With help from floating data-collectors, a new study reveals the impact greenhouse gas emissions and ozone depletion are having on the Southern Ocean. Inside Climate News, Sabrina Shankman SEP 24, 2018 The Southern Ocean around Antarctica is warming at an alarming rate—twice that of the rest of the world’s oceans. Now, researchers have developed more powerful evidence pointing to the human causes.
Great Barrier Reef scientists told to focus on projects to make government look good
Emails tabled in Senate inquiry recommended ‘trade-offs’ to Great Barrier Reef Foundation, Guardian, Ben Smee @BenSmee 26 Sep 2018
Great Barrier Reef scientists were told they would need to make “trade-offs” to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, including focusing on projects that would look good for the government and encourage more corporate donations, emails tabled in the Senate reveal.
The documents, including cabinet briefing notes, contain significant new details about the workings of the foundation and the government decision to award it a $443m grant, including:
- The executives of mining, gas and chemicals companies – and international financial houses that actively back fossil-fuel projects – were among the guests at a six-star retreat hosted by the foundation less than a month after the grant was announced;
- The media companies Foxtel and Fairfax and the tech giant Google are among a tightly held list of donors to the foundation;
- The only CSIRO employee contacted about the grant before the announcement in April was in Patagonia, and did not get the email. Documents have previously revealed that the government’s peak science agency was cut out of the decision to award the grant;
- In August, as scrutiny of the grant intensified, public servants pushed to block a long-planned meeting between the then science minister, Michaelia Cash, and the head of the foundation, Anna Marsden, because of concern about the “optics”.
Emails sent by staff at the Australian Institute of Marine Science outline how government expectations, the ability to leverage private donations and public perceptions “may drive the [foundation] to prioritise shorter-term research initiatives in order to demonstrate progress and return on investment”.
“Where it becomes challenging is that … interventions with the largest future benefit also take the longest to develop,” the institute’s executive director of strategic policy, David Mead, wrote in an email to colleagues.
“Among other trade-offs, we will need to determine to what degree we focus on quick wins or whether we progress longer-term strategic interventions and accept that we will only partially progress them during the next five years (perhaps with little outward visibility of success/progress).”
The emails also reveal an initial state of uncertainty about how a $100m allocation for reef restoration and adaptation would be handled……. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/sep/26/great-barrier-reef-scientists-told-to-focus-on-projects-to-make-government-look-good?CMP=share_btn_tw.
Lobbyists for nuclear-related firms hold key positions in National Party
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Nuclear industry-related firms – Heathgate Resources, General Dynamics, Delta Electricity, St Baker Energy Innovation Fund – some of the firms represented by the two lobbying firms mentioned in the article below. Top Nationals pair hold senior roles at big-business lobby firms Katrina Hodgkinson and Larry Anthony – as well key Labor and Liberal figures – are part of an industry with little oversight
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Weapons-making corporation, Raytheon hoping for nuclear industry in SouthAustralia?
John Matheson Fight To Stop Nuclear Waste Dump In Flinders Ranges SA, 26 Sept 18, Weapons-making corporation, Raytheon purchased and renovated a two story office building on Greenhill Road, Parkside a couple of years ago. it is a substantial building and the lights are on, but nobody seems to be home. I wonder whether the Raytheon “headquarters” in Adelaide is just a shopfront for the lobbying and tendering of the $squillions up for grabs if – sorry when – the nuclear dump is coerced by guvmint. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raytheon https://www.facebook.com/groups/344452605899556
Greenhouse gas emissions and ozone depletion causing Antarctic Ocean to heat up
What’s Causing Antarctica’s Ocean to Heat Up? New Study Points to 2 Human Sources
Adani coalmine: most Queenslanders want water licence revoked, poll finds
‘A poll conducted for Lock the Gate found a majority of Queensland voters want water rights taken off Adani and given to farmers. Guardian, Ben Smee www.theguardian.com/profile/ben-smee @BenSmee , 23 Sep 2018 A majority of Queensland’s voters want the government to cancel the Adani mining company’s 60-year unlimited water extraction licence
amid growing concern about the severity of the drought.
‘Polling conducted by ReachTel for the environmental group Lock the Gate shows concern about water extraction by Adani, and the impact on agriculture, is strong among conservative voters.
‘Almost 70% of all voters agreed the licence,
to extract groundwater for the Carmichael coalmine,
should be revoked to safeguard water for farmers. …
‘The national coordinator of the Lock the Gate Alliance, Carmel Flint, said the results showed “incredible support across the political spectrum
to put water above mining and look after Queensland farmers”.
The national coordinator of the Lock the Gate Alliance, Carmel Flint, said
the results showed “incredible support across the political spectrum
to put water above mining and look after Queensland farmers”.
‘“I think this really does reveal that as this drought really bites,
people don’t accept that we can hand over vast quantities of water to Adani,” she said. … ‘
Read much much more of BenSmee’s comprehensive,groundbreaking, interesting article:
www.theguardian.com/business/2018/sep/23/adani-coalmine-most-queenslanders-want-water-licence-revoked-poll-finds
MAKE A SUBMISSION BY 24 SEPTEMBER : SENATE INQUIRY INTO RADIOACTIVE WASTE
K-A Garlick , Nuclear Free WA, 21 Sept 18
To have your voice heard about Flinders Ranges nuclear waste dump plan, make a submission to Federal Minister for Resources Senator Matt Canavan via email at radioactivewaste@industry.gov.au by 24 September.
On 6 February 2018, the Senate referred an inquiry into the selection process for a national radioactive waste management facility in South Australia to the Senate Economics References Committee for inquiry and report by 14 August 2018. Read our submission here. Read all submissions on the government website here. The report acknowledged and validated many of the concerns about the process but unfortunately did not call for an end to the process and for a better way to manage the process of selecting a site for Australia’s most hazardous waste. You can read the Senate report here. Read the Conservation SA media release here.
Points to mention for WA are;
- CCWA calls for an independent inquiry to explore the full range of options to deal with radioactive waste. This should include consideration of the option of keeping waste at ANSTO’s Lucas Heights site, keeping in mind that much of the waste is already securely stored at Lucas Heights (over 90% measured by radioactivity).
- Leonora should not be Plan B, as stated by Minister Canavan in The Australian June 18, 2018. https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/race-to-lock-in-nuclear-dump-before-federal-election/news-story/b2ea0780ec1e6971cbce51abddb8ee6e
Plutonium: there’s a plan to send it to Australia
REAL PLUTONIUM, Paul Richards shared a link. Nuclear Fuel Cycle Watch South Australia, 21 Sept 18
Something to think about since plutonium will make a percentage of the nuclear waste and material being stored that is to proposed is sent to Australia from the rest of the world.
A global nuclear brotherhood driving weapons proliferation, that still haven’t anywhere to store;
* unspent & spent nuclear fuel,
* excess radionuclides,
* redundant weapons arming material
* contaminated material and their
* respective short &
* long-term containment systems as canisters, or
* short-term storage, 200-litre drums.
Containers at worst need repacking in
* five years in case of the 200-litre drums, with best practice, every
* hundred years, and that is
* unless sealed five kilometres below
the surface or more, this repacking of nuclear waste containers is ad infinitum ∞ https://www.facebook.com/groups/1021186047913052/?multi_permalinks=2123030991061880%2C2123017674396545%2C2122319811132998¬if_id=1537435582423128¬if_t=group_activity
Feasability Study found Radioactive Waste Dump UNSUITABLE for Flinders Ranges and Kimba regions
Kim Mavromatis-Fight To Stop Nuclear Waste Dump In Flinders Ranges SA-19 Sept 18
. Using several criteria, the feasability study by URS Australia for the EPA (SA) and SA govnt, found the Flinders Ranges and Kimba regions (current proposed sites) UNSUITABLE for a low level radioactive nuclear waste dump. See attached map and links to feasability study.
https://www.epa.sa.gov.au/fi…/4771324_radioactive_stage1.pdf
https://www.epa.sa.gov.au/fi…/4771325_radioactive_stage2.pdf
https://www.epa.sa.gov.au/fi…/4771324_radioactive_stage1.pdf
https://www.epa.sa.gov.au/fi…/4771325_radioactive_stage2.pdf
Tim Bickmore Susan Craig Map [Stage 2 – 3.2.11 figure 3.6] of all excluded areas. Likewise the Stage 2 document @ 3.3 refers to a 1994 C’wealth study which also determined that Wallerberdina & Kimba are unsuitable https://www.facebook.com/groups/344452605899556/
Brave New World – I mean Bright New World pushing for a South Australian nuclear Morgue
This is an extract of an email being sent out to encourage YES submissions for the waste dump from Bright New World. It is misleading, as the email states the THE MAJORITY OF PEOPLE in KAWKER AND KIMBA support the dump. The email makes the process simple by writing the submission and asking the recipient of the email to fill in their name only. Here’s the email in total. Please send an email to Bright New World if you believe that the majority of people do not want the dump and ask for a recall of the email as it is not factual.
Call for Submissions!
The Department of Industry, Innovation and Science is calling for submissions on the National Radioactive Waste Management Facility. The two volunteered sites, Kimba and Hawker, are progressing through the second consultation stage of this process. Submissions along with community feedback and voting will inform the Minister of their decision to progress to the next stage.
Submissions are due 24th September 2018
Bright New World has provided an easy to use letter below to email the Department supporting the process to the next stage. Continue reading
Radon gas leaked from Woomera’s radioactive waste drums
Tim Bickmore No Nuclear Waste Dump Anywhere in South Australia, 21 Sept 18 Just a reminder that in 2016 ARPANSA found that the 10,000 CSIRO drums of radioactive waste at Woomera [material flagged by DIIS as +/- 40% by volume of the national dump inventory] held Thorium – & that Radium had leaked out through on-going deterioration of containment.
Both Thorium & Radium produce the toxic invisible odourless radioactive gas Radon – however ARPANSA consistently refuses to confirm or deny whether Radon gas will flow out of their proposed facility.
2016 ARPANSA Inspection Report link here:
https://www.arpansa.gov.au/…/regulatory/…/2016/R16-05292.rtf https://www.facebook.com/groups/1314655315214929/?multi_permalinks=2563961080284340%2C2563869900293458¬if_id=1537398758031391¬if_t=group_activity
‘Welcome’ to Steve Ciobo, the new Australian Minister for the Arms Trade
‘, http://www.anti-bases.org/campaigns/reduce-military-spending/welcome-steve-ciobo-to-the-new-australian-minister-for-the-arms-trade/, September 18, 2018,
Steve Ciobo is the new Defence Industry Minister taking over from Christopher Pyne. He is now the Australian Minister who is responsible for our arms trade with other countries. He is responsible for the transfer of Australian arms and equipment to the biggest trouble spot in the World, the Middle East. The Australian Government maintains that they will not trade arms with human rights abuser or war fighting countries yet they are trading arms and materiel with Israel and Saudi Arabia. Both Israel and Saudi Arabia are human rights abusers and the Australian Government turns a blind eye to their misdeeds. It is up the citizens of Australia to reject this and send a reminder to our new minister!
Sample letters to Steve Ciobo
Labor holds meeting with industry, on emissions reduction, as COAL-ition holds private dinner with coal-nuclear lobbyist Trevor St Baker
Pro-coal Coalition MPs schedule private dinner to discuss ‘Australia’s energy future’ https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/sep/20/pro-coal-coalition-mps-schedule-dinner-to-discuss-australias-energy-future. Monash Forum sets up dinner with Trevor St Baker Trevor St Baker who is director of SMR Nuclear Technology company. as business tells Labor to stick with national energy guarantee, Guardian, Katharine Murphy Political editor@murpharoo 20 Sep 2018 The pro-coal Monash Forum is attempting to convene a private dinner when federal parliament resumes in mid-October with Trevor St Baker, part-owner of the Vales Point coal generator and founder of the business electricity retailer ERM Power.
Australia’s Minister For The Coal Lobby, Angus Taylor’s false statement about carbon emissions
Claim we’re on track to meet emissions targets is false, New Daily, James Fernyhough,
Here is what he wrote in the Australian Financial Review on Tuesday:
“[E]missions reductions are the least of our problems, with every prospect we will reach the 26 per cent reduction below 2005 levels ahead of schedule and without interventions.”
This, he implied, justified the Morrison government’s decision to do nothing to reduce carbon emissions, and focus instead exclusively on price and reliability.
But The New Daily looked into Mr Taylor’s claim, and the evidence suggests it is in one sense downright false, and in another seriously misleading.
Let’s address the seriously misleading aspect first.
Under the Paris Agreement, Australia has committed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 26 to 28 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030.
According to Mr Taylor’s department, Australia is on track to woefully miss the 2030 target.
On page 11 of this document from December last year, the Department of Environment and Energy projects that if no new emissions-reduction policies are implemented (as none have been), our greenhouse emissions will be just 5 per cent below 2005 levels – not 26 per cent, as Mr Taylor seems to claim.
Mr Taylor’s figures appear at a glance to be off by a massive 21 percentage points……….
The Morrison government has scrapped the NEG – the policy that triggered Malcolm Turnbull’s downfall – and has made it clear it will not replace it with anything.
So we are once more back to where we were – on track to miss all our emissions reductions targets.
Minister Taylor’s office did not respond when presented with the evidence that his statement was false. https://thenewdaily.com.au/money/finance-news/2018/09/18/energy-ministers-claim-carbon-emissions-false/
Australia won’t get the nuclear bomb – these are the reasons why not
The real problem is developing a credible, effective nuclear capability is about much more than possessing the bomb itself. Equally critical would be working out how to control and protect the weapon prior to use, and finally, deliver it. Doing this is, perhaps surprisingly, just as difficult – if not more so – than developing the device itself.
let’s look at what it would cost.This is where the extent of the fantasy becomes apparent.
there’s one other final, conclusive, and critical reason that not even our allies will assist an attempt to go nuclear. The truth is now they just don’t view Australia as a stable, mature democracy any more.
The one, conclusive reason why Australia won’t go nuclear, SMH, By Nicholas Stuart, 18 September 2018 There’s a massive, although subterranean, debate going on in the strategic community at the moment – one with huge ramifications. It’s whether Australia should possess its own nuclear deterrent. Continue reading
Oh dear! Coal-loving Angus Taylor’s electorate wants action on climate change
Energy minister’s electorate backs higher emissions reduction target, poll shows
ReachTel poll of Angus Taylor’s voters finds 42.3% want Australia to cut emissions more deeply, Guardian, Katharine Murphy Political editor@murpharoo19 Sep 2018 More voters in the electorate of the new energy minister, Angus Taylor, support an emissions reduction target for electricity and a higher national target than the Paris commitment than oppose those positions.
1 This month
PETITION – To: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Australian Labor Government
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
19 May – Webinar- Webinar: No Nuclear Weapons in Australia
Start: 2026-05-19 18:00:00 UTC Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney (GMT+10:00)
End: 2026-05-19 19:30:00 UTC Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney (GMT+10:00)
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 