Submissions to Renewable Energy Target Review listed for public scrutiny
Renewable Energy Target Review Submissions Published http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=4331 5 June 14, Submissions to Australia’s Renewable Energy Target review have begun to be listed for public scrutiny – and it’s looking like the review panel has a lot of reading ahead of it.
At the time of writing, more than 150 submissions areavailable for perusal by the public. It’s not a complete archive – the Secretariat will to progressively upload further submissions over the coming weeks. Submission that have been marked as confidential will not be published on the site.
Some of the submissions have already caused raised eyebrows. According to WA Today, the RET would include gas-fired power under a controversial proposal by the Victorian government.
The RET review has been somewhat of a circus from the outset; with serious concerns raised about the suitability of some of the review panel and claims the exercise will result in a “biased and predetermined outcome” – and not one particularly favourable in terms of renewable energy uptake.
Solar Citizens recently stated the review a “stitch-up designed to cut renewable energy and support the Coalition’s mates in big power companies.”
It was also recently revealed ACIL Allen – described by Greens senator Scott Ludlum as “analysts for the coal industry” – won the sole government contract to advise the RET review despite cheaper proposals from competing firms.
According to a recent report published by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the only parties to benefit from abolishing or gutting of Australia’s Renewable Energy Target would be fossil fuel based power generators – to the tune of 6 – 12 billion dollars extra revenue by 2020. As a result, households would pay up to $142 a year more for power by 2020, billions would be lost in renewables investment and thousands of jobs in the renewables sector would evaporate.
Mechanisms within Australia’s Renewable Energy Target support the purchase of solar power systems; reducing the up-front costs in some cases by thousands of dollars.
Australia’s scientifically illiterate Prime Minister is taking us back to mediaeval times
Science going back to dark ages, The Age, May 28, 2014 Ian Berryman The Climate Commission has gone. The carbon tax is to be rescinded. The Australian Renewable Energy Agency is to be abolished. The promise of a “Million Solar Roofs” is broken. And in what can only be described as an ideological move, the Abbott government introduced bills to abolish the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, despite it making a profit last year. The Prime Minister has declared war on the Australian renewable energy industry, the environment and science itself.
The overwhelming scientific consensus on global warming is based on evidence, whether Tony Abbott chooses to act on it or not……….
Cuts to ARENA, ANSTO, the CSIRO, and many other research bodies will severely damage our long-term economic health.
Perhaps then we will have a real deficit crisis. Furthermore, the multidisciplinary nature of research means that the Medical Research Fund will be ineffective without adequate support from physics, engineering, chemistry and many other scientific areas Abbott is currently de-funding at research, doctorate and undergraduate level.
Worryingly, the long payback periods of research mean that this reckless economic damage will be hard to recover from; coaxing once-betrayed investment, business confidence and research expertise back to Australia will be difficult if not impossible……That this onslaught against renewable energy, the environment, research and science comes from a government with no science minister is unfortunately and even predictably unsurprising……. http://www.theage.com.au/comment/science-going-back-to-dark-ages-20140531-zrqmx.html#ixzz33WHPZlcb
VIDEO: Jane Goodall challenges Australia’s politicians to think of the future for their great grandchildren
Jane Goodall asks politicians: Do you really not care about the future of your great-grandchildren? SMH, June 1, 2014 Tim Barlass One of the most eminent conservationists in the world has condemned Australia for its lack of response to climate change and said the country ”needs a wake-up call”.
Dame Jane Goodall, regarded as the first lady of conservation and a UN Messenger of Peace who has made a lifetime study of chimpanzees, accused politicians of having more concern for their immediate political careers than for future generations.
”I think my message to the politicians who have within their power the ability to make change is, ‘Do you really, really not care about the future of your great-grandchildren? Because if we let the world continue to be destroyed the way we are now, what’s the world going to be like for your great-grandchildren?’
”I am not deeply involved in Australian politics but I know there are prime ministers, governments around the world who are not acting responsibly in relation to climate change.”
She said there was a wisdom in the old days when decisions were based on how they would affect future generations.
”Now it is how will this affect me at the next election campaign or the next shareholders’ meeting.
”It’s when money becomes a god that we see this loss of wisdom.”
Dr Goodall spoke at Taronga Zoo to 300 young people on Friday and addressed a sell-out audience on Saturday night at Sydney Town Hall. She is on a lecture tour raising awareness of her Roots & Shoots program encouraging the world’s youth to take community action to help save the planet………
At 80, Dr Goodall added: ”I can’t slow down while I know that the message I deliver around the world is having an impact and so I just have to go on because I do care about my great-great-grandchildren.”
Find out more about Roots & Shoots at janegoodall.org.au.
Protest rally in Adelaide by Australian Youth Climate Coalition
Australian Youth Climate Coalition organise climate change rally in Adelaide Hills SALLY BROOKS THE ADVERTISER JUNE 01, 2014 ADELAIDE HILLS residents have gathered outside Federal Member for Mayo Jamie Briggs’ office as part of a nationwide campaign demanding politicians take stronger action on climate change.
>About 30 people attended the rally, organised by the Hills’ Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC) group, to deliver a placard and petition with 10,000 signatures to Mr Briggs’ Mount Barker electorate office.
AYCC spokeswoman Maddie Sarre, 18, said Mr Briggs had been contacted but was unable to make the event.
She said climate change was a national problem.
“Australians want increased action on climate change and the Australian government is taking us backwards on climate policy because the crisis is only getting more urgent,” she said.
“We are here today because we believe that our community really cares about climate change and especially because we have been feeling the impacts of bushfires.”…..
Call for World Heritage protection over sacred sites and rock art in Queensland’s Top End.
Mining plan risks a ‘Lost World’ of Aboriginal art at Bathurst Heads, northwest of Cooktown http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/mining-plan-risks-a-lost-world-of-aboriginal-art-at-bathurst-heads-northwest-of-cooktown/story-fnihsrf2-1226938571219 PETER MICHAEL THE SUNDAY MAIL (QLD) JUNE 01, 2014
BILLIONAIRE Gina Rinehart has buried plans to dig for diamonds on Cape York’s world-famed rock art country. But Ms Rinehart’s decision comes as another mine project threatens a “Lost World” of creatures, cave paintings, and sacred “cocoon” burial sites in a largely unexplored part of far north Queensland.
Aboriginal elders are calling for World Heritage protection over sacred sites and rock art in the state’s Top End.
Hancock Prospecting, owned by Australia’s richest mining mogul Ms Rinehart, surrendered two exploration permits over Quinkan country near Laura, after widespread outcry over the possible impact to the 30,000 year-old rock art.
Tribal leaders have hailed the move as a victory for the “Dreaming spirits” in the sandstone escarpments of the Quinkan country.
Medicine Man Tommy George Snr, the king of the Kuku Thaypan tribe, tells those lucky enough to visit the site how the most sacred artwork depicts “good” and “evil” magic spirits who rule over the land.
Paintings in caves spread over at least 230,000ha of sandstone country tell stories of the Rainbow Serpent, kangaroo, fish, turtle, powerful spirits and the coming of the white “bullyman”.
“We’ve won that battle,’’ said tribal elder Bernie Hart, of the Muundhiwarra clan, and traditional owner of parts of the Bathurst and Melville Ranges.
Not even Gina was powerful enough to take on them old Quinkan spirits.
“But now we’ve got a bigger fight on our hands.’’
Aust-Pac Capital’s Wongai Project has a State Government approved exploration permit and plans for an underground coalmine, 18km-long conveyor belt and coal dump at Bathurst Heads, 150km northwest of Cooktown.
They intend to barge coal out to ships in Princess Charlotte Bay and out an existing channel in the Great Barrier Reef.
Queensland Museum senior curator indigenous studies Trish Barnard said she supports World Heritage listing.
“These sacred sites and rock art dates back 30,000 years,” Ms Barnard said. “It’d be a real shame if it was not listed.’’
Defeat for consumers, victory for utilities if Renewable Energy Target is scrapped
Scrapping Australian Renewable Energy Target Bad For Consumers, Great For Utilities http://cleantechnica.com/2014/05/30/scrapping-australian-renewable-energy-target-bad-for-consumers/ Scrapping the Australian Renewable Energy Target could have catastrophic ramifications for the renewable energy industry in the country, as well as consumers and employment, all the while delivering huge profits to power companies, according to new analysis from research firm Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
The recently elected Tony Abbott/Liberal Government is reviewing the current Renewable Energy Target — a target of producing at least 20% of all electricity from renewable energy sources by 2020 — in line with the party’s absurd take on clean energy. Earlier this year, Treasurer Joe Hockey was reported as saying that the wind turbines he drives past on his way to work are “utterly offensive” but that he is powerless to close them down. Hopefully there are few — if any — budget decisions based on whether or not Joe Hockey’s view is obstructed.
According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), the current Renewable Energy Target is expected to drive $35 billion (AUD) of investment in clean energy, employ 25,000 workers each year in construction and operations, reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power generation by 5%, and prevent future surgest in power prices by supplying electricity for 20-25 years without ongoing fuel costs.
The catch? It will oversupply the electricity market and could place pressure on the profitability of existing electricity generators.
Heavens no! A changing market affecting the entrenched behemoths? How on Earth could we have ever seen this coming?
Compare those benefits with the changes that would follow if the Renewable Energy Target is reduced in line with the hopes of some power company proposals: a drop of $12 billion AUD in investment; a drop of 6,600 jobs; 3% higher greenhouse gas emissions; and the kicker — power prices that increase by 1% in the year 2020 for the average household, a price that will increase a further 3% by 2030.
Needless to say, if the Target is cut altogether, the figures get even worse. “Cutting or reducing the Renewable Energy Target is likely to result in less competition among fossil-fuel power generators and strong future increases in the price of electricity,”said Kobad Bhavnagri, Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s head of Australia. “This helps to explain why many of Australia’s largest power companies are now pushing for a reduction in the target.”
The White Paper compiled by BNEF is available here, but one thing is for sure, there will need to be a tonne of pressure placed on Tony Abbott, Joe Hockey, and the Australian Liberal Government if Australia is to prevent itself falling even further behind industrialised nations in a world of changing climates — both environmental and economic.
Does Bob Hawke hate Australia? He wishes toxic radioactive trash upon it
Dump the Worlds Nuclear Waste In Australia Says the Ex Prime Minister MAY 29, 2014 Weird News –http://www.tarborotimes.com/2014/05/29/weird-news-dump-the-worlds-nuclear-waste-in-australia-says-the-ex-prime-minister/ Jessica Jones / Weird News and Odd News “[Former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke said] Australia bore a responsibility to assist with the safe disposal of radioactive waste, given the ample space the country possesses. ‘If Australia has – as we do – the safest remote locations for storing the world’s nuclear waste, we have a responsibility to make those sites available for this purpose,’ he said. Hawke based this conclusion on a 25-year-old report made by Ralph Slayter, whom the former prime minister appointed as Australia’s first chief scientist back in 1989. According to Slayter’s report, some of the remote reaches of the Northern Territory and Western Australia could provide apt dumping grounds for radioactive waste.”
… clearly he hates his country.
Large scale solar industry under threat, with Australian govt review of Renewable Energy Target
Bloomberg: Revisions To Australia’s Renewable Energy Target Threaten Large-Scale Solar http://solarindustrymag.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.14179
| i |
|
by SI Staff on Wednesday 28 May 2014 A new report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) evaluates some of the changes to Australia’s 45 TWh renewable energy target (RET) that the government may be considering in its current review of the policy.
BNEF estimates that Australia’s current RET scheme is expected to drive AUD 35 billion of investment in 14.2 GW of new renewable capacity by 2020. This will come at an average nationwide cost to consumers of AUD 500 million per year from 2015 to 2020, with 24,800 workers employed each year in construction and operations, BNEF says. The RET is expected to reduce power sector emissions by 5% in 2020, compared with 2013 levels. According to the BNEF report, the RET will save end-consumers on average AUD 2 billion per year after 2015 through 2030 because the costs of the policy are outweighed by the reductions to wholesale electricity prices it achieves. However, the scheme could run into trouble if the 10-year tail end of the current design proves too short for projects to obtain financing, the report concludes. The Australian government is expected to make a decision on RET revisions in the middle of this year. “In particular, the review will consider the contribution of the RET in reducing emissions, its impact on electricity prices and energy markets, as well as its costs and benefits for the renewable energy sector, the manufacturing sector and Australian households,” says a joint statement from the Australian ministries of industry and environment. “Australia’s diversity of energy sources is one of our greatest national strengths. Renewable energy has contributed to the energy mix, but we must ensure that the program is operating effectively.” If the RET is abolished, BNEF says, renewables investment will fall by 59%, and 63% less capacity will be installed by 2020 than under the current plan. Small-scale PV would become the only viable clean energy industry. The cost to consumers between 2015 and 2020 will be 22% higher at AUD 600 million annually, the report calculates, because no savings would come from wholesale power prices and legacy assets would continue to be compensated. Power sector emissions will be 5% higher, and 11,100 fewer people will be employed, BNEF says. |
Concerns about toxic fumes affecting health of airline staff and passengers
Toxic fumes and radiation on Australian airlines spark cancer concerns among crew – and passengers ‘aren’t always warned‘ Mail Online,
- Report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau says toxic fumes have been pumped out more than 1000 times over the past five years
- Former pilot who collapsed from aerotoxic syndrome blames chemicals on BAe146 aircraft for making her sick
- Airline staff are seeking legal action over brain and breast cancer links
- Flight attendant Brett Vollus has been diagnosed with a brain tumour
By SARAH DEAN, 26 May 2014 and crew to chemicals more than 1000 times over the past five years, it has been claimed.And customers aboard flights are not always about the dangers, a report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau has revealed.
Some airline staff are seeking legal action over fears that the fumes and exposure to radiation could be leading to an increased risk of brain and breast cancer……….
Susan Michaelis is now head of research at the Global Cabin Air Quality Executive and says her research has found clusters of cancer and neurological problems among flight crew. ‘There is a pattern of chronic ill-health… and it needs to be looked at further,’ Ms Michaelis told News.com.
The report named the BAe146 aircraft as one of the worst offenders for fume emission, although no individual airlines have been singled out.Independent analysis of the ATSB figures shows the Boeing 767 also had 123 fumes exposures from less than 20 planes between 2008 and 2013.
………In December 2013, five flight attendants who have developed Parkinson’s – including Mr Vollus – contacted law firm Turner Freeman to ask about taking legal action against the Commonwealth government.
They want to know more about the links between Parkinson’s and the spraying of insecticides on flights in line with World Health Organisation guidelines to prevent the spread of potentially deadly mosquito-borne viruses.
Turner Freeman lawyer Tanya Segelov told the Sydney Morning Herald: ‘When Brett was diagnosed, his neurologist asked him what he did, and he said he worked for Qantas, and his response was: “Oh, another one,”‘
‘We have now had four more long-haul flight attendants come forward this morning, and I think we are going to see more and more people coming out of the woodwork.’
Australia should be a regional, even world, winner in renewable energy
Renewables race is one Australia should win, SMH, May 21, 2014 Elizabeth Farrelly “……The $2.3 billion defunding of ARENA, Australia’s renewable energy agency, may be less colourful than some other budget cuts. But in global embarrassment terms (excepting the camps, of which we should all be profoundly ashamed), abandoning renewables takes the cake.
And frankly, if we don’t have a planet, it isn’t going to matter what your GP costs. Right?
The renewables race is one Australia should win. Ours is the sunniest continent on earth. Every year, we are gifted 58 million petajoules of free energy: ten thousand times our total use. We’re young, wealthy, stable and more-or-less civilised. We also have wind, hot rocks and a massive coastline of potential wave power, to even out the bumps.
Sun, as solar gas, can be exported – like coal, only clean and free. But North Africa and the Middle East are also sun-rich. As Alan Jones MBE, who was until recently the City of Sydney’s trigeneration guru, warned: ”Whoever corners the market first will obliterate fossil fuels.”
It should be us. But since 1992 Australia’s share of the world photovoltaic market has plummeted, from 7 per cent to 1 per cent. This is why ARENA was established. And why the Abbott-Hockey shrinkage of it to one-thousandth full-size ends all hope……….
Australians (a recent CSIRO report showed) love solar energy. Yet at present it accounts for about 0.1 per cent of our consumption. And since our governments insist on seeing renewables as a cost, not an opportunity, it’s clear they won’t be taking us there any time soon.
The federal government is locked into its mining and fossil fuel mindset. The states, meanwhile, are so massively invested in coal-fired infrastructure – particularly that mass of poles and wires known as ”the grid” – they cannot encourage renewables or even level the field. Only about 10 per cent of your power bill, Jones says, is for retail energy. The rest pays the state grid monopoly. As people withdraw, these grid costs increase.
So we’ll have to do it ourselves. Germany’s renewables record is the more amazing because 65 per cent of its renewable energy is customer-owned. In January Hamburg bought back its grid from Swedish giant Vattenfall, ploughing half the profit into energy-bill reduction, the rest into renewables. Berlin has done the same. Since 2007, more than 200 German power-grids and water-systems have been bought by towns and cities.
The scale – the localism – can go smaller still. Lithium-ion storage for domestic solar is now the size of a small cupboard. This is being trialled in Victoria as we speak by SunPower, the world’s second-largest solar company.
Distributed energy is the energy of dissent. Government may disapprove, as Hockey does of wind farms, but that’s the beauty of microgeneration. It doesn’t need government. We can do it ourselves.
But sooner would be better than later. Now that Barack Obama has SPVs on the White House, will Abbott put $4.5 million worth on the Lodge? : http://www.smh.com.au/comment/renewables-race-is-one-australia-should-win-20140521-zrjp7.html#ixzz32Vfvsd6N
Climate change is a direct threat to Australia’s future prosperity and safety.
Australia’s extreme budget meets extreme climate, Guardian, Alex White 22 May 14,“……….The trashing of Australia’s renewable energy sector removes the last pretense that this government would take climate change seriously. No one who accepts the dangers of global warming would destroy their nation’s renewable energy capacity, or the fossil fuel industry’s incentives to develop carbon capture technology. (The bitter pill is that the Abbott government plans to keep billions of dollars worth ofcorporate fossil fuel subsidies with the diesel rebate, while increasing the excise for individual motorists.)
There are many other instances in the budget – too many to name – that should leave the Australian public, and the global community, under no doubt that the government is run by climate deniers.
It is clear now that the carbon price introduced by the former Labor government must be ferociously defended, and the government’sdiscredited “direct action” policy opposed. As an economic reform, the combination of the trading scheme and a steadily reducing cap on emissions is essential to both reduce Australia’s carbon emissions, and to ensure Australia remains a constructive player in global efforts.
It remains to be seen how the new Senate, where coal magnate Clive Palmer holds the balance of power, will act, but it is clear that both Labor and the Greens will block the repeal of the carbon price under the current senate. To its credit, Labor has remained firm in its support for an emissions trading scheme with a cap.
Australia sweltered through one of the hottest summers on record, and the winter of 2014 is preparing to match or break heat records. For people who do take global warming seriously, efforts to halt the Australian government’s reckless agenda now rests on the Senate.
The unseasonably hot May demonstrates yet again the pressing moral urgency of climate action; the assault on the renewable energy sector is yet another symptom of the moral failures of Abbott’s government.http://www.theguardian.com/environment/southern-crossroads/2014/may/21/may-heatwave-budget-2014-abbott-renewable-energy-cuts
Under the Abbott government Australia is flying blind on climate chnage
The budget shows we’re now flying blind on climate change The Conversation, Michael Raupach Professor at Australian National University 21 May 14, The word “climate” was conspicuously absent from Joe Hockey’sfirst budget speech as treasurer. It’s not hard to guess why – the full budget sets out major cuts to climate research, andstrong moves against renewable energy programs, such as scrapping the Australian Renewable Energy Authority.
Together, these moves send the strong signal that we are weakening our capacities for both climate knowledge and responses to climate change. As a result, we are increasingly flying blind.
Does this reflect a change in the way in which we, as a society, perceive the risks of climate change? It’s an important question, because although political appetites for action may wax and wane, the laws of nature cannot be repealed.
What the science says
Let’s start with the evidence. The scientific community has just released the landmark Fifth Assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), confirming and extending previous IPCC reports in 2007, 2001, 1996 and 1990.
In snapshot, the findings are that warming and other climate changes have occurred through the 20th century, mainly because of emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by human activities; these changes will continue and accelerate with increasing emissions; and major reductions in emissions are needed over coming decades if we are to significantly reduce dangers from global warming and other impacts.
The observational evidence and models are clear and in agreement on these broad conclusions. This is a scientific consensus in the true sense; not the outcome of a vote, but the outcome of an effort to discern how nature works………..
The choices on offer
Broadly speaking, our options for responding to climate change can be drawn from two boxes: one marked “do something about it”, the other marked “live with whatever happens”. At this highest level, that’s it: no other boxes are available……….
Knowledge is critical
Whatever value judgements people and their politicians make about climate change, we urgently need knowledge. Gathering knowledge is not easy: it demands diversity, experimentation, and a willingness to fail many times before success is achieved. We need to continue monitoring our changing Earth, including both its natural functioning and the profound ways that we are influencing it.
We need to design strategies for responding to change: doing the painstaking engineering and development of renewable energy systems, working out how to adapt our farms and landscapes, and increasing the energy efficiency and robustness of our towns and cities.
Knowledge is essential because the pace of change is so great that we are creating a world that we do not know, and we need to understand and learn how to live with it even as we shape it. And that, in the larger picture, is why it is not sensible to fly blind. http://theconversation.com/the-budget-shows-were-now-flying-blind-on-climate-change-26833
Australian Industry Group warns that reducing Renewable Energy target will not bring down electricity prices
Reducing renewable energy target won’t lead to cut in power prices, AIG warns, Lisa Cox, SMH. May 21, 2014 Reducing Australia’s renewable energy target will not lead to a fall in power prices, one of the country’s leading industry groups has warned.
In a move that will pressure Prime Minister Tony Abbott to retain Australia’s goal of producing at least 20 per cent of all electricity from renewable sources by 2020, the Australian Industry Group has urged the government not to abolish or drastically cut the target.
AIG, which represents more than 60,000 businesses, said the RET had lowered wholesale power prices and there would be little benefit to consumers if the target was lowered.
The comments are in contrast to statements Mr Abbott made last year that the RET was causing electricity price rises at a time when Australia ought to be ”an affordable energy superpower”. There are growing fears that the government plans to scale back the target after Australia’s flagship clean energy development agency – the Australian Renewable Energy Agency – was axed in last week’s budget.
In a submission to the government’s review of the RET, the AIG said unwinding the target would require major compensation to businesses that had already made significant investments in renewable energy. It said this would have to come via the federal budget or ”an ongoing payment by electricity retailers – and ultimately energy users – in a closed, grandfathered version of the RET”.
AIG chief executive Innes Willox said on Tuesday that neither deep cuts in the target nor abolishing the RET altogether would deliver ”overall benefits to energy users”……..
The industry group’s submission is critical of the continued upheaval of Australia’s climate and energy policies and the lack of detail surrounding the implementation of the government’s emissions reduction fund to cut carbon emissions.
Coal seam gas development could pollute Lake Hume with uranium and heavy metals
Time to ban coal seam gas http://www.bordermail.com.au/story/2293359/time-to-ban-coal-seam-gas/?cs=14— ALEC ENGLISH,May 20, 2014, THE western Riverina would have a Coal Seam Gas development by now if the Grainger Energy application had not been refused in March. There may be a coal seam gas exploration licence application lodged in the Albury area within months.
Of great concern is a potential coal seam gas development in the mountains east of Albury.
The gas could pollute Lake Hume with uranium and heavy metals, which would lead to a slow and horrible death for Albury residents from radiation poisoning. The New York State Senate placed a temporary moratorium on coal seam gas due to pollution of the New York City water supply.
The same companies are using the same processes in Australia. So these companies would not hesitate at all to pollute Lake Hume.
I urge people to look at the trailers for the films Gasland and Fracking Hell: the untold story on the internet. These give an idea of the horror story that is coal seam gas. Coal seam gas needs to be banned in Australia!
Australia losing jobs in renewable energy – jobs go offshore following 2014 Budhet
2014 Budget Will Send Renewable Energy Jobs Offshore, Marc Howe, Sourceable, 20 May 14, Australia’s peak body for the renewable energy industry has decried the Coalition’s proposed scrapping of ARENA in its 2014 budget, saying the move will result in jobs and investment shifting to other countries.According to the Clean Energy Council, the Coalition’s plans to abolish the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) will be a severe retrograde move for a burgeoning domestic industry, which has already reached the cutting edge of innovation in areas such as large-scale solar, geothermal and ocean energy.
Kane Thornton, deputy chief executive of the Clean Energy Council, said the decision to scrap ARENA sends a strong signal to both domestic and international players in the sector, and will severely vitiate the ability of Australia’s renewable energy sector to compete on a globalised playing field.
“A global race for renewable energy is on, and the removal of ARENA will see potential Australian and international investors now look to countries with much stronger support for renewable energy innovation,” she said. “We may well miss out on billions of dollars of investment and highly skilled jobs.”
Thornton further pointed out that weakening the Australia’s renewable energy sector was an imprudent move from a jobs perspective, given the large contribution the industry could make to flagging employment growth.
“Abolishing ARENA is a backwards step for the ‘clever country’ at a time when job losses in traditional industries like the automotive and manufacturing sectors mean we need new, innovative industries to take their place and fill this void,” she said……….
– See more at: http://sourceable.net/2014-budget-will-send-renewable-energy-jobs-offshore/#sthash.JyY5hPnm.dpuf
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
20 May – Webinar – The dangerous world of AUKUS, US, military occupation and suppression of dissent
National Webinar, 20th May, 2026, 6.30pm AEST. Confronting laws restricting/suppressing protest speech and action
Speakers: Former Sen. Rex Patrick, Lawyer Nick Hanna ,Arthur Rorris ,Jorgen Doyle, Sen David Shoebbridge,
Facilitator Kelley Tranter.
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity
Antinuclear 