Solar energy farm for Port Augusta, South Australia?
Port Augusta City Council has expressed interest in the plan and BZE will be running a presentation on the proposed project at the Cooinda Club on Saturday, October 29 beginning at 3.30pm; an event the community are encouraged to attend.
Push For Solar Farm In Port Augusta, Renewable Energy News, by Energy Matters, 26 Sept , Beyond Zero Emissions is lobbying for a solar thermal power plant to be constructed at Port Augusta in South Australia. If the initiative goes ahead, it will be the first facility of its kind in Australia.
While the idea goes back to last year, Beyond Zero Emissions (BZE) have ramped up their efforts recently given the possibility of Port Augusta’s Playford B power station facing closure or major modifications under a carbon tax scheme. Continue reading
Aboriginal landowners under government pressure over uranium mining
No to uranium mining National Indigenous Times, 21 Sept 11, The 2011 meeting of the Australian Nuclear Free Alliance has been told Traditional Owners had very few rights when it came to trying to prevent uranium mining taking place of their lands.
The meeting attracted a large gathering of Elders and traditional owners of lands throughout central Australia and the meeting highlighted growing concern that governments would try and steamroll them to allow uranium mining to take place.
The Undoolya peoples of Alice Springs welcomed the people attending the meeting which also paid its respect to the marchers in the 10 week Walk Away From Uranium Mining happening now in Western Australia. http://www.nit.com.au/News/story.aspx?id=22822
Terrorist bomb threat came near to Australian city
Why a jury will never hear about extremists plans for mass murder in Australia, Herald Sun, Keith Moor, September 21, 2011 POLICE secretly created and exploded a “Mother of Satan” bomb to prove Abdul Benbrika and his extremist followers had the materials to make the feared terrorist device.
They were able to show that terrorist followers of the radical Muslim cleric ordered or bought hundreds of litres of chemicals and specialist laboratory equipment to make a bomb capable of killing and injuring hundreds of people.
Knowing defence lawyers intended trying to claim the chemicals and laboratory equipment were bought for legitimate reasons, including to make perfume, police decided to head that argument off by buying the same materials to make their own bomb to show it could be done.
They recorded the process on video, including the controlled explosion of the police-made bomb at a remote location.
The “Mother of Satan” bomb is the weapon of choice for terrorists around the world…… http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/why-a-jury-will-never-hear-about-extremists-plans-for-mass-murder-in-australia/story-fn7x8me2-1226142130761
Australian Red Cross calls on young and old to rally against nuclear weapons
Australian Red Cross is holding a forum in Sydney on 22 September 2011. Junko Morimoto, a survivor of the Hiroshima atomic bomb, will be speaking along with Dr Durham, and Dr Ben Saul, Professor of International Law, University of Sydney. The forum starts at 6.30pm, at Mallesons Stephen Jaques’ offices in Sydney.
Push to ban nuclear weapons comes to Sydney, SOUTHERN COURIER, 21 SEP 11 Australian Red Cross has re-ignited the push for a ban on the use of nuclear weapons and is calling on young Australians from all walks of life to finish what their parents started. And now it’s bringing the debate to Sydney. Continue reading
Uranium sales fall as smart companies pull the plug on nuclear – Greens
Senator Scott Ludlam – September 19th, 2011 A big drop in the value of Australia’s uranium exports is a further sign the nuclear industry is crumbling, the Australian Greens said today.
Greens spokesperson for nuclear affairs Senator Scott Ludlam said figures from the Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics showing a 19 per cent fall in the value of Australian uranium exports from 2009-10 to 2010-11 could not be ignored.
“This is not a short-term reaction to the Fukushima Daiichi disaster. For fifteen yearsrenewable energy capacity additions per annum have been outpacing nuclear start-ups.
“World-leading engineering firm Siemens announced yesterday they will not return to the nuclear sector because of ‘clear position taken by society and politics in Germany’ against the industry. Switzerland – like Germany – is completely phasing out its sizeable nuclear sector, joining a number of other European nations taking a stand against nuclear power.
“In the USA no new nuclear power plant has been built for 30 years. In any country with an even remotely open energy market nuclear power is shrinking.
“Ambitious projections about the future of uranium mining are either delusional or disingenuous. In 2010-11 the value of exports fell 19 per cent and the volume by 8 per cent. Uranium mining makes no environmental sense and it has become clear that it makes no economic sense. We don’t need this toxic industry.”
Senator Ludlam urged the Government and Australian companies to back an industry with a future – renewable energy.
“In 2010 world-wide cumulative installed capacity from wind turbines, biomass, waste-to-energy and solar power surpassed installed nuclear capacity for the first time in history. There is no going back now.”
Abuse of Australia’s scientists as Climate Change denial hots up
Climate debate hitting new lows – scientist, Herald Sun,, September 19, 2011 AUSTRALIA’S chief scientist says climate change debate continues to hit new lows as the government’s contentious carbon pricing scheme fuels the fire for political division. Professor Ian Chubb wants politicians to consider compelling evidence that human activity has adversely affected the climate through global warming.
He says while it’s important people have different views about climate science, there are concerns about the level of threats sent to those working in the field. “Every time I think it’s reached a low, we then go on and reach a new low,” Prof Chubb has told ABC Television’s Four Corners Program. “And I think that’s of very little benefits to us as we’re trying to grapple with what is a very serious problem that needs serious discussion.
“I would urge politicians to look at all the evidence and to wonder why it might be that something like 32 national academies of science all around the world are all saying that it’s very likely that human activity has adversely affected our climate through global warming.” Continue reading
Australia – the Groucho Marx of Climate Change action?
the economic case for action is equally compelling. The world is acting. …
Let’s get the facts on the table: right now, 34 countries and 27 cities, states, or provinces around the world have an emissions trading scheme operating or under development. Nine countries have a carbon tax, and two more are discussing it – plus India has a tax on coal. Eighty six countries have legislated or planned for renewable energy targets…….
It’s time to create a climate of opportunity, Sydney Morning Herald, John Brumby, September 16, 2011, Groucho Marx once said: ‘Why should I care about future generations? What have they ever done for me?’ I believe that unless we want our country to become the Groucho Marx of international climate action, we must act now to take our place in the emerging, global, clean energy economy.
That’s why I support the Gillard government’s plan to put a price on carbon.
I have long argued that the best way to respond to the threat of climate change is to create a climate of opportunity – that is, to build an economic environment in which Australian individuals and businesses are rewarded for applying their talents to creating the new technologies and solutions that a carbon constrained world will demand. That way, the jobs of the future will come to Australia. That way, our kids will have the opportunities to succeed in a global economy that is inexorably moving – even if in fits and starts – to a low emissions model. Continue reading
Court case over nuclear waste dump, as Australian govt rushes Waste Bill through Senate
The federal government is likely to pass a bill in the Senate which would could allow a nuclear waste dump to be built on Aboriginal land near Muckaty Station
Resources Minister Martin Ferguson told SBS that regardless of what happens in the Senate, he will respect the findings of the court as regards ownership.
Nuclear waste dump opposition heats up, By Bill Code -SBS World News Australia ,12 September 2011 A nuclear expert says the claims that a nuclear waste dump in the Northern Territory is needed to house low level radioactive waste from hospitals is ‘nonsense.’ Continue reading
Tony Abbott scares pensioners about carbon tax, though it will benefit them
Pensioners terrified by Abbott, claims Combet, The Age Misha Schubert, September 11, 2011 CLIMATE Change Minister Greg Combet has blasted Opposition Leader Tony Abbott’s devastatingly effective campaign against the carbon tax, saying ”his so-called people’s revolt is revolting” because it has terrified vulnerable old people……
On the eve of the week the climate laws are introduced in Federal Parliament, Mr Combet branded Mr Abbott’s crusade over living costs under a carbon tax ”disgusting”. ”In the last couple of days I have been in my electorate, which is an area where people are not well off, and met pensioners who have been terrified by Tony Abbott,” he said.
”Pensioners in my area are going to receive more than their expected costs – [scaring them] is disgusting and irresponsible, and that has crossed the line as far as I am concerned.’ http://www.theage.com.au/national/pensioners-terrified-by-abbott-claims-combet-20110910-1k39k.html
Walk With Us – new book exposes Australian Government’s Northern Territory Internaention
Intervention’s measures are inhumane, degrading, Green Left, September 10, 2011 Nicole Watson, a research fellow at the University of Technology Sydney’s Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning, gave the address below at the Sydney launch of Walk With Us: Aboriginal Elders Call Out to Australian People to Walk with them in their Quest for Justice at Gleebooks, Sydney, on September 11 “…..if you look at the measures, and the 500 pages of legislation that was subsequently rushed through the parliament, it has nothing to do with child protection.
At a community level, the intervention has enabled the Commonwealth to seize control of Aboriginal lands — not only the most valuable asset of many communities, but the lynchpin of identity and culture.
The imposition of government business managers has usurped community initiative and contributed to a sense of powerlessness. Research by credible bodies, most notably the Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association, has proven the harmful psychological impacts of these measures…..
Walk With Us provides an unflinching gaze into life under the intervention…..
Head of China’s energy policy admires Australia’s carbon plan
Beijing praises emissions plan, Sydney Morning Herald, Adam Morton, September 8, 2011, AUSTRALIA’S proposed emissions trading scheme has won praise from Beijing, where it will be the model for one of six Chinese pilot schemes to be introduced in 2013.
Jiang Kejun, head of the Chinese government’s energy and environmental policy agency, said pilot carbon trading schemes currently being researched would trial different designs based on schemes from Australia, Europe and California….
‘Some say what is happening in Australia is even better [scheme design] than in Europe, so in that sense Australia is leading.”
Dr Kejun spoke yesterday at a Victoria University climate change conference, having been brought to Australia by the government’s Climate Commission as the first of six international guests to report on steps overseas to reduce emissions….
Senator Christine Milne urges renewables industry to step into political debate
Renewables should get political: Greens, Sydney Morning Herald, Graham Readfearn, September 7, 2011 Greens Senator Christine Milne has urged Australia’s renewable energy industry to step into the political debate over climate change.
Speaking to the Ecogen conference in Brisbane yesterday, Senator Milne urged the sector to “take on the Coalition” while selling the benefits of renewable energy to the public….. “The renewable sector needs to get out there in the community. They need to step up and protect the Renewable Energy Target and get out there and say it’s essential and that we have to have it.
“They need to be out there promoting renewable energy as a solution to climate change and as a jobs creator and as a contributor to a more resilient and diverse economy.”
She said she believed the industry had been absent in the climate change debate because many stakeholders were smaller companies who relied on government funding to develop.“They’re concerned that if they do speak out, it will have adverse consequences for them. It’s time to get over it.”
She said the Coalition was trying to undermine government plans for a $10 billion clean energy finance corporation to invest in and give loans to renewable projects…..http://www.smh.com.au/environment/renewables-should-get-political-greens-20110906-1jvr5.html
Anti Uranium walkers report from Leonora, Western Australia
View the latest pictures from the Walk away from uranium MiningWestern Australia’s former Premier explains why the nuclear industry should just quietly die
Nuclear power can’t compete when it comes to both economics and the economics of environmental reform….It would be much better for all of us if the industry was allowed to die – hopefully with no disasters along the way. We don’t need it to tackle climate change and we can’t afford it.
Why I am against nuclear power, WA Today, Geoff Gallop, 30 Aug 11, About 65 nuclear plants will be under construction by the end of 2010, all including cost overruns and delays. Importantly though, none of these are being built as a result of market-based decision-making……Indeed the market hasn’t been all that keen on nuclear power – and no wonder with the high costs, technical complexities and local politics. It’s not exactly a stock-market friendly business – just ask the owners of the Tokyo Electric and Power Company!
The general public have never been all that keen on nuclear power. They have weighed up the risks and have almost always concluded that it is not for them – when asked that is….I think we can see some rational self-interest at work. Continue reading
Australia’s renewable energy reputation down the drain
Wind farms crackdown ‘looming’, SBS World News Australia 29 August 2011 | Gareth Boreham, Australia’s renewable energy industry is warning billions of investment dollars and hundreds of jobs will be lost after an unprecedented wind farm crackdown. Victoria has become the first state to place strict limits on how close to homes they can be built, no closer than two kilometres from homes and five kilometres from key town centres.
The wind power industry fears the Victorian decision could have wider implications for Australia’s international reputation as a world leader in renewable energy technology……http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1582856/Wind-farms-crackdown-looming
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 