Australia should insist on weapons proliferation safeguards in any nuclear deal with India
Parliamentarians should consider that what Australia requires in its arrangement with India may have signal impact this May when the NPT’s 189 parties review the treaty. They might also consider that the international reputation of Australia’s uranium industry has increasingly depended upon transparent implementation of national policies, including on nonproliferation
Tracking India’s Imported Uranium Uranium suppliers should insist that India adhere to international standards for information sharing. The Diplomat By Mark Hibbs February 
06, 2015 India is busily negotiating bilateral agreements with its nuclear trading partners to assure them that the uranium they supply to India will not end up in Indian nuclear weapons. This is a standard practice for states involved in nuclear cooperation, yet India has set out to weaken the information sharing provisions in its agreements with Canada, the United States, and soon Australia. Continue reading
Remembering John Howard rejecting importing foreign nuclear wastes
PM: Australia no nuclear dump Prime Minister John Howard has again endorsed Australia embracing nuclear power but says taking other countries’ waste is an absolute no-no.20 JUL 2007 – UPDATED 22 AUG 2013………..HTTP://WWW.SBS.COM.AU/NEWS/ARTICLE/2007/07/20/PM-AUSTRALIA-NO-NUCLEAR-DUMP
Murray-Riverina Business Chamber supports Renewable Energy
Support for renewable energy from Murray-Riverina Business Chamber, ABC News 3 Feb 15 There is support for renewable energy from the region’s business chamber, as long it doesn’t compromise local agricultural land…….Murray-Riverina Chamber Manager, Ben Foley believes local businesses would support the development of a renewable energy industry.
“A key theme and a key word that kept on coming out within the survey results was lowering costs by increasing efficiency and lowering costs by addressing utilities increasing,” he said.
“Whatever we can do to support renewable energy efficient programs in the region, which could bring jobs, we will look to do that……http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-03/regional-business/6065030
Interview with a young Aboriginal Warrior of Resistance
We Interviewed Australia’s Warriors of Aboriginal Resistance, VICE January 27, 2015 by Courtney DeWitt While most of the country’s citizens marked Australia Day with barbecues and beer, on January 26 a large group of protesters gathered on the steps of the nation’s parliamentary buildings to mourn the continents colonization by whites. There were several protests in Melbourne but one of the rowdiest came from the Warriors of Aboriginal Resistance, or WAR for short.
My grandmother alerted me to the amazing work that my co-founders were doing up north, primarily in Queensland. We got in touch, bonded, and WAR was born. Then we traveled to Canada together last August where we met like-minded groups. It was so inspiring that we came home and WAR launched before the G20 summit.
Something I’m wondering is how WAR is different from other activist groups. After all, this isn’t a brand new movement.
Yes but Australian militant Aboriginal activism has been dormant since the 70s. The 1990s were dire in terms of organizations for and by black Australians. So we’re here to change that. And unlike other groups we’re not here to dance with other existing enslaving power structures. We are young and ready to fight for everything our ancestors had taken from them.
Okay so what does fighting look like? What is WAR’s mission?
Decolonization. We want to inform our people and inspire them, particularly our youth, to take action in the anti-colonial struggle, because that’s the only way. Decolonization encompasses all aspects of life. It’s the food you eat, it’s the things you buy. Food and health are high on our agenda, but we’re also helping our own communities to learn their languages, their dances, the traditions. We want people to study and be informed of their true history.
I don’t think it’s helpful, but I’m not interested in naming names because we share a solidarity as Aboriginal Australians. I think these persons tend to be used as puppets by the white man. You know nothing really changes except they can say, Look we have this black person at the table, oh look how progressive we are ……….http://www.vice.com/en_au/read/interview-with-the-warriors-of-aboriginal-resistance
Melbourne’s Australia Day Parade disrupted by Aboriginal Rights Protest
Aboriginal rights protest disrupts Australia Day Parade in Melbourne, The Age January 27, 2015 Allison Worrall Hundreds of people marching for Aboriginal rights have disrupted official Australia Day celebrations in the Melbourne CBD.
The group – holding Aboriginal flags and chanting “always was, always will be Aboriginal land” – followed the parade down Swanston Street, flanked by police. Thousands of spectators watched the parade, which began with a flag raising ceremony at town hall attended by Victorian Governor Alex Chernov, Premier Daniel Andrews and Opposition Leader Matthew Guy.
The rally that followed was lead by two organisations: Warriors of Aboriginal Resistance and First Nations Liberation.
Organiser Meriki Onus, 27, said the group had earlier gathered at the steps of parliament house to lay flowers in commemoration of Aboriginal people who were killed during white settlement, the Stolen Generation and Aboriginal deaths in custody.
She said January 26 was a day of mourning for Aboriginal people.
“We don’t celebrate Australia Day, because Australia Day celebrates genocide,” Ms Onus said.
“Today is Invasion Day for Aboriginal people.”
As the vocal group marched from Parliament to town hall and on to Birrarung Marr, people chanted “No pride in genocide” and “Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.”
Placards carried in the procession included “End the NT intervention” and “Stop deaths in custody”……..http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/aboriginal-rights-protest-disrupts-australia-day-parade-in-melbourne-20150126-12ya7z.html
Repeal of carbon tax has not reduced electricity prices as much as Abbott promised
Carbon tax repeal saves less than promised, New Daily , Jan 29, 2015 KAITLIN THALS PM News Reporter The nation’s consumer watchdog reveals scraping the tax has not put less downward pressure on energy prices…..http://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2015/01/29/accc-carbon-tax-repeal-saves-less-promised/
Australia Day – the disconnect from the country’s true history
My mother is a fifth-generation Australian of English and Irish heritage and my father is Munanjahli and an Australian-born South Sea Islander…….
The disconnect I feel on the January 26 is not a rejection of my mother’s history. Rather, it is a rejection of the privileging of one version of history at the expense of another. I simply cannot be part of the collective amnesia that sweeps the nation on January 26 each year. This amnesia is evidenced in our current prime minister choosing the arrival of the First Fleet as the “defining moment” of our national identity.
This nation has a history that extends well beyond the past 227 years, not to mention a few more inclusive “defining moments” since then.
There is no doubt that the arrival of the First Fleet was a“defining moment” for this nation, but defining for vastly different reasons for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. For me, this day is worthy of commemoration, not celebration……..
The iconic Australia Day images of people adorning various flag paraphernalia, parades, boozy BBQs, and bikini-clad girls on beaches shows complete disregard for the Indigenous lives, lands and languages that were lost as a result of the British invasion of this country and the persisting inequalities that exist
So how do I commemorate Invasion Day? I march. I march not because I’m bitter or stuck in the past, or ungrateful for the privileges I enjoy today. Rather, I march in remembrance for those who lost their lives simply defending their own land and people. I march with pride and pay tribute to the innumerable acts of resistance of our warriors and the ongoing resilience of our communities.
I march with my children so they will never forget about who they are, where they come from and how they came to be where they are today.
Last year, my husband and I took our eldest three children to participate in the Invasion Day march organised by the Brisbane Aboriginal Sovereign Embassy. As we walked through the city to join the march wearing Aboriginal flag T-shirts, we noticed the responses of our fellow Australians. Many averted their gaze or looked disturbed simply by our presence. I just didn’t feel very Australian at all.
More than 1,000 of us marched across Victoria Bridge to South Bank where the official Australia Day celebrations were being held. We noted the newly erected fences around the two main entrances to the South Bank Parklands and the heavy police guard ensuring that we didn’t spoil their parade by entering. It was a stark reminder of our standing in this country…….
Hey, maybe you could even step out to one of the marches taking place in our capital cities and commemorate January 26 with your fellow Australians – the first peoples of the land that you proudly call home.
And maybe then, you will come to understand why this really should be a day to commemorate, not celebrate.http://theconversation.com/the-day-i-dont-feel-australian-that-would-be-australia-day-36352
Change the date of Australia Day – or make January 26 First Fleet Day – Dick Smith
The truth is January 26 should be First Fleet Day, not Australia Day, The Age January 24, 2015 -Dick Smith I love this land and its people and believe I won the lottery of life being born here. Celebrating our national day on the date of British settlement in 1788 has never been a date that brings all Australians together, no matter how many flags we wave or happy barbecues we may enjoy. For many Indigenous Australians, the date is no holiday but a reminder of their country being taken over by others. It completely disrupted a way of life that had been undisturbed for 50,000 years.
The early British settlers considered Australia “Terra Nullius”, in effect an empty place that would be subject to British law and customs and the indigenous people were, for the most part, invisible and discounted.
Fortunately, in the last few decades most Australians have changed their views on this. We now understand that the first Australians lived here for countless generations in balance with the fragile Australian environment. Using fire and moving lightly on the land, they not only nurtured the environment, but developed a rich and remarkable culture that has survived longer than any civilisation in history……….
Finding another date will not be easy but it won’t be impossible, either. I would suggest a date that is orientated towards when we gained our independence from British rule or perhaps a date based on when Matthew Flinders first used the name ‘Australia’. January 26 could simply be known as ‘First Fleet Day’– yes, an important day for modern Australia but certainly not the day that our more inclusive society should celebrate as the day our nation was formed…….
I look forward to a day we can ALL celebrate as Australians. http://www.theage.com.au/comment/the-truth-is-january-26-should-be-first-fleet-day-not-australia-day-20150123-12xb0x.html
Australia: globally top potential for renewable energy, bottom chance in market
“Dead” Australian renewables market faces train-crash REneweconomy, By Giles Parkinson on 21 January 2015 (with good graph) In Abu Dhabi, at a series of sessions at the World Future Energy Conference on the future of global renewable energy investment and clean energy markets, there was a lot of debate among some of the world’s leading bankers and clean energy developers about which countries offered the best opportunities.
Some suggested China, India, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas, both north and south. There was no doubt about which offered the worst opportunity. Australia.
“Australia is dead,” said Edgare Kerkwijk, the head of Singapore-based Asia Green Capital, to the general agreement of all.
Just how dead the market is has been highlighted by the fact that no new projects have gotten financial commitment since the election of the Abbott government in late 2013. In 2014, investment in large scale renewables plunged 88 per cent, taking Australia from 11th ranking to 39th.
A new report from Green Energy Markets, looking at the last quarter of 2014, notes that only one large scale project got new finance approval in 2014 – the 70MW Moree solar farm, and that was mostly due to the financing awarded by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.
(There was also around 10MW of larger scale solar, about the only construction that was committed and occurred under the RET itself).
The big problem, and one that could finally seal the exodus of many international players and financiers, is that Australia needs to commit to 5,000MW of new renewable projects over the next two years if it is to meet the current 41,000GWh target………http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/dead-australian-renewables-market-faces-train-crash-93562
Victorian Greens aim for closure of Hazelwood coal power station
Greens to use upper house numbers to seek closure of Hazelwood power station The Age January 23, 2015 Josh Gordon
The Victorian Greens will use their upper house clout to push for the closure of the Hazelwood power station, claiming it is a risk to the community and no longer needed.
Greens MP Ellen Sandell said Hazelwood was one of the dirtiest coal plants in the world and should be closed.
Neither Labor nor the Liberals was giving the community any certainty about the timeline for mine rehabilitation and shutdown, meaning people could not plan for their future, she said……..
The move is in line with the recommendations of the inquiry into the 2014 Hazelwood mine fire, which burned for 45 days, choking the town of Morwell in smoke and ash.
Premier Daniel Andrews also confirmed the inquiry, which was chaired by former Supreme Court judge Bernard Teague, would be reopened to look into a reported spike in deaths and consider options for the mine’s rehabilitation……..http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/greens-to-use-upper-house-numbers-to-seek-closure-of-hazelwood-power-station-20150123-12wzyx.html
Despite overwhelming evidence, Australia’s government in denial about climate change
Canberra fiddles while Australia burns January 20, 2015 by: The AIM Network Despite the overwhelming evidence that the effects of climate change are having a devastating impact on present and future Australia, Kirsten Tona reports that the Abbott Government continues to ignore the evidence.
By 2070, Australia’s average temperature will rise by anything up to five degrees Celsius, our rainfall will be significantly lower and our sea levels higher. This data comes from the CSIRO, not from the-sky-is-falling conspiracy theorists, so …. why is the Australian Government not preparing?
It is a sometimes uncomfortable paradox of democracy that while governments—elected—come and go, much of the real work of the state is done behind the scenes by unelected bureaucrats and institutions.
But, there are times we have reason to be grateful for that.
While the current Prime Minister of Australia is on record as saying that the arguments behind climate change are “absolute crap”, Australia’s premier scientific body, the CSIRO, has been quietly beavering away, using proven scientific methodologies to produce realistic models of what climate change may look like in our country.
And the news is: hotter, and drier……..
-
REALSPEAK
The CSIRO do not think there is no consensus on the science of climate change. The CSIRO think climate change is already happening. So do the Bureau of Meteorology, the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency and the Australian Climate Change Science Program………..http://theaimn.com/canberra-fiddles-australia-burns/
Victorian health report supports wind farms
Support for wind farm report
A STUDY of health impacts from low-frequency noise at Cape Bridgewater wind farm in Victoria is “groundbreaking”, a noise and health expert says .[subscribers only]
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/noise-specialist-cheers-wind-farm-report/story-e6frg8y6-1227193746908
Tony Abbott ignores the chance to benefit Australia by using the low 10-year bond rates
Peter Martin: Low 10-year bond rates are the deal of the century but Abbott’s not at the table, The Age, 20 Jan 15
With 10-year bond rates at an all-time low, the time is ripe to get some visionary projects off the drawing board….
If we are prepared to grasp it, there’s no shortage of projects that would set us up for decades to come. In education, in health, in the delivery to railway lines into suburbs that are at present barely accessible – in all of these areas there are projects whose benefits would exceed their costs and exceed them by more than enough to pay the minimal rate of interest being demanded.
Some are visionary. Bank of America Merrill Lynch economist Saul Eslake says if Australia was to get serious about reducing its dependence on coal it would consider paying coal producers to close, and speeding up the commercialisation of battery technologies that would allow Australians with the next wave of solar panels to live off the grid.
Between politicians and mining lobby , Australia wasted the mining boom
How Australia squandered the mining boom, The New Daily Jan 15, 2015 JAMES FERNYHOUGH Money Editor Australia failed to capitalise on a once-in-a-lifetime mining boom because politicians put short-term vote-winning policies ahead of the long-term interest of the nation, economists say.
The private interests of the powerful mining lobby were equally to blame for the squandering of a golden opportunity to strengthen Australia’s economic future.
17
Why Australia is ending its historic mining boom little better off than when it started……http://thenewdaily.com.au/money/2015/01/15/australia-squandered-mining-boom/
Australia’s solar PV highly competitive – International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)
Renewables Competitive With Fossil Fuels : IRENA http://www.energymatters.com.au/renewable-news/irena-renewables-cost-em4650/ January 20, 2015 [Good graphs] The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) says the cost of generating power from some renewable energy sources has reached parity or is cheaper than cost of fossil fuels.
The Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2014 report states biomass, hydro, geothermal and onshore wind are all competitive with or cheaper than coal, oil and gas-fired power stations – and that’s even without subsidies.
Individual wind projects are consistently generating electricity for USD 0.05 per kilowatt-hour without financial support, compared to USD 0.045 to 0.14/kWh for fossil-fuel power plants.
Solar PV is rapidly closing the gap; with solar panel costs falling 75 per cent since the end of 2009 and utility-scale solar PV electricity generation costs plummeting 50 per cent since 2010.
IRENA notes a recent utility scale PV tender in Dubai was costed at just just 0.06USD/kWh…
Residential solar power systems are now as much as 70% cheaper than in 2008.
Between 2010 and 2014, the average LCOE (levelized cost of electricity) of residential systems in Australia declined by 52% and residential electricity price parity has been reached in parts of the nation. The report states the LCOE of solar PV in Australia is highly competitive due to the country’s excellent solar resources.
“Now is the time for a step-change in deployment for renewables,” said Adnan Z. Amin, Director-General of IRENA. “It has never been cheaper to avoid dangerous climate change, create jobs, reduce fuel import bills and future-proof our energy system with renewables. This requires public acknowledgement of the low price of renewables, an end to subsidies for fossil fuels, and regulations and infrastructure to support the global energy transition.”
The report says there are no technical barriers to the increased integration of variable renewable resources.
” At low levels of penetration, the grid integration costs will be negative or modest, but can rise as penetration increases. Even so, when the local and global environmental costs of fossil fuels are taken into account, grid integration costs look considerably less daunting, even with variable renewable sources providing 40% of the power supply. In other words, with a level playing field and all externalities considered, renewables remain fundamentally competitive.”
In terms of small scale off-grid and remote power, renewables now offer the best economic solution compared to diesel-fired generation – and this is despite the reduction in oil prices at the end of last year and the beginning of 2015.
The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) is the global hub for renewable energy cooperation and information exchange. It consists of 138 members (137 States and the European Union), including Australia. Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2014 can be downloaded here (PDF).
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
Antinuclear 