Carbon pricing will return – says Julia Gillard
Julia Gillard predicts return of carbon pricing and mining tax, saying ‘good reforms take more than one go’, ABC News By political reporter Andrew Greene 11 Nov 2014, Former Labor prime minister Julia Gillard has predicted Australia’s carbon pricing and mining tax will eventually return.
Ms Gillard, who was deposed as prime minister last year, said she believes many of her government’s policies, which have now been abolished by the Coalition, will one day be reintroduced.
In a wide-ranging interview with ABC Radio in Canberra, Ms Gillard compared her government’s mining and carbon taxes with Gough Whitlam’s introduction of Medibank (now Medicare) in the 1970s.
“Medibank completely contested by the conservative side of politics (with) the Liberal Party saying it’ll destroy Australia as we know it and no one will ever go and be a doctor again and Bob Hawke needing to bring it back,” she said.
“The Government is finding it very, very hard to try and sweep away our education reforms which are enduring in many respects.
“Yes, they’ve swept away carbon pricing and the Minerals Resource Rent Tax, but good reforms often take more than one go around and they’ll be back.”…….http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-11/julia-gillard-predicts-return-carbon-pricing-mining-tax/5883120
Australia the global “laggard” on the roll out of renewable energy
Australia chided over renewable energy The West Australian, ANDREW TILLETT November 10, 2014, Australia has been labelled a global “laggard” on the roll out of renewable energy, with investment in cleaner, greener power plunging 70 per cent amid ongoing uncertainty over the national target.
In a new report out today, the Climate Council says Australia is being left behind, with heavy emitters China and the US are embracing cleaner sources such as solar and wind.
And in another report to be released today, the Climate Institute is urging the Abbott Government to commit to a 40 per cent cut in carbon emissions by 2025 as other countries begin to set medium term reduction goals.
The release of the reports by the think tanks comes ahead of the G20 leaders summit in Brisbane, where climate change will be discussed under the guise of energy efficiency after pressure on Tony Abbott from the US and Europe.
Advocates for climate change action are hopeful the G20 could build momentum for the United Nations conference in Paris in just over 12 months time, where countries are expected to reach a new agreement for reducing emissions beyond 2020………https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/25473258/australia-chided-over-renewable-energy/
Exclusion of indigenous perspectives from Australian history classrooms
VCE’s Australian History Study Design snubs indigenous perspectives, The Age, November 12, 2014 Elizabeth Muldoon and Gary Foley The Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) Study Design is the document that dictates what constitutes Australian history for more than a thousand Victorian senior secondary students each year.
With all VCE history courses under review this year, the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) has indicated that Koorie Hhistory will be cut due to declining enrolments. This leaves the one-year Australian history course as the only way for Victorian students to study Australian indigenous history in their final two years of secondary school.
The authority is responsible for both the construction of the study design and assessing VCE students. Given that its assessment largely determines students’ admission to university, teachers are under enormous pressure to adhere to the Study Design.
Thus, the content of the proposed VCE Australian History Study Design is extremely important to those who recognise that widespread ignorance of indigenous matters in mainstream Australia is an underlying cause of the acute disadvantage indigenous Australians face today………..
according to the study design, a student may excel in Australian history without any demonstrated knowledge of the experiences or perspectives of Aboriginal people after 1860. Even those who study Aboriginal activism post-1970 will be left with a 110-year gap in their knowledge.
Furthermore, there are troubling ambiguities in the way the study design outlines the optional unit on Aboriginal activism that could lead to confusion about these 110 years. The study design claims that from 1970, indigenous communities “shifted from a struggle for civil and equal rights to indigenous rights, especially land rights”. Yet, as historian Heather Goodall clearly elucidated in her 2008 book Invasion to Embassy, indigenous communities have fought tenaciously to assert their sovereign rights to their land since British invasion. They did not merely seek to be recognised as Australian citizens.
Other aspects of the study design that erase indigenous perspectives from Australian history include its timeframe. Although there is no shortage of historical scholarship and indigenous knowledge of pre-1788 Australia, it presents Australian history as beginning with British invasion.
Also concerning is its use of the euphemism “settlement” to stand for “colonisation” or “invasion”. The term “settlement” has long been criticised for masking the violence indigenous peoples suffered at the hands of British “settlers”. Moreover, equating Australian history post-1788 to “the history of settlement” implies indigenous peoples were not themselves “settled” on the land, which reinforces the historical fiction of terra nullius.
The systematic exclusion of indigenous perspectives from Australian history classrooms is a phenomenon that prominent academics, such as W. E. H. Stanner and Henry Reynolds, have recognised and sought to rectify since the 1960s………………..http://www.theage.com.au/comment/vces-australian-history-study-design-snubs-indigenous-perspectives-20141111-11jl95.html
As global momentum grows for action on climate change, Australia is an outsider
That’s understandable, given that countries tend to have one eye on what others are doing to cut emissions. But host nation Australia, once one of the leaders on carbon policy, is now lagging behind the pack.
The top dogs – China, the United States and the European Union – are tackling climate change, and in the process they’re leaving Australia looking like a pup, according to the latest Climate Council report.
In the past 12 months China and the United States (the world’s largest greenhouse emitters) have stepped up their efforts to tackle climate change. Meanwhile, the European Union’s 28 nations (including some of the world’s largest economies) has almost achieved its 2020 target for reducing emissions and has recently pledged to cut emissions by 40% by 2030, as well as setting ambitious targets for renewable energy.
China: from laggard to leader………
United States: stepping up to the plate……….
European Union: falling personal emissions
As of 2012, the EU had cut its emissions by 19.2% relative to 1990 levels, putting its 2020 target of 20% well within reach. Emissions per capita have fallen dramatically, from 9.1 tonnes per person in 1990 to 6.8 tonnes in 2013.
The EU is now looking to redouble its efforts beyond 2020, with the EU Commission launching a new framework in January 2014 to set out even more ambitious 2030 targets for reducing emissions and increasing renewable energy. Renewable energy now provides 23.5% of the EU’s electricity needs.
Global momentum
Global momentum is building on action on climate change. As in the world’s biggest polluters, the most common types of action include carbon pricing, reducing pollution from coal-fired power plants, and investing in renewable energy.
The number of countries and sub-national jurisdictions putting a price on carbon continues to increase: 39 countries are putting a price on carbon – up from 35 in 2013. A further 26 countries are currently considering introducing carbon pricing.
Worldwide, the number of countries with policies supporting renewable energy also continues to increase. In early 2014, 144 countries had renewable energy targets and 138 had renewable energy support policies in place (up from 138 and 127, respectively, in the previous year). http://theconversation.com/australia-is-losing-ground-as-the-climate-policy-race-gains-pace-33941
Indigenous Canadians learning from Australian indigenous protected areas
The meetings come just a week before the World Parks Congress in Australia, which will feature programs and partnerships from around the world, including the Australian ranger/IPA model and Canadian indigenous protected area initiatives like Thaidene Nene.
Australians share indigenous protected area strategies with N.W.T. Visits to Yellowknife and Lutsel K’e involved talking with Thaidene Nene negotiators By Rachel Zelniker, CBC News Canada Nov 09, 2014 Daryl Lacey knows what it’s like when environmental concerns and development come head to head.
Twenty years ago, Lacey’s elders grew concerned about the impacts mining was having on their traditional territory. “Employees of the mine … were driving on our land, on sacred sites and where we didn’t want them to go,” he says.
Lacey is a member of the Yolngu people in Australia’s Northern Territory.
“My people set up Dhimurru as an organization so nothing gets damaged.”
Dhimurru is one of 60 Indigenous Protected Areas established in partnership with the Australian government that cover more than 48 million hectares across Australia. Continue reading
Indigenous Land Corporation chair calls for strengthening the indigenous land fund
$2bn indigenous land fund next on agenda THE AUSTRALIAN OCTOBER 27, 2014 Patricia Karvelas
FRESH from a win against merging two indigenous economic bodies, Dawn Casey will lobby politicians to support a $2 billion “land account’’ to be managed by the Future Fund.
The Indigenous Land Corporation chairwoman wants the land account to be made more secure.
Minister for Indigenous Affairs Nigel Scullion confirmed last week that he did not intend to make changes, after commissioning an independent report that provided ambiguous recommendations and failed to back the government’s preferred option of amalgamation of the corporation and Indigenous Business Australia.
The move was a win for Dr Casey, who has lobbied strongly against an amalgamation and enlisted the support of Aboriginal leaders to call for the protection of the $2bn indigenous land account presided over by the land corporation. “We call on all parties to support the Stronger Land Account Bill currently in the Senate,’’ she said. “It strengthens indigenous involvement and will lock in stronger corporate governance of the funds allocated from the land account through the ILC.
“In addition, we seek government support to broaden the current narrow investment parameters of the land account and allow the Future Fund to manage it so as to maximise the benefits available to indigenous Australians, particularly those whose native title rights have been extinguished over the past two centuries………..http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/indigenous/bn-indigenous-land-fund-next-on-agenda/story-fn9hm1pm-1227102873877
Only future for electricity companies is to take advantage of Renewable Energy Target
Australia’s entire power sector should support the RET, The Conversation, Ariel Liebman, 6 Nov 14
“……..The Coalition government has announced its position: to reduce the Renewable Energy Target to a “real 20%” — or 20% of the expected electricity demand in 2020. This will result in a cut to around 27,000 gigawatt hours from the current target of 41,000 gigawatt hours.
But with demand falling and a significant oversupply of electricity, the RET is vital for stimulating investment in the electricity sector, not just renewables.
At the moment, there is a massive split between the proponents of renewables development and those who see increased penetration of renewables as a threat to their business.
Opponents appear to have the upper hand, with the government pushing to have the 20% target reduced to a “real” target that would be much lower……………
As demand is shrinking, all players need a policy that stimulates investment. Without the RET, there will be no incentive to build any power plants at all! The market is oversupplied and will continue to be for perhaps another seven to ten years.
Taking advantage of the RET and the other new technologies is the only way modern electricity utilities can innovate, grow and successfully compete in a rapidly changing environment. Freezing the RET would be a false win for its opponents.http://theconversation.com/why-australias-entire-power-sector-should-support-the-ret-33464
New map tool will promote Australia’s renewable energy development
Australia promotes renewable energy with map tool, Fierce Energy November 6, 2014 | By Doug Peeples Developers of renewable energy and demand management projects in Australia will have a new tool to help them better understand the country’s electricity market and identify both opportunities and constraints. The online mapping tool is intended to both promote renewable energy and demand management and avoid excessive investment in new electricity infrastructure.
The tool is the creation of Sydney’s University of Technology (UTS), the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), energy providers and other stakeholders.
“These maps have the potential to make a major contribution to the development of the renewable energy and demand markets in Australia, while helping network service providers remove obstacles to a lower-cost future and the development of renewable, distributed energy and other demand management projects,” according to a news release issued by UTS and ARENA.
They also expect their creation to help lower energy costs for Australians, which are currently very high due to infrastructure over-investment and other factors, as well as support market development and energy efficiency in distributed energy.
UTS and ARENA also invited network service providers, project developers and others to take part in forums later this year where they would be able to learn more and contribute their thoughts on the mapping tool and the information it provides…….. For more:
– visit this website
Tony Abbott’s poor judgment in antagonising Vladimir Puin
Putin-baiting may be understandable, but antagonising Moscow reflects poor statesmanship TOM SWITZER THE AUSTRALIAN OCTOBER 18, 2014 “…….If Putin meets Tony Abbott in Brisbane next month, relations won’t be so jovial, and not just because his G20 host is a former journalist. The Prime Minister’s warnings that he will “shirt-front” Putin reflect community sentiments. But they also mean any dealings with the Russian President will be as frosty as a Siberian winter……….
Banning Putin from the G20 would have been counterproductive. The point of such international institutions is not that they are a reward for good behaviour but that they provide a forum for dealing with common problems. The West needs Russia’s help to secure a nuclear deal with Iran. Washington requires Moscow’s co-operation to withdraw US equipment from Afghanistan through Russian territory. Just this week Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington and Moscow had agreed to share more intelligence on the Islamic State terrorists.
Remember it was Putin who bailed out Washington and London last year by promoting the deal under which the Assad regime in Syria agreed to jettison its chemical weapons, thereby avoiding the airstrikes that Barack Obama and David Cameron had threatened. Had Damascus fallen, jihadists would have filled the power vacuum.
Escalating sanctions on Russia’s financial, energy and defence sectors drives Moscow closer to Beijing and hurts the European economy………
For Australia, the prospect of the US getting bogged down in Europe dealing with Ukraine while also fighting Islamic State in the Middle East could undermine the so-called pivot that promotes stability and prosperity in Asia. That is not to our advantage……..
Put it this way: why should Australia, a regional middle power with a population of 23 million, pick a fight with a nuclear-armed great power that deems its vital strategic interests are at stake in its near abroad?
A sound policy demands both condemnation of the Russian-backed rebels responsible for shooting down the Malaysian passenger jet and an acknowledgment that the West continues to share many interests with Moscow. Dealing with Putin at the G20 realistically is essential for making sure these interests are served. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/putinbaiting-may-be-understandable-but-antagonising-moscow-reflects-poor-statesmanship/story-e6frg6zo-1227094311704
Aboriginal elders locked out from Brisbane premises, because of G20
Brisbane G20: Indigenous elders protest Jagera Hall ‘lock-out’, Brisbane Times, November 5, 2014 Kim Stephens Members of Brisbane’s indigenous community say they have been locked out of their premises, in the heart of the G20 security zone, just days before the world leaders’ summit.
A small but vocal contingent of the city’s indigenous elders attended Tuesday afternoon’s council meeting at City Hall to protest being locked out of Musgrave Park’s Jagera Hall, which they claim was done without warning or consultation…….. http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/brisbane-g20/brisbane-g20-indigenous-elders-protest-jagera-hall-lockout-20141105-11gz5c.html#ixzz3IKS9nuek
7-14th November free Art Exhibition – Western Australia: ‘Reimagining Peace: the Art of Protest’
Re imagining Peace – the Art of Protest http://reimaginingpeace.wordpress.com/“……….This small website is then dedicated to a consideration of how we might ‘Re-Imagine Peace’ and to ideas, opinions, commentary and creative ways in which we can reflect on not only the real consequences of wars in all times and places but query the use violence everywhere and anywhere as a ‘default’ mode when resolving conflicts and dealing with aggression…..”As our contribution to the marking of one of the most terrible wars in human history we are holding two events which raise the issue of wars and violent conflict in all times and places and consider how we might re-imagine a world of ‘Peace’:
‘Reimagining Peace: the Art of Protest’ is a forthcoming FREE exhibition
(POP UP Gallery WA Museum – Albany 7th-14th November)
local Albany (Western Australian) artists commenting on both the consequences of war and ways of envisaging ‘peace’. Major themes explored in the exhibition and interpreted include:
Children and war, Peace activists and protestors,’Toying with war’, the Language of war, the Impact of War on the Environment and all living things, and Envisioning ‘Peace’.
North Coast Energy Forum highlights practical successes in sustainable energy
Renewable energy ramps up, The Land SHAN GOODWIN 04 Nov, 2014 HOPEFUL investors are lining up to get stake their claim in the burgeoning North Coast renewable energy scheme market.
The 2014 North Coast Energy Forum, held at Cabarita on the Tweed Coast last week, attracted 120 participants from industry, government and the community.
The forum follows last week’s coverage of the country’s first community-owned power retailer, which is on track to be buying, selling and investing in renewable energy in the Northern Rivers region by January 2016.
Issues such as how to create a social licence for the burgeoning bioenergy industry in the region were put under the spotlight at the event.
Forum convenor Mark Byrne said: “We are starting to see some real practical outcomes in the move towards a more sustainable energy system in this region. And it’s not just down to being the region with the second highest uptake of rooftop solar in Australia………
People interested in being part of any of these projects are encouraged to connect with the forum’s ongoing work via its website, www.ncef.net.au or on social media atwww.facebook.com/NorthCoastEnergyForum. http://www.theland.com.au/news/agriculture/general/news/renewable-energy-ramps-up/2716492.aspx
Scaleback of Renewable Energy Target will damage large wind farm businesses in South Australia
Snowtown wind farm operator Trustpower fears federal RET cut ABC News 2 Nov 2014 One of Australia’s biggest wind farm operators says investment in the sector will be threatened if the Renewable Energy Target (RET) is cut substantially.
Stage two of the nation’s second-largest wind farm was officially opened in South Australia on Sunday at a time when the Federal Government is keen to scale back the RET.
There are now 137 turbines dotting the Barunga and Hummocks Ranges across almost 30 kilometres of the state’s mid-north and capable of generating enough power for 180,000 properties.
The turbines are on the properties of 24 local landowners.
The wind farm’s operator Trustpower is worried future investments across Australia is under threat because the Federal Government is keen to scale back the legislated RET……..
The South Australian Government said other energy projects such as the $1.5 billion Ceres wind farm project on Yorke Peninsula would be adversely affected if the federal RET were cut. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-03/expanded-snowtown-wind-farm-fears-federal-ret-cut/5861930
Aboriginal land claims on New South Wales coastal areas – attempted block by NSW govt!
New South Wales tries to block Aboriginal land claims on coastal areas, Guardian, 3 Nov 14, Move follows successful Coffs Harbour bid despite fact past claims have been granted with easements for public access The New South Wales government is seeking to ban Aboriginal communities from making land claims on coastal areas and to cancel around 1,800 outstanding claims to beachfront land.
Hundreds gathered in Sydney on Monday to protest against the proposal, which the state’s Aboriginal Land Council has slammed as “racist” and “scare-mongering”.
The state government’s move follows a successful 20-year legal battle by the Coffs Harbour district local Aboriginal council to claim a section of land on the state’s north coast that includes a 3.7km stretch of Red Rock beach………
Gordon said the government had granted coastal land claims 30 years ago “when they thought they were wastelands”.
“Now they’re realising it’s pristine land and they don’t want blackfellas to have it.”
He said the “racist” legislation undermined other positive initiatives by the Baird government, including the appointment of an Aboriginal deputy ombudsman and the devolution of power to local communities.
“This government wants Aboriginal land rights to end. They want us to no longer be able to claim crown land,” he said. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/nov/03/new-south-wales-tries-to-block-aboriginal-land-claims-on-coastal-areas
Tony Abbott and Clive Palmer’s dirty Direct Action deal is a sham – Christine Milne
Christine Milne , 30 Oct 14 Just over 100 days ago, Clive Palmer and Tony Abbott got together to destroy the efficient and effective Emissions Trading Scheme.
Today Mr Palmer and Environment Minister Greg Hunt announced that they’ve reached a deal to create a $2 billion slush fund for polluters. They’re calling it ‘Direct Action’ and they’re trying to convince people that it will reduce pollution, when there is no modelling or other evidence that it will do anything of the sort.
Australians aren’t so easily duped.
Palmer and Abbott have absolute contempt for every Australian who wants strong action on global warming. If Palmer was even remotely serious, he’d get out of the coal business instead of expanding it.
We had a strong and effective set of policies in place to tackle global warming. Clive Palmer and Tony Abbott tore them up. Now they’re pretending to care about our climate, all while making sure that big polluters get a massive taxpayer handout and carry on with business as usual.
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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