Victorian Labor dials up its renewable energy target to 50 per cent by 2030
By Benjamin Preiss, Adam Carey & Noel Towell, Canberra Times, 8 November
2018 Half of Victoria’s energy could come from renewable sources such as wind, solar and hydro power within 12 years, if the Andrews government is re-elected.
The Age can reveal that Labor will promise to raise Victoria’s renewable energy target from 40 per cent to 50 per cent by 2030 if it wins this month’s election.
The move would enhance Labor’s green credentials and cement the state’s transition away from coal as its primary power source.
Victoria has already legislated renewable energy targets of 25 per cent by 2020 and 40 per cent by 2025, although the Coalition has promised to scrap the targets if it wins the November 24 election. ………https://www.canberratimes.com.au/politics/victoria/labor-dials-up-its-renewable-energy-target-to-50-per-cent-by-2030-20181107-p50emw.html
Australia’s Liberal Coalition government is frightened that nuclear waste dump would become an election issue
Nuclear waste site to remain a mystery at federal election https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/nuclear-waste-site-to-remain-a-mystery-at-federal-election/news-story/af6a30c2fcd294fcbbaef37676faf1a5 THE AUSTRALIAN LUKE GRIFFITHS, JOURNALIST @_LukeGriffiths, NOVEMBER 5, 2018
The location of Australia’s first nuclear waste dump will not be announced before the federal election, extending the uncertainty for those living near proposed sites, Rex Patrick says. The Centre Alliance senator said the government’s selection process, which started in 2014, had been shrouded in “Soviet-style” secrecy and had divided communities. He said Labor must reveal how it would proceed, given the “real possibility” it would form government after the election.
Two sites near Kimba, 465km northwest of Adelaide, and one site near Hawker in South Australia’s mid-north have been shortlisted.
Resources Minister Matt Canavan told The Australian in June a decision would be made in the “second half of this year” because the Coalition did not want the issue “overlapping with a federal election”.
However, a Kimba ballot scheduled for August 20 has been delayed by court action from a local Aboriginal group that believes traditional owners should vote, despite them not living within the shire’s boundaries.
A hearing has been scheduled for January 30.
“Senator Canavan has ruled out the vote taking place while there is a federal election running … they won’t want to touch this with a barge pole as it gets to the other side of Christmas,” Senator Patrick said.
“They wanted it done and dusted and people having the issue settled in their mind four or five months before the election, but this now lands it right into electoral territory and I can’t see them running with it.”
Senator Patrick said Labor had to make its position clear. “Will they continue the current flawed process; will they start again with both locations being put up as options; or will they abandon the Kimba and Hawker sites?” he said.
Labor industry spokesman Kim Carr would not be drawn on ALP plans: “Labor acknowledges this has been an ongoing issue for 30 years, with decades of reports, studies and tests.”
Senator Canavan refused to engage in hypotheticals.
Kerryn Phelps confirmed as new independent MP: makes climate change action her first priority
 Kerryn Phelps zeroes in on climate change and Peter Dutton’s eligibilityOfficially declared Wentworth byelection winner, MP wants to stop Adani and will seek urgent briefing on minister, Guardian, Paul Karp and Anne Davies, Mon 5 Nov 2018 The newly minted independent MP for Wentworth, Kerryn Phelps, has pledged to tackle climate change policy as her first priority after she was formally declared the winner of the once blue ribbon Liberal seat in Sydney’s east. Phelps said she would move to reinstate the Climate Change Authority to provide a scientific voice in the debate, put forward reforms to vehicle emissions standards and look at ways to use the crossbench clout to stop the Adani coalmine. “We can stop fiddling around with talking about new coalmines because no one wants to fund them,” she said. “Government policy needs to establish a foundation for business to invest in renewables for our future and to protect our environment. That is something the Australian people are saying they want.” Phelps also said she will seek an urgent briefing on the constitutional eligibility of Liberal MPs Peter Dutton and Chris Crewther, adding that she had received legal advice that she did not have any section 44 issues that might affect her own eligibility to sit………https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/nov/05/kerryn-phelps-seeks-urgent-briefing-on-peter-duttons-eligibility
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Australian Conservation Foundation encourages all voters to recognise the coming CLIMATE ELECTION
Sector Action Needed For the ‘Climate Election’ https://probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2018/10/sector-action-needed-climate-election/ The environmental sector needs to step up efforts to ensure serious action on climate change is part of all political parties’ federal election platform, a sector leader says. Wednesday, 31st October 2018 Maggie Coggan, Journalist Kelly O’Shanassy, Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) CEO, spoke to Pro Bono News following an address to the National Press Club on Tuesday, where she expressed her concern over the impact of climate change, and the inaction of politicians.O’Shanassy said the ACF, along with other environmental organisations, were tired of the climate dysfunction coming out of Canberra, and titled the upcoming election the “climate election”.
“For decades ACF has knocked on the doors of Parliament House with climate policy solutions, supported by community and business, only to see them vanish into thin air because of weak political leadership,” O’Shanassy said on Tuesday.
“We are tired of government after government at the national level, failing Australians on climate change, and so, we decided to do something about it.”
O’Shanassy said the lack of action from politicians on climate change, combined with an increased awareness from the public on the damage it had already done, meant it was the perfect time to focus attention and energy on the issue.
She encouraged environmental groups involved in the election to start conversations with voters about climate change, and the solutions that were out there that politicians were yet to take action on.“We would encourage everyone in the environment sector to make climate a focus, to be part of our million conversations, to talk about climate damage that is here now, but also the solutions that are here now,” she said.
“This upcoming election matters, and people can create a safer future through their vote.”
She said polling data showed about 70 to 80 per cent of the Australian community did want government action on climate change, and so it was important for the sector to harness those views in order to push change.
Labor must keep to its strong nuclear-free policy
Uranium
- The production of uranium and its use in the nuclear fuel cycle present unique and unprecedented hazards and risks, including:
- Threats to human health and the local environment in the mining and milling of uranium and management of radioactive materials, which demand the enforcement of strict safety procedures;
- The generation of products that are usable as the raw materials for nuclear weapons manufacture, which demands the enforcement of effective controls against diversion; and
- The generation of highly toxic radioactive waste by-products that demand permanently safe disposal methods.
- Labor accordingly will allow the mining and export of uranium only under the most stringent conditions.
- In relation to mining and milling, Labor will:
- Ensure the safety of workers in the uranium industry is given priority. Labor has established acompulsory register for workers in the uranium industry that includes regular health checks and ongoing monitoring. The register is held by an independent agency and will be subject to privacy provisions;
- Ensure Australian uranium mining, milling and rehabilitation is based on world best practice standards, extensive continuing research on environmental impacts and the health and safety of employees and affected communities, particularly Indigenous communities;
- Ensure the Australian public is informed about the quality of the environmental performance of uranium mines through public accountability mechanisms;
- Foster a constructive relationship between mining companies and Indigenous communities affected by uranium mining; and
- Prohibit the mining of uranium within national parks under International Union for Conservation of Nature protected area category 1A, category 1B, and category 2, and listed world heritage areas.
- In relation to exports other than to India, Labor will allow the export of uranium only to those countries that observe the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), are committed to nonproliferation policies, and have ratified international and bilateral nuclear safeguards agreements.
Labor will export uranium only to countries that maintain strict safeguards and security controls over their nuclear power industries.
CHAPTER 3: BUILDING AUSTRALIA’S FUTURE 57
- In relation to India, an important strategic partner for Australia, commitments and responsible actions in support of nuclear non-proliferation, consistent with international guidelines on nuclear supply, will provide an acceptable basis for peaceful nuclear cooperation, including the export of uranium, subject to the application of strong safeguards.
- In addition, Labor will work towards:
- Strengthening export control regimes and the rights and authority of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA);
- Appropriate international responses to violations of existing safeguard commitments;
- Limiting the processing of weapon usable material (separation of plutonium and high
enriched uranium in civilian programs);
- Tightening controls over the export of nuclear material and technology;
- Universalising of the IAEA additional protocol making it mandatory for all states and
members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group to adhere to the additional protocol as a condition
of supply to all their transfers;
- Criminalising actions of individuals and companies that assist in nuclear proliferation;
- The development of an international guarantee of nuclear fuel supply to states foregoing
sensitive nuclear technologies;
- Revising the NPT to prevent countries from withdrawing from the NPT and passing a new resolution in the United Nations Security Council addressing the penalties for withdrawal from the NPT;
- Encouraging all nuclear states to join the NPT;
- Reserving the right to withhold supplies of uranium permanently, indefinitely or for a specified period from any country that ceases to observe the non-proliferation safeguards and security conditions applied to Australian uranium exports to that country, or which adopts nuclear practices or policies that do not further advance the cause of nuclear nonproliferation;
- Supporting the maintenance and enhancement of international and Australian safeguards to ensure that uranium mined in Australia, and nuclear products derived from it, are used only for civil purposes by approved instrumentalities in approved countries that are signatories to the NPT (with the exception of India) and with whom Australia has safeguard arrangements; and
- Seeking adequate international resourcing of the IAEA to ensure its effectiveness in undertaking its charter.
- Labor will progress these commitments through diplomatic means including the re-establishment of the Canberra Commission to re-invigorate Australia’s tradition of middle power, multilateral diplomacy. In doing so, Labor believes that as a non-nuclear armed nation and a good international citizen, Australia can make a significant contribution to promoting disarmament, the reduction of nuclear stockpiles, and the responsible use of nuclear technology.
- Labor will:
- Vigorously and totally oppose the ocean dumping of radioactive waste;
CHAPTER 3: BUILDING AUSTRALIA’S FUTURE 58
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Prohibit the establishment of nuclear power plants and all other stages of the nuclear fuel cycle in Australia;
- Fully meet all Australia’s obligations as a party to the NPT; and
- Remain strongly opposed to the importation and storage of nuclear waste that is sourced from overseas in Australia.
New member of Parliament, Kerryn Phelps, will push for strong role for Climate Change Authority
First thing’: Phelps set sights on reviving fortunes of climate body, Brisbane 
Times, By Peter Hannam, 27 October 2018 Kerryn Phelps, the likely new member for Wentworth, will push for the revival of the near-defunct Climate Change Authority as part of her efforts to advance action on global warming at a federal level.
Dr Phelps, who appears to hold an unassailable lead of 1783 votes for the seat vacated by former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, said her determination to emphasise cutting carbon emissions and advancing renewable energy was reinforced by a meeting in Sydney on Saturday with ex-Kiribati president Anote Tong.
Dr Phelps said that while Mr Tong’s island nation faced immediate threats from rising sea-levels, the former leader stressed that “sooner or later everyone will be on the frontline” from threats wrought by a warming world.
The independent candidate said it was clear from this month’s byelection that climate change – and the lack of federal policies – was among the highest concerns for Wentworth voters.
If she takes her seat in Parliament as expected next month, Dr Phelps said an early target will be to restore the Climate Change Authority.
It’s the first thing that we could actually do – to reinstate the funding and the scientific credibility of the Climate Change Authority,” Dr Phelps told Fairfax Media. “It’s very important that we do have an independent authority looking at the evidence and providing advice to governments.”……
Many Pacific islands are low-lying or have populations clustered to coasts that facing inundation from rising sea levels. Salt water intrusion into groundwater and exposure to more powerful cyclones are other risks.
Earlier this month, environment minister Melissa Price was accused of disrespecting the Pacific leader by telling him during a chance meeting in a Canberra restaurant that the region was “always” seeking cash and she had her chequebook ready. Ms Price denied she made such comments but she did ring later to say she wished no offence……. https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/environment/climate-change/first-thing-phelps-set-sights-on-reviving-fortunes-of-climate-body-20181027-p50cd3.html
Climate change policy – the wrecking ball that destroys Australia’s prime ministers
What has been clear is that the task is hugely difficult for reasons Kevin Rudd recently underlined.
One is the daunting task of convincing a current generation to make sacrifices for a future one.
Australian politics an unwieldy wrecking ball claiming PM’s careers, IT HAS already destroyed four Aussie prime ministers, and now the very same wrecking ball is about to smash Scott Morrison as well. News.com.au 29 Oct 18 Malcolm Farr@farrm51
IT’S the uncontrollable wrecking ball of Australian politics which so far has smashed the careers of four prime ministers.
And now it could be swinging Scott Morrison’s way, just as it had towards Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard from Labor, and his Liberal colleagues Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull.
This demolition beast is climate change policy and the inability of politicians to present coherent schemes of their own or to resist misrepresenting those of rivals.
To dodge the ball of policy destruction Prime Minister Morrison is attempting to please everyone.
He wants a system which will lower emissions, encourage coal-fired power stations, force private power companies to divest assets, promote new generating technologies, and cut household electricity bills.
It’s a political strategy more than a global warming response, constructed to appease the array of cemented positions on energy policy within the Liberal Party rather than the wishes of consumers, including business.
It has a touch of former prime minister Tony Abbott’s unsuccessful Direct Action scheme and a taste of former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull’s National Energy Guarantee. Continue reading
Scott Morrison’s desperate electricity measures have no real policy future
Sensible electricity rules await the next government, Brisbane Times By Ross Gittins, 28 October 2018 You can call it populism or you can call it desperation. In the case of Scott Morrison’s recent problem-solving efforts, desperation fits better. And wouldn’t you be?
Morrison is probably right in concluding it’s too late in the piece to be worried about carefully considered, long-lasting solutions to the many problems contributing to his government’s unpopularity………
Morrison has an election to avoid losing. If Tony Abbott hadn’t greatly compounded the problem by abolishing the carbon tax, you could feel a bit sorry for Morrison. The monumental stuff-up of the move to a national electricity market, with its price blowouts at every level – generation, transmission and distribution, and retail – was decades in the making.
Only with the doubling of retail prices over the past decade has realisation dawned that the federalgovernment can’t escape ultimate political responsibility for a “national” market run by a squabbling committee of state and territory energy ministers.
But Morrison’s announcement last week of a desperate collection of good, bad and indifferent measures to get retail prices down in a hurry – or at least appear to be getting them down – seems no better than a crude attempt to bludgeon some quick retail price cuts out of the three oligopolists that have come to dominate the market.
As was powerfully demonstrated by the events leading to the overthrow of Malcolm Turnbull, no government whose members can’t agree that the threat of climate change is real is capable of achieving a policy regime that restores a stable future for the energy industry. …….https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/business/the-economy/sensible-electricity-rules-await-the-next-government-20181028-p50cfq.html
Note to Cory Berardi. Nuclear power plants do not really mitigate global warming
Here is the MIT white paper whereby the Conservative Senator promotes nuclear power for decarbonisation of S.Aust electricity generation [18 pages].
What this paper (like most pro-nuke promo’s) fails to mention is that building & then operating a NPP instigates massive upfront carbon deficit thereby INCREASING GHGE; then it takes decades of no probs operation to slowly claw back that initial spike in anthropogenic global warming. And the more you build the greater that initial shock to the biosphere.
All NPP carbon offset claims depend upon whole life 25-40+year scenario’s: NPPs do not somehow magically produce instant carbon mitigation.
Things are crook for the Liberals, when the IPA blasts them on energy policies!
Institute of Public Affairs blasts Coalition’s ‘un-Liberal’ energy policies. IPA’s John Roskam says government should ‘stop all subsidies to coal, wind and anything else’ Paul Karp @Paul_Karp, 27 Oct 2018 The Institute of Public Affairs has blasted the Morrison government’s “big stick” in energy policy – a threat to break up energy companies in a bid to lower prices – accusing it of breaching Liberal values and endangering investment.
The IPA executive director, John Roskam, told Guardian Australia that “heavy-handed intervention” was “positively un-Liberal” and would open the door for Labor to campaign on policies bashing big businesses – which are “simply responding to the policy settings the government itself has created” to make a profit.
Roskam also warned against any form of subsidy for electricity generation including renewables subsidies, underwriting new power generation and indemnifying coal power against a possible future carbon price.
The intervention from the influential rightwing thinktank exposes divisions in the conservative side of politics on energy policy. Some, including MP Craig Kelly and former prime minister Tony Abbott, have called for an end to renewable subsidies and withdrawal from the Paris agreement, in line with demands from the IPA.
The Morrison government has indicated it wants to preserve popular solar subsidies and to stay in Paris while it pushes ahead with competition measures to lower price in the absence of a policy to reduce emissions by 2030.
Roskam said breaking up energy companies “continues the trend of targeting particular industries” as the Coalition did with the bank tax in the 2017 budget and would “further confuse Australians” about what it stands for.
“The idea that the government would determine the shape and size of the industry in this way cuts across every principle of the Liberal party,” he said. “If you want a guarantee that nobody will ever invest in Australia again, this is how you do it.”
The Coalition has promised policies to encourage new generation – including providing a floor price, contracts for difference and government loans – and has not ruled out using those measures to support new coal-fired power stations.
The energy minister, Angus Taylor, has said the government should address investors’ concerns about “political risks”, in a sign it could also indemnify coal power against future emissions reduction policies such as a carbon price. Taylor has also said there is “no plan” to change the small-scale renewable energy scheme.
Roskam said the government should “stop all subsidies to coal, wind and anything else” because “picking winners should be an anathema to the Liberal party”.
Although the IPA wants to see more coal power, Roskam said the government should “reduce the regulatory barriers to them being funded”, not keep the barriers and overcome them with subsidies……
……. Roskam said the Liberal Party is “hopelessly conflicted on climate change” and “riven down the middle”…….
Despite the suggestion emissions and price reductions are incompatible, renewables are forecast to lower prices while coal subsidies would increase energy costs…… https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/oct/27/institute-of-public-affairs-blasts-coalitions-un-liberal-energy-policies
Liberal moderates to demand $1 billion for climate change fund
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
Climate change now firing up raging fight in Australia’s Morrison govt, after Wentworth byelection fiasco
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
Australian govt abandons promotion for dubious climate group
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
Wentworth election – a preview of climate change issue for Australia’s coming federal election
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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
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Liberal Party moderates blame climate policy for Wentworth by-election debacle
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.
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 