Liberal moderates concerned at the Coalition’s lack of climate change policy are set to demand Scott Morrison revitalise the ailing direct action policy with a $1 billion injection into the Emissions Reduction Fund.
Warning that the climate change lesson from Saturday’s Wentworth …. (subscribers only) https://www.afr.com/news/liberal-moderates-to-demand-1-billion-for-climate-change-fund-20181021-h16xaq
October 23, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, politics |
Leave a comment
Wentworth byelection backlash reignites tensions inside the Morrison government over climate policy, Canberra Times, By David Crowe & David Wroe, 21 October 2018 A ferocious voter backlash has inflamed the Morrison government’s internal row on climate change as Liberal MPs call for stronger policies to assure voters that Australia can meet the Paris agreement to cut carbon emissions.
The government is reeling from a savage swing in the Wentworth byelection, sparking renewed argument over decisions including a sudden shift in foreign policy on Israel, and deepening fears of a wipeout at the federal election due by May.
As Parliament resumes on Monday, the Liberal Party was on track to lose Wentworth to independent candidate Kerryn Phelps, with an update on Sunday night giving her almost 51 per cent of the vote.
Dr Phelps had a lead of 1626 votes in the update posted by the Australian Electoral Commission at 6.45pm on Sunday. Even the best postal vote scenario for the Liberal Party over coming days would still see the independent win Wentworth.
The result represents an extraordinary 18 per cent swing against the federal government, one of the biggest in Australian history, but the Australian Electoral Commission is yet to count thousands of postal votes that could favour Liberal candidate Dave Sharma.
Government ministers and backbenchers told Fairfax Media they believed one lesson from the Wentworth result was to develop a stronger message on cutting emissions in order to win back voters concerned about climate change.
“I think we will, by the time of the next election, have to have a more credible answer on how we meet our targets,” one minister said.
“I don’t think it’s viable to remain silent on this between now and the next election.”
Liberal MP Trent Zimmerman said the Liberal Party’s own research showed climate change and the removal of Malcolm Turnbull as prime minister were the two biggest concerns for Wentworth voters……
The government believes the latest advice from the Energy Security Board is that generation from wind and solar will grow by 256 per cent over the next three years. ……..
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg brushed aside suggestions the Morrison government needed to overhaul its 
climate policies, saying they were “settled” and were enough to “meet and beat” Australia emissions reduction pledges.
“It’s clearly an important issue for the people of Wentworth, but our policies have been settled for some time,” he told the Sky News.
An exit poll of 985 Wentworth voters commissioned by the left-leaning Australia Institute on Saturday found that climate action and replacing coal with renewable energy was the top issue that decided how they voted.
Among people who had abandoned the Liberal Party since the last election in 2016, the top reason why was the toppling of Mr Turnbull at 40 percent of voters, but climate change came second at 31 percent. https://www.canberratimes.com.au/politics/federal/wentworth-byelection-backlash-reignites-tensions-inside-the-morrison-government-over-climate-policy-20181021-p50b2d.html
October 21, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, politics |
1 Comment
Government ditches $10m promotion blitz amid Great Barrier Reef furore, Canberra Times, By Nicole Hasham, 21 October 2018 The Morrison government has abandoned plans for a $10 million campaign promoting the Great Barrier Reef’s promising future, after a public backlash over its failure to address climate change and protect the natural wonder.An eminent reef scientist has also slammed as “not scientifically credible” claims by a charity gifted $444 million for reef conservation efforts that it will “climate-proof” the tourism icon.
Fairfax Media has learned the government has scrapped the $10 million reef communication campaign outlined in this year’s federal budget.
The campaign would have sought to give the public hope that the reef can be saved and outlined action being taken to protect it, after devastating back-to-back coral bleaching events brought on by climate change.
The government had been skittish about the spending measure, as reported last month when it emerged the Department of the Environment and Energy instructed officials to avoid revealing its true price tag.
In response to questions from Fairfax Media, the department confirmed the campaign “is not going ahead”. ……..
A major report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change this month warned that an average global temperature rise of 1.5 degrees would substantially and irrevocably damage the world’s coral reefs, and a 2 degree rise would virtually destroy them. The world is currently on track for a global temperature rise of 3 to 4 degrees by 2100.
The Great Barrier Reef Foundation is supported by corporations including those from the polluting fossil fuel industry. It does not lobby for emissions reduction, despite recognising that climate change is the biggest threat facing the reef…….https://www.canberratimes.com.au/politics/federal/government-ditches-10m-promotion-blitz-amid-great-barrier-reef-furore-20181020-p50av5.html
October 21, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, politics |
Leave a comment
|
 Wentworth becomes test bed for how federal election will treat climate change, Coalition of green groups has been working hard to ensure voters realise they have a chance to give Liberals a wake-up call, Guardian, Anne Davies@annefdavies19 Oct 2018
|
|
October 21, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, politics |
Leave a comment
Moderates blame climate policy for Wentworth by-election debacle THE AUSTRALIAN 21 Oct 18 GREG BROWN, Moderate Liberal MPs have urged Scott Morrison to take action on climate change and embrace the “broad church” of its voters after the mammoth swing in the Wentworth by-election.Trent Zimmerman, Jason Falinski and Tim Wilson — who represent blue-ribbon electorates that are affluent and socially progressive — say the government needs to do more to show it is serious about combating climate change and working to meet the Paris targets.
October 21, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, politics |
Leave a comment
Doubting the risks of climate change, opposing serious counter measures and believing in coal’s long-term future is an identity issue for many Coalition politicians.
As an identity issue, it is largely impervious to evidence, as we saw in government ministers’ hasty dismissal of the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report – before they had even read it, one suspects. Identity issues are also resistant to the normal processes of bargaining and compromise with which many political conflicts are resolved. The National Energy Guarantee was the last of the government’s energy policies to founder on the suspicion that a market mechanism might damage coal. Chief Scientist Alan Finkel’s Clean Energy Target met the same fate.
So now, some members of the party of private enterprise and the free market, which argued for and oversaw the privatisation of most of Australia’s power utilities, are seriously advocating that the government develop a coal-fired power station. Barnaby Joyce has been
at it again in recent weeks…….
To state the obvious, the stubborn commitment to coal is pulling the government’s economic policy towards the sort of state socialism it is supposed to abhor. No wonder it is having difficulty developing a coherent economic narrative.
Further, it is alienating the government, and the Liberal Party in particular, from its natural supporters in the business community. With the collapse of the NEG, the government has no energy policy to provide certainty to business and investors. The focus of the new minister for energy, Angus Taylor, has contracted to reducing power prices for consumers. Climate policy has been shifted back into the portfolio of the Minister for the Environment, separating energy from emissions and further demonstrating the identity denialism that distorts the government’s economic narrative. Faced with doubts about Australia’s capacity to meet its agreed to Paris targets,
the government blithely sayswe are “on track”.
But most big business outside the fossil fuel industries is not in denial about the real risks of climate change, nor the imperatives of international action. Since Turnbull walked away from the NEG in a vain attempt to appease his critics and save his leadership, the Australian Industry Group and the Business Council of Australia have both been discussing ways to “go it alone” on emissions reduction……..
because climate policy has become an identity issue for some members of the Coalition, and they fight on it tooth and nail, is has been removed from the normal processes of policy formation.
October 20, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, politics |
1 Comment
PM ‘totally open’ to nuclear power if economics stack up https://www.sbs.com.au/news/pm-totally-open-to-nuclear-power-if-economics-stack-up The prime minister says he will consider lifting the prohibition on nuclear power in Australia if research shows it can be done well. Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he’s open to the idea of nuclear power if research emerges showing it stacks up economically.
Nuclear power has been banned in Australia since 1998, but Mr Morrison says he would consider lifting the ban if research proved it could be done on a commercial basis and bring power prices down.
I’m totally open to that work,” he told Sky News on Tuesday.
“But what we need to do is make sure it can stack up and we can successfully move in that direction.”
Mr Morrison said the source of Australia’s energy doesn’t bother him and he isn’t interested in an ideological debate.
“What matters is that it’s reliable, it can be contracted, it can be priced at lower than what we’re getting currently, because that’s what brings people’s power prices down.”
October 18, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, politics |
Leave a comment
The Australian Greens have warned against the Morrison government
backing a coal-led energy policy over the Snowy Hydro 2.0 project. SBS, 15 Oct 18 Greens MP Adam Bandt has warned the Coalition’s views on climate change and renewable energy will “kill people”.A major report released last week, referencing more than 6000 scientific studies, stated drastic changes are needed in global society to prevent world temperatures from rising by two degrees Celsius.
The Coalition Government says it will not renew or replace the Renewable Energy Target when it lapses in 2020.
Mr Bandt’s claim comes on the same day as former Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce declared the expected $4.5 billion cost for the Snowy 2.0 scheme would be better off used on funding new coal-fired power stations.
“The Coalition’s energy policy will kill people – it’s as simple as that,” Mr Bandt told reporters on Monday.
“Australia is going to be one of the countries worst hit by climate change and the Morrison government seems to not care how many people will die because of its policies.
“If Barnaby Joyce is concerned about farmers then he’d want to switch from coal to renewables.”
Mr Joyce told The Australian he would prioritise coal-fired power stations, two months ahead of a decision on the Snowy 2.0 scheme……https://www.sbs.com.au/news/coalition-s-climate-change-stance-will-kill-people-say-greens
October 16, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, politics |
Leave a comment
Modest member: Go nuclear for a clean energy future The modern nuclear reactor is small, modular, self-contained and safer than any other energy generation, Financial Review, by Amanda Stoker 14 Oct 18 Amanda Stoker is a Liberal National Party senator for Queensland
Australia must develop a nuclear energy industry. It promises to provide clean and reliable energy from a resource we have in abundance.
The modern nuclear reactor is small, modular, self-contained and safer than any other energy generation method. It provides flexible generation capacity, as it can increase or reduce electricity output to reflect demand. [Ed . Just a pity that it doesn’t exist – among other drawbacks]
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has acknowledged that all electricity generation options with the capacity to reduce electricity prices need to be considered……
For too long we have allowed nuclear energy to remain off-limits in the discussion about the security of Australia’s energy supply. What we need is an informed and rational debate that isn’t driven by fear.
While the high capital cost of traditional nuclear reactors makes them unattractive compared to coal and natural gas as a source of dispatchable baseload power, the advent of safer and cheaper small modular reactors (SMRs), for example the NuScale facility commissioned in Idaho, offer a competitive and cost-effective entry point for Australia to cutting edge nuclear energy technology.
The projected levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) of NuScale’s SMR is comparable to other forms of dispatchable generation in the pipeline. [ Ed. Wha..aaa,..t?
The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) has said a nuclear energy industry built either on SMRs or Generation IV reactors is technically feasible in Australia, but we do not have the necessary expertise available…….
The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Act and the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act prohibit the approval, licensing, construction, or operation of a nuclear fuel fabrication plant, a nuclear power plant, an enrichment plant or a reprocessing facility.
These acts should be amended to enable a nuclear energy industry to develop in Australia……. https://www.afr.com/opinion/modest-member-go-nuclear-for-a-clean-energy-future-20181014-h16m17
October 16, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, politics |
Leave a comment
Barnaby backs coal unless Australians want nuclear power supply, Northern Daily Leader, Chris Bath 15 Oct 18
Barnaby Joyce has called the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) recommendation to phase out coal by 2050 as “wrong and ridiculous”, while once again suggesting Australians need to look at nuclear power………..
This week the Federal Government rubbished the IPCC report, instead backing coal fired power stations to drive down electricity prices, and Mr Joyce agrees.
“To say that I’m not allowed to get one product (coal) and say that you’re not allowed to use it anymore is wrong, and more than that it is ridiculous,” he said.
October 15, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, politics |
Leave a comment
Seize the mantle and stop this moratorium’: Cory Bernardi to lay out investment case for nuclear power
Earlier this week, Scott Morrison suggested there was no investment case for nuclear power in Australia.
But Australian Conservatives leader Cory Bernardi begs to differ and has confirmed he will lay out an investment case to pursue the power generation option next week.
“If Scott Morrison says he’s not afraid to use the nuclear word, I want to give him the economic case so that he can seize the mantle and stop this 20 year green moratorium on even contemplating nuclear power in this country,” Bernardi tells Luke Grant. “I will lay out an investment case that makes nuclear a compelling opportunity. It will detail not only the energy benefits of nuclear energy but the whole range of other spin-off benefits. It could relieve drought-affected areas, it could ensure greater crop production.”
“We can also detail a way, which is a little riskier in a political sense, that it could be built with no additional capital input from the government right now.”
Bernadi says the time for an elimination of the ban is now, with the blanket prohibition precluding Australia from capitalising on its uranium resource abundance and shutting us off from the economic advantages that would flow on.
“We’re crazy,” he says.
“There’s 30% of the world’s uranium resources in this country, something like 20% in South Australia alone. We could radically change Australia’s economic future. You can do it perfectly safely and to those who want to stop carbon dioxide emissions, you can cure that problem too.”
October 13, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, politics |
Leave a comment
Grattan on Friday: Malcolm Turnbull is gone but son Alex keeps the climate faith, The Conversation, Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra, October 11, 2018 In a Thursday video for the Wentworth byelection, Malcolm Turnbull’s son Alex has denounced “extremists on the hard right” who, he says, have taken over the Liberal Party.
The younger Turnbull called on voters in his dad’s old seat to register a protest about the party’s direction, and deliver a message on climate change. “If you want to pull the Liberal party back from the brink, there is one clear signal you can send,” he said, urging people not to vote Liberal.
Apart from the leadership coup Turnbull, a Singapore-based investment manager, highlighted energy policy to make his point about the hard right’s “crazy agenda”.
“As an investor in energy, I’ve seen that in particular there’s no way coal can compete anymore. Renewables have gotten too cheap, firming costs are reasonable, and really there’s no trade off any more between lowering your power bills and reducing emissions. And yet still some would like to prosecute a culture war over this issue”.
Kerry Schott, head of the Energy Security Board, is coming from a rather different place but at the Australian Financial Review’s energy summit this week she delivered an equally blunt message about the politics of energy, describing “the general state of affairs right now as anarchy”. ……..
Business is more tuned into, and willing to talk about, the emissions challenge and climate change than the government is. For the government, going there takes it down the alley of internal ideological conflict.
When the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s report came this week, the Coalition was unimpressed by its call for the international community to phase out coal by mid-century in order to contain the temperature rise. After all, the government is still under internal pressure to underpin investment in new coal-fired power, if investors can be found.
In contrast, Alex Turnbull said in his video the IPCC report “frankly was terrifying … and it’s seemingly insane to me that we could not be doing something about this and soon”. https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-malcolm-turnbull-is-gone-but-son-alex-keeps-the-climate-faith-104797
October 13, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, politics |
Leave a comment
Is Australia’s ruling Liberal-National coalition even more in danger from the extreme right-wing than we thought? This all-male crowd likes violence – fighting (The Lads Society), racism, anti-semitism, and of course – coal and nuclear power.
The ABC has uncovered a covert plot by Australia’s alt-right movement to join major political parties and influence their policy agendas from within.
Haircuts and hatred
Inside Australia’s alt-right movement. Who are its members and what does their manifesto reveal about their political ambitions?
Background Briefing has witnessed members of the NSW Young Nationals in Sydney attending a secret men’s-only fight club set up by some of the country’s most prominent alt-right nationalists.
The program has also gained access to a private Facebook group in which these same people discuss their manifesto, which includes plans to shake up mainstream politics.
The group is called The New Guard and its followers are self-described fascists
At least three NSW Young Nationals — including Clifford Jennings, who sits on the executive of the party’s youth wing — are, or recently have been, members.
On Facebook and elsewhere online, more NSW Young Nationals are sharing alt-right talking points, racist in-jokes containing coded references to Hitler, and theories of a global Jewish conspiracy.
In response to these revelations, one member of the party has been asked to resign, while two others have been sent show-cause notices.
The first sign of an alt-right push within the NSW Young Nationals came during a dramatic state conference in May. Continue reading →
October 13, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, politics |
1 Comment
Dave Sharma says Liberals ‘doing enough’ on climate after Hewson attack
The Wentworth candidate rejects former leader’s view that party’s policy on emissions is inadequate, Guardian, Anne Davies, @annefdavies 10 Oct 2018 The Liberal candidate for Wentworth, Dave Sharma, said his party is “doing enough” and has “a good record” on climate change, after a blistering attack from former leader John Hewson, who said the party deserved a “drubbing” over its inaction on the issue…….Hewson has accused the Liberals of putting their heads in the sand on the issue and kicking the issue down the road for future generations.
The former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull dropped plans for a national energy guarantee that would have imposed emissions reduction targets and then was dumped by his own party, which was deeply divided over his plan……
the economy has been growing and so too have overall emissions.
Australia is on a trajectory that will see it miss its Paris climate targets – a reduction of 26% to 28% based on 2005 levels – according to figures from the consultants, NDEVR Environmental, for the year up to the end of June 2018.
The NDVER figures showed Australia’s emissions were again the highest on record when unreliable data from the land use and forestry sectors was excluded. This was the third consecutive year for record-breaking emissions.
Despite this, Frydenberg claimed that the nation is on track to meet its Paris commitments – even without the Neg, which he had supported. He also lauded the Coalition’s record on investment in renewables…….
Asked about the IPCC report this week, which called for coal generation to be phased out by 2050 or the world would be facing a catastrophe, Frydenberg said it was their word, not ours….https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/oct/10/dave-sharma-says-liberals-doing-enough-on-climate-after-hewson-attack
October 11, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, politics |
Leave a comment
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/renewable-subsidies-phased-out-by-2030 Labor leader Bill Shorten says coal will be part of Australia’s energy mix for the foreseeable future, but wants renewable energy to be more accessible.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says a lack of policy is preventing Australia from becoming a renewable energy superpower, but admits coal will be part of the mix for the foreseeable future.
“What we need to do is create investment certainty, write out what the rules are so we can get more renewable energy,” he told reporters in Melbourne on Wednesday.
Renewable energy “is getting cheaper and I want to make it more accessible to small business and consumers.”
October 11, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, energy, politics |
Leave a comment
Antinuclear 