Australian mining companies’ shameful record in Africa
Australia sells itself as a nation that can teach the world about responsible mining – Afghanistan is one willing student – but the record suggests our corporations have a callous disregard for the rights of civilians.
Why is it left to US NGOs to expose Australian mining’s wrongdoing in Africa? Antony Loewenstein, Guardian , 27 july 15
There are hundreds of Australian mining companies working in Africa, but just one full-time Australian journalist. What does that mean for accountability? Australian miners are making a killing overseas. With little regulation or oversight, billions of dollars are being made in some of the most remote places on Earth.
The necessity of partnering with autocratic regimes has proved no impediment to investment. Human rights have been breached. Victims are largely invisible.
None of this should be surprising. If Australian companies operating internationally are mentioned in the media, it appears in the business pages and discusses the strengths of a CEO or share price. Rio Tinto, for example, receives largely uncritical coverage despite in the 1980s the corporation facing serious allegations of human rights abuses around the world, including in Papua New Guinea.
Two American non-profit media organisations, the Centre for Public Integrity and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, recently bucked the trend and released a stunning report, Fatal Extraction, on Australian mining companies working in Africa (in which no allegations were made against Rio Tinto). How revealing that this research was led from America and not Australia itself.
The findings of the report, produced in collaboration with African journalists on the ground, were shocking.
From the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Malawi, grim details of death, maiming and police and army brutality were revealed. Continue reading
Increasing anxiety over secret Trans Pacific Partnership
Secrecy Around TPP Fuels Suspicions, Worries, http://www.industryweek.com/trade/secrecy-around-tpp-fuels-suspicions-worries, 27 July 15, After chapters of the Trans-Pacific Partnership are leaked to Wikileaks, critics and backers of the controversial proposal are out in full force. With a Maui meeting looming, how will it affect the country and its industry? WASHINGTON, D.C. — Higher costs for needed generic drugs. Longer copyright protections than the global standard. Foreign investors empowered to overrule governments. A more tightly-regulated Internet.
Those are some of the potential pitfalls from any deal that could emerge from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the 12-country free-trade and investment pact shrouded in secrecy as negotiations head into the final stage in Hawaii next week.
A handful of draft chapters of the TPP, leaked via Wikileaks, have highlighted the proposed treaty’s heavy emphasis on expanding protections for corporate rights and assets like intellectual property — patents, copyrights and databases — that are far more valuable to advanced economy corporations than traditional cargo trade. Continue reading
Climate change brings bushfires – a terrible risk to nuclear facilities
If the radiation leak lasts more than a few hours, there is no viable safe plan. If the radiation plume passes, the ground will probably still be contaminated
Wildfires also threaten Nuclear Waste and Nuclear Waste Shipments
Wildfires and Nuclear Don’t Mix: Lessons from San Onofre and Chernobyl to Australia https://wordpress.com/read/post/feed/4410547/762849951 [good 
photos] miningawareness 27 July 15 As the deadline looms (3 Aug.) for comments regarding the risks of the nuclear fuel chain for South Australia – whether uranium mining, which is already occurring, or any proposed additions (uranium enrichment, nuclear energy, nuclear waste), foremost in everyone’s minds should be the 
risk of Bushfires (Wildfires), as well as endangerment to the Great Artesian Basin (GAB) aquifer, upon which so much of Australia is dependent for water, and which is being depleted, and most assuredly contaminated, by uranium and other mining:https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2015/07/25/nuclearcommissionsaust-have-your-say-for-the-future-of-south-australia-submissions-close-soon-july-theme/ (Australia’s uranium mining “generates less than 0.2 per cent of national export revenue and accounts for less than 0.02 per cent of jobs in Australia.”http://www.conservationsa.org.au/images/Nuclear_Royal_Commission_issues.pdfMeanwhile it is laying waste to the land and provided nuclear fuel for Fukushima)
“The Australian climate is generally hot, dry and prone to drought. At any time of the year, some parts of Australia are prone to bushfires with the widely varied fire seasons reflected in the continent’s different weather patterns. For most of southern Australia, the danger period is summer and autumn.” http://www.ga.gov.au/scientific-topics/hazards/bushfire/basics/where
2015 Wildfires Near Chernobyl http://www.mns.gov.ua/news/40286.html
In April of this year, and again from the end of June into mid July, hundreds of firefighters in the Ukraine bravely battled fires in the area of the Chernobyl nuclear power station. Smoldering peat fires were the hardest to put out.
http://www.mns.gov.ua/news/40286.html
While this represents a serious danger to Europe, it received shockingly little media coverage. Continue reading
Australian Labor Party delegates vote for 50 per cent renewable energy plan
Labor supports higher renewables target Delegates at the ALP national conference have passed a motion to aspire to a 50 per cent renewable energy target by 2030. SBS News 25 JUL 2015 AUSTRALIA SHOULD BE ASPIRING TO A TARGET OF 50 PER CENT RENEWABLE ENERGY BY 2030, LABOR SAYS.
Climate action groups rallied in support as a motion to increase the target was passed by delegates at the ALP national conference in Melbourne on Saturday.
“Labor will take a 50 per cent goal for renewable energy by 2030 to the election … because we know renewable energy will be a central part, not just of Australia’s energy system, but of our industrial and jobs base as well,” opposition climate change spokesman Mark Butler said……… Continue reading
Al Gore’s visit and Victoria’s Climate Charter proposal
Al Gore is visiting Australia to promote action on climate change. Still, we have to watch out that he is not on the “nuclear for climate” bandwagon.
A good sign is that Gore has recently been criticised by the pro nuclear front group Breakthrough Institute for being “sceptical” about nuclear power’s future. http://thebreakthrough.org/index.php/programs/energy-and-climate/al-gores-nuclear-hypocrisy
On Monday, Environmental Justice Australia will release a proposal for a Victorian Climate Charter, which it says is modelled on the state’s existing Human Rights Charter.
Al Gore flies into Australia to push momentum towards Paris climate summit July 27, 2015 Tom Arup Environment editor, The Age Former United States vice-president Al Gore has flown into Australia for a whistlestop tour that includes meetings with state government ministers and senior business figures as part of efforts to build global momentum towards the Paris climate change summit later this year.
Mr Gore arrived in Melbourne on Sunday afternoon, heading to a speaking engagement and then dinner with Victorian ministers and senior executives from major companies, including BHP, National Australia Bank and Qantas, to discuss climate change and the importance of the Paris meeting, at which it is hoped a new international agreement to curb global warming will be signed……..
Ministers from Labor-led Victoria, Queensland and South Australia will attend Monday’s meeting with Mr Gore. Conservative-led NSW will send a senior public servant, as will Labor-led ACT. Tasmania, Northern Territory and Western Australia will not be represented. Continue reading
Climate change harming wine industry (nuclear power would, too)
I think that it is criminal of Australia’s government to deny action on climate change. And for a “pro business” government, what can they be thinking? Abbott’s “go slow” policy on climate action is harming so many businesses, and so many jobs. Now it’s the wine industry! Sacré bleu !
When Abbott finally decides that climate change matters, (i.e when he openly touts nuclear power), let’s not forget that nuclear power endangers the wine industry, too!
Climate change hitting where it hurts: your wine, The Age, 27 July Michael Pascoe BusinessDay contributing editor Spend a day at a wine grape growers’ summit and, among many other things, you’re left with no doubt about the reality of climate change.
Spend another day with a savvy grape grower touring the Barossa and you’re left with no doubt about the cost of it and the uncertainty about where it’s heading.
That’s not news for those who follow the wine industry closely at the production level, but for those of us who concentrate on consumption, the matter-of-factness of the change is rather startling.
Grapes ripening a month earlier, the compression of what were the usual different ripening times of different varieties, the search for varieties capable of handling hotter weather, the hunt for new terroir as climate bands move, the threat to traditional varieties in regions whose reputations depend on them.
Sweden, an important customer for Australian wine makers, now has a fledgling wine industry as a result of longer, warmer summers.
But you don’t have to go to the other end of the earth to see the story. Turns out climate change is a force in developing the Tasmanian industry as warmer weather leads mainland producers to invest in the island’s cooler climate. There’s no end of science on the issue, if that counts any more……….
And this is climate change, not just global warming. The heat is there, but the Scholz fields copped a frost that they hadn’t seen before, wiping out the crop. OK, it was a 1-in-100-year event – except that it happened again the next year. Now giant $55,000 electric fans increasingly dot vineyards, automatically triggered into action by a thermometer to suck in higher, warmer air and blow it across the vines to fight the killing drop of cold air. http://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/climate-change-hitting-where-it-hurts-your-wine-20150726-gikmuc.html#ixzz3h334o3XH
Federal Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese opposes Australian further involvement in nuclear fuel chain
Premier Jay Weatherill at loggerheads with senior Labor members over nuclear industry, GST, Perth Now July 24, 2015 PETER JEAN CHRIS RUSSELL The Advertiser “…….Federal Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese yesterday declared his opposition to any further Australian involvement in the nuclear fuel cycle and to the importation of nuclear waste, while Labor leader Bill Shorten reiterated his hostility to raising the GST.
Mr Albanese – who unsuccessfully stood for the Labor leadership after the last federal election – yesterday said it was too dangerous for Australia to become more involved in the nuclear fuel cycle.
“My position on the nuclear fuel cycle is clear,’’ Mr Albanese told an anti-nuclear weapons event held on the sidelines of the ALP conference.“Until the issues of nuclear waste and nuclear proliferation are satisfactorily solved, I oppose any further Australian involvement in the nuclear fuel cycle.“Nuclear waste created today, remains an issue for generations to come.’’
Mr Albanese’s opposition to nuclear energy is heavily influenced by his close friendship with former Labor MP Tom Uren, who died earlier this year. As a prisoner of the Japanese in 1945, Mr Uren saw the mushroom cloud from the atomic bombing of Nagasaki……..
Labor’s platform commits the party in government to prohibiting “the establishment of nuclear power plants and all other stages of the nuclear fuel cycle in Australia.’’
An anti-nuclear section of the Federal Labor policy platform will be left in place at Labor’s national conference in Melbourne this weekend……..
Rear Admiral Kevin Scarce, the head of South Australia’s Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission, said yesterday if he was to recommend an expansion of the industry, national support would be crucial.“There would be no opportunity - in my view – without bipartisan support both at the federal and state level to make the investment that would be necessary,” he said………http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/national/premier-jay-weatherill-at-loggerheads-with-senior-labor-members-over-nuclear-industry-gst/story-fnii5yv8-1227456054891
50% renewable energy goal will effectively bring Australia up with world leaders
50% renewable energy would put Australia in line with leading nations, The Conversation, John Mathews Professor of Strategic Management, Macquarie Graduate School of Management at Macquarie University, 25 July 15, Opposition leader Bill Shorten told the Labor Party conference this morning that the party’s policy should be for 50% of electricity to come from renewables by 2030.
This would bring Australia abreast with its international competitors such as California, with its recently announced target of 50% of electricity from renewables by 2030, and Germany, where the Energiewende(“energy transformation”) will see the country commit to 40-45% non-nuclear green power by 2020, and 55-60% by 2035.
Shorten’s move is a major break with previous ALP policy, and promises to be so effective in building a new power sector to eclipse the present fossil-fuelled sector that it already has the conservative side of politics foaming at the mouth. Continue reading
Northern Territory development : Aboriginal owners asked to agree to extinguish native title
Northern Land Council calls for major rethink of northern development amid concerns about Ord expansion talks PM By Sara Everingham ABC New, 25 July 15, The head of the Northern Land Council (NLC) has said a major rethink of northern development is needed and he fears one of the Northern Territory Government’s key strategies for boosting agriculture will lead to little but heartache for Indigenous people.
Chief executive officer Joe Morrison said traditional owners were being asked to agree to extinguish native title to allow for the expansion of the Ord Irrigation Scheme from the East Kimberley into the Northern Territory but he said he was worried there would be few lasting benefits in return.
Labor leader Bill Shorten foresees a climate change election
Bring on a climate change election, says Bill Shorten, SMH, July 24, 2015 Michael Gordon Political editor, The Age
Bill Shorten has challenged Tony Abbott to fight the next election on the issue of climate change, declaring: “I’ve got a three-word slogan for him: Bring it on.”
Describing climate change as “an economic and environmental cancer”, the Labor leader has vowed to build an emissions trading scheme and not be intimidated by “ridiculous scare campaigns”.
In a speech to be delivered at the party’s national conference in Melbourne, Mr Shorten says only Labor can save Australia’s renewable energy industry. While Tony Abbott has been a scathing critics of wind farms, Mr Shorten will tell the conference: “I want more Aussie farmers earning more money by putting wind turbines on their land.” Continue reading
Bjorn Lomborg’s Climate Consensus Centre for Flinders University?
The Abbott government has held talks with Flinders University about hosting a major policy centre in Adelaide based on the methodology of controversial Danish academic Bjorn Lomborg.
Education Minister Christopher Pyne has been searching for an institution willing to host the so-called Australia Consensus Centre, with $4 million in federal funds, since the University of Western Australia pulled out of its contract in May………
Dr Lomborg has attracted controversy for suggesting that the dangers of climate change have been overstated and that the world faces more pressing challenges, such as poverty.
A spokesman for Mr Pyne confirmed last night that talks with Flinders were at an early stage.
He said that the Adelaide-based university had recently approached the government about the establishment of the Copenhagen Consensus methodology in Australia.
A Flinders spokeswoman confirmed the approach and said the university was yet to make a decision……..
Flinders is led by vice-chancellor Colin Stirling, who took up the position in January. Professor Stirling was formerly the senior deputy vice-chancellor at Curtin University in Perth and a research fellow at the University of California, Berkeley.
The university’s chancellor — or chairman of the board — is leading Adelaide businessman Stephen Gerlach, a former chairman of oil company Santos……..
The federal opposition has questioned the political motivation of the $4 million government grant to set up the centre. It questioned how the centre was given the grant at a time when other universities were facing significant funding cuts.
In May, Professor Johnson said that many UWA academics had complained about Dr Lomborg’s integrity in the area of climate change research and were concerned that these alleged shortcomings might extend into other policy fields to be examined. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/flinders-university-in-talks-on-lomborg-plan-for-consensus-centre/story-e6frgcjx-1227454548253
Tony Abbott’s sly way of stopping action on climate change
Tony Abbott and his mates’ new path of climate change obstruction, Independent Australia, Patrick Keane 22 July 2015 Tony Abbott and opponents of action on climate change have determined a new path of obstruction, writes Patrick Keane: instead of doubting the science they will thwart the solution.
2015 is a momentous year in the story of climate change; never has the world been hotter and never has the Government of Australia done more to thwart action on Climate Change.
The Abbott Government has engaged in an unprecedented attack on renewable energy. …….
The answer is because the fossil fuel industry has married themselves to political interests and only death will them part. The Abbott Government, amongst others, provides a clear example of who – and what – stands in the road of action on climate change with their attacks on renewable energy……..https://independentaustralia.net/environment/environment-display/tony-abbott-new-path-of-climate-change-obstruction,7969
Labor pro nuclear heavies will keep pushing to overturn Labor’s anti nuclear policy
Gary Gray, the ALP’s shadow resources minister, is very clear on the importance of the Royal 
Commission as very much connected to Federal nuclear policy — even though the Commission pretends that it is only about the State of South Australia.
Gray and the other nuclear enthusiasts will continue to push for pro-nuclear changes to policy.
Labor veers towards the nuclear option https://independentaustralia.net/environment/environment-display/labor-veers-towards-the-nuclear-option,7965 21 July 15 The SA Nuclear Royal Commission, the ALP’s postponement of its National Conference nuclear debate and the machinations of the Nuclear For Climate Declaration could herald Australia’s deeper involvement in the nuclear industry, writes Noel Wauchope.
1. July 24: Closing date for Stage One submissions to SA Royal Commission on the Nuclear Fuel Cycle… … on the subject of ‘Storage and Disposal of Nuclear Wastes’ (for South Australia) We can be confident that the global nuclear lobby will have put in wonderful submissions proposing South Australia to lead the world in inviting in nuclear wastes and setting up the (as yet non-existent) “Generation IV” nuclear reactors.
2. July 24: ALP’s National Conference begins in Melbourne There was a plan to hold a vigourous debate on reversing the party’s anti-nuclear policy. Australia is contractually bound to take back the very small amounts of wastes that originated from the Lucas Heights research nuclear reactor. That is being used as a “foot in the door” for expanding our uranium industry and taking back more radioactive wastes, plus getting the promised (geewhiz!) Gen IV reactors.
In a last ditch move to avoid a possible uproar about this, Labor’s pro-nuclear push has pulled back from this plan. For the moment only, one suspects.
3. Signing of the Nuclear For Climate Declaration This was done by Australia’s Rob Parker, President of the Australian Nuclear Association, in Paris. Continue reading
Do not let the Nuclear Industry ruin beautiful South Australia’s Tourist Industry
Wilderness and nature photographer Steve Parish rates South Australian landscape best in country 891 ABC Adelaide By Brett Williamson 22 July 15 Celebrating more than four decades as a freelance nature photographer, Steve Parish rates South Australia as the best place he has ever shot.
Mr Parish, who grew up in the eastern Adelaide suburbs of Norwood and Burnside, said he found his love of nature when exploring the local coastlines…….
After leaving the Navy at 29, Mr Parish joined the Queensland National Parks and Wildlife Services as a wildlife photographer for five years before working freelance across the country.
“My favourite landscape is northern-central South Australia, [Kati Thanda] Lake Eyre up to Innamincka, that beautiful channel country, the Gibber Desert,” Mr Parish said.
“The most glorious light and aerial photography I have done in my whole life was around [Kati Thanda] Lake Eyre in 2010, the second time the lake filled.”
Mr Parish said South Australians were spoilt by the beautiful, natural light experienced across the state during winter as weather systems rolled across the state……..
“Instead of bland, empty skies that we tend to get more in the north in the different times of the year, you get that wonderful shafting, golden light,” he said.
“You have the wonderful granite coasts, Kangaroo Island, thethe Flinders Ranges– you get that wonderful light, and photography is very much connected to your emotions, feelings and the light that paints the scene.”……http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-21/photographer-steve-parish-rates-south-australia-landscape-best/663423
Esperance to be sacrificed for the profits of the uranium industry?
why should the people of Esperance have any faith they will be protected this time around by those with responsibility to regulate mining companies and protect the community, when they failed so badly last time?
During the Esperance lead crises, Government agencies continually downplayed the seriousness of the problem and denied any serious risk to human health.
Martin Bruckner’s remarkable book Under Corporate Skies tells the shocking story of another Western 
Australian “Sacrifice Zone”
The inability of WA Government agencies to effectively regulate and monitor the operations and performance of multinational corporations whose rationale is profit maximization was confirmed in a recent WA Auditor General’s Report.
Esperance WA: Sacrifice zone for the profits of the uranium industry?, The Stringer, by Colin Penter July 20th, 2015 A mining industry media outlet hasreported that the uranium industry in WA is keen to establish Esperance on WA’s southern coast, as a port export hub for radioactive uranium material mined in Western Australia. Continue reading
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