a speaking tour of Japan and Denmark. Continue reading
Tony Abbott’s Australia: globally isolated, and left with “stranded” coal assets
This is remarkable. The former Liberal leader, economist John Hewson, who once employed Abbott as his press secretary, says that Abbott’s comments were “ignorant and irresponsible”.
Hewson these days works on so-called “stranded assets”, energy assets like coal mines that risk becoming uneconomic as the market and regulation moves against them.
Tony Abbott at odds with the world on renewable energy and climate change, SMH June 13, 2015 Peter Hartcher Sydney Morning Herald political and international editor The Prime Minister’s scathing comments on wind-farms and renewable energy put him out of step with the way the world is moving.
……….The Group of Seven biggest developed nations declared that the world needed to phase out fossil fuel emissions by the end of this century.
The leaders said their countries supported cutting greenhouse emissions from 2010 levels by 40 to 70 per cent by 2050, and then going further:
“Deep cuts in global greenhouse gas emissions are required with a decarbonisation of the global economy over the course of this century” announced the leaders of the US, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Canada and Italy after their summit in a Bavarian mountain resort.
“They’re not mincing words any more,” says Frank Jotzo, a climate change economist at ANU. “You are seeing high-level political preconditions for stronger domestic policy change.”
In the same week, two things happened in Australia. The Abbott government’s Environment Minister Greg Hunt envisaged Australia joining the same historic transition: “I believe it’s not only possible but likely that Australia will achieve zero-emissions energy by the end of the century” he told me.
And the leader of the Abbott government struck precisely the opposite stance. He appeared to stand in direct opposition to the threshold event of our time. Continue reading
Tony Abbott’s climate stance ‘a problem’
Tony Abbott is battling an international image problem, with the Prime Minister seen as opposed to ambitious action on climate change as world leaders line up for three summits on the issue ahead of a crucial Paris climate summit.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/climate/tony-abbotts-climate-stance-a-problem/story-e6frg6xf-1227390397076
Following G7 meeting, Australia is isolated in its climate denialist stance
scale renewable energy wave farm to help power HMAS Stirling naval base, won’t even consider building its first full scale project in Australia because there are more attractive incentives overseas.10 JUN 2015 Following the announcement by the G7 group of nations of a target to transform their energy sectors by 2050 away from fossil fuel dependence – the question that needs to be asked is this – could Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his Government be any more out of step with the rest of the world on climate policy?This government’s position continues to risk Australia’s environmental and economic future. Even Abbott’s greatest ally in inaction on tackling climate change Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said following the G7 summit: “We’ve simply got to find a way to create lower-carbon emitting sources of energy. All leaders understand that to achieve these kinds of milestones over the decades to come will require serious technological transformation.”
Last month, the Saudi Arabian Oil Minister stated that “we recognise that eventually, one of these days, we are not going to need fossil fuels.” This stands in stark contrast to our Prime Minister who has famously argued that “coal is good for humanity.”
It is clear our Government doesn’t see the importance of technological transformation as they are committed to abolishing the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency two agencies whose remit is to assist in the growth and development of renewable energy. 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/235274195556
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
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