Turnbull wants to subsidise coal AND gas transport, REneweconomy, By Sophie Vorrath on 27 April 2017 Prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has again declared his support for all things fossil fuel, after suggesting his government could use public money to sponsor both new coal and gas production facilities in Australia, via the Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund.
In his latest concession to the nation’s powerful fossil fuel lobby, Turnbull told Brisbane Radio that the fund could be used both to subsidise gas pipelines in northern Australia and to underwrite the plans of Indian coal giant Adani to build a rail line from its proposed Carmichael mine………
Activist group GetUp said Turnbull’s plan to use public monies to underwrite gas pipelines was “another white elephant”.
“Not content with handing over a billion dollars to prop up Adani’s doomed coal project, Turnbull now wants to spend public money on an expensive and unviable gas pipeline as well.” said GetUp’s Miriam Lyons.
“Spending public money on white elephants in waiting is a betrayal of everyday Australians who pay their taxes to fund public services and public-interest infrastructure.
“As with Adani’s doomed Carmichael project, a gas pipeline from the Northern Territory to Queensland doesn’t stack up economically,” Lyons said.
“It will also do nothing to stop price-gouging by greedy gas generators who have a stranglehold on the market for supplying power to meet demand spikes caused by heatwaves and cold snaps.
“The best thing we can do to break the power of greedy gas companies is to back the competition: cleaner, cheaper, fracking-free energy from solar and storage, as well as energy efficiency,” she said. http://reneweconomy.com.au/turnbull-wants-to-subsidise-coal-and-gas-transport-61896/
April 28, 2017
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AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, politics |
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More hydro power on federal agenda, Herald Sun, Katina Curtis, Australian Associated Press, April 20, 2017 Malcolm Turnbull is boosting his renewable energy credentials by providing federal funding for another study into expanding Australia’s hydro storage, this time in Tasmania.
It comes as Labor accuses the prime minister of giving gas companies a wet lettuce leaf flogging in his bid to persuade them to increase domestic supply.
Mr Turnbull also confirmed on Thursday his government is looking at building a multi-billion dollar pipeline to bring gas from Western Australia to the east coast – an idea climate experts dismiss as ridiculous and expensive…….
However, energy expert Andrew Stock, from the Climate Council, dismissed it as an idea that would lock in high power prices.
“LNG export pricing out of the west coast plus transportation through a multi-billion dollar pipeline doesn’t make for cheap gas,” he told reporters in Canberra.
Mr Stock was launching a new Climate Council report warning switching from coal to gas power will do nothing to lower electricity bills and will be nearly as polluting. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/more-hydro-power-on-federal-agenda/news-story/4b0b27dfd550e150108b8662f68f550e
April 22, 2017
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AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, energy, politics |
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Submissions received until 28 April by Parliamentary Committee
Right now a Parliamentary Committee is considering Australia’s further involvement in the ‘Charter’ or Framework Agreement for International Collaboration on Research and Development of Generation IV Nuclear Energy Systems. The Committee consists of 9 Liberal MPs, 6 Labor, and one Green.
Australia secretly signed the ‘Charter’ on 22 nd June 2016 – signed by 
Dr Adi Patterson COE of the Australia Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation. (pending this JSCOT review). ANSTO is to be the implementing agent.
The An international collection of 14 countries: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France, Japan, South Korea, South Africa, the UK and the USA ( original charter members 2005) Switzerland, Euratom, China, Russia and Australia (signed later) . The World Nuclear Association describes the collection as countries for whom nuclear energy is significant now or seen as vital in the future.
When the Australian government quietly signed up to the GIF, it made no commitment to any particular action towards developing new nuclear reactors. Other countries, including Japan, Canada, France, South Korea, have committed to working on particular types ofGeneration IV reactors Australia might be expected to not only fully sign up as a member of the Charter, but perhaps also to provide funding and resources to develop one or more types.
Involvement of various countries in developing particular types of new nuclear reactor
April 17, 2017
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ACTION, AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, politics, secrets and lies |
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Loaning $900m for Adani’s central Queensland coal railway too risky, environmental lawyers say The World Today By Katherine Gregory 12 Apr 17
“………’If we stop this project, it will be worse for the environment’
The Minister for Northern Australia and Queensland senator Matt Canavan said the letter sent to NAIF’s directors was a bullying tactic.
“These guys are bullies trying to stop jobs being created in north Queensland. Their stated aim is against coal and development. Against coal, and coal is the second largest exporter in Queensland,” Senator Canavan said.
He said the Queensland Supreme Court has already dismissed environmentalists’ arguments that the mine should not go ahead because of climate change.
“If we don‘t supply India with coal, other countries will,” Senator Canavan said.
“So from global climate change perspective to argue that this mine in and of itself will warm the planet and cause global warming disasters is wrong and misguided.
“There are other parts of the world India will get its coal from and it will. The Indian resources minister has said that to me specifically.
“If anything, if we stop this project, it will be worse for the environment, because the coal that is there in the Galilee Basin is higher quality, much higher quality than what exists in India.”
Senator Canavan said Adani’s rail line would open up opportunities for other mines and create more jobs for regional Queensland.
But shadow resources and northern Australia minister Jason Clare said federal Labor does not support using taxpayer money to fund the rail line.
“What are the rules that this Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility have to comply with when they decide when they’re going to tip taxpayer money into private projects?” Mr Clare said.
“And one of the rules here is that they can only provide funding if the project is unlikely to go ahead without it. And Adani has said this funding isn’t critical.
“So on that basis it doesn’t meet the requirements of the fund.” say http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-12/adani-queensland-coal-mine-railway-$900m-loan-too-risky/8439582
April 14, 2017
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“His idea of protecting the Reef is giving a coal billionaire a billion dollars to build a coal mine right on the Reef’s doorstep.
Turnbull slammed for “sucking up” to Adani, as business pushes 50-year life for coal plants, REneweconomy, By Sophie Vorrath on 11 April 2017 Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has come under renewed criticism from Australian environmental groups after meeting with senior executives from Indian coal mining giant Adani Group as part of his three-day state visit to India.
The meeting with Adani chair Gautam Adani and other company executives in New Delhi on Monday coincides with deliberations on company’s final investment decision on the $21-billion Carmichael coal mine in Queensland’s Galilee basin, which is set to be Australia’s largest coal mine, if built. Continue reading →
April 12, 2017
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AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, politics |
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Senate inquiry sparks ideological fight over Australia’s energy supply and climate change, ABC News, By political reporter Angelique Donnellan, 10 Apr 17, A Senate inquiry report into Australia’s electricity supplies has descended into a slanging match between members, prompting questions about its value for taxpayers.
The Select Committee into the Resilience of Australia’s Electricity Infrastructure in a Warming World heard from 60 witnesses in Adelaide, Canberra and Melbourne, including major energy generators, retailers and industry regulators.
But in the committee’s draft report released today, Federal Greens senator and chairwoman Sarah Hanson-Young took aim at the Coalition and its policies.
“The introduction of a market-based carbon trading scheme would effectively end the decades-long subsidy that coal has received in the electricity generation market,” she said.
“Yet like the proverbial ostrich, the Coalition Government has buried its collective head in the coalmine and refuses to address in any meaningful way the crisis facing the nation.”
The committee had seven other members, including three Labor senators, two Liberal, One Nation and Nick Xenophon.
All dissented to Senator Hanson-Young’s draft report, with Coalition senators calling it biased, false, misleading and dismissive of coal as a generator for electricity…….
Senator Hanson-Young questioned the use of gas as a transition fuel and the need for more gas mining.
“The misplaced notion that coal seam gas could provide a solution to the gas shortage on Australia’s east coast displays a profound ignorance of how the market works,” she said.
“Any unconventional gas will surely find its way onto the export market.”http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-10/coalition-senators-take-aim-at-senates-draft-electricity-report/8431790
April 12, 2017
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AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, politics |
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The motion taken by the Young Nats brings them into line with the National Farmers’ Federation, the Business Council of Australia, the Australian Industry Group and much of the energy sector, including the electricity transmission and distribution businesses
Young Nationals reject federal party policy to back emissions trading, The Age, Heath Aston , 10 Apr 17, The Young Nationals have split with the senior ranks of the party, voting to support the introduction of a carbon trading scheme. Continue reading →
April 12, 2017
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The contents of the Coalition’s dissenting report, however, are quite extraordinary, and highlight the difficulties that prime minister Malcolm Turnbull would have if he ever chose to implement sensible energy policies, or sought to implement the inevitable conclusions of the Finkel Review.
In essence, the Coalition’s report was a collection of renewable energy myths that might have been collected from far-right anti-wind and climate denying websites
Coalition says wind turbines increase emissions, more coal needed, REneweconomy, By Giles Parkinson on 11 April 2017 Coalition Senators say that wind turbines are likely to cause greenhouse gas emissions to increase, and insist that the best thing that Australia can do to combat climate change is to export more thermal coal.
The extraordinary conclusions – from Senators Chris Back and Jonathon Duniam – were included in the dissenting report to the Senate inquiry into the resilience of electricity infrastructure in a warming world. They also insist that coal and gas would remain the dominant sources for electricity around the world for “many generations to come.”
“Energy generated by wind turbines do not reduce greenhouse gas emissions within the electricity sector by the amount claimed. In fact, there is some evidence that the addition of wind energy onto the grid actually increases carbon emissions,” the Coalition Senators wrote.
It was one of four dissenting views on the report prepared by the Greens chair Sarah Hanson-Young, highlighting the impossible nature of Australia’s energy politics, and the apparent refusal of any parties to agree on anything, including facts.
One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts issued a dissenting report which simply claimed that there was no such thing as a warming world. Continue reading →
April 12, 2017
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The Indian company has applied for a $900 million concessional loan from the government’s Northern Australia infrastructure fund to help build a rail line connecting the central Queensland mine and the Abbot Point port.
“If you want to have a good commercial operation in Australia, I am not convinced the taxpayer of Australia should underwrite the risk of the project through a billion dollar loan,” Opposition Leader Bill Shorten told reporters in Brisbane.
Mr Shorten said other mining companies are not getting billion dollar railways built for them.
“We have to make sure it stacks up,” Mr Shorten said.
The company’s Carmichael coal mine project in Queensland was approved in December but has faced serious opposition from environmental and indigenous groups.
Senior executives of Adani, including founder and chairman Gautam Adani met with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in India on Monday.
Mr Adani requested an early resolution of native title issues surrounding the mine, which was hit by a Federal Court ruling that invalidated deals with traditional owners across Australia.
Legislation dealing with the problem is before the Senate and Mr Turnbull is understood to have assured the company the issue would be fixed.
Mr Shorten said Attorney General George Brandis was to blame for the confusion over native title.
Anything he touches turns to “custard”, the Labor leader said.
“In an incompetent government, he is the gold medal of incompetence,” he said.
April 12, 2017
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Adani to press Turnbull on $900m boost during visit , THE AUSTRALIAN, DAVID CROWE, Political correspondent, Canberra, @CroweDM, 10 Apr 17, Malcolm Turnbull will be asked to seal a $900 million deal to clear the way for the mammoth Adani coal mine in central Queensland during his visit to India that also seeks to inject momentum into a trade deal between two countries.
The Prime Minister arrived in New Delhi last night for a three-day state visit that will include talks with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, meetings with business leaders and a focus on the country’s demand for energy.
The $21 billion coal project towers over other items on the agenda, with Adani pushing for action within months on financing agreements and regulatory hurdles. Its Carmichael mine is being opposed by green groups in the courts and on the ground.
“We’ll certainly be talking about the importance of energy exports to India,” Mr Turnbull said before flying to New Delhi from Port Moresby, where he concluded a two-day visit yesterday morning. “India has a massive program of expanding electrification across the country and Australian coal has a very big role to play in that.”
Adani founder Gautam Adani told Indian media last month the company was eligible for $900m from the Turnbull government’s Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund to build the rail line from the mine to the company’s port at Abbot Point.
The backing from the fund, which uses federal guarantees to finance commercial projects, will help Adani limit its equity contribution to the rail project to about $800m of a total investment of about $2.5bn in the next two years, with the rest coming from debt and the NAIF.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk met Mr Adani in Mumbai last month and announced most approvals had been concluded for the project. At the same function, Mr Adani said he expected final approval from the federal government by May.
Mr Turnbull is expected to see Mr Adani during the visit after meeting him at least twice, in November 2015 and December 2016, when the billionaire pushed for more help to get the mine open.
After the 2015 meeting, Mr Adani said he had pressed Mr Turnbull to legislate to stop environmental groups delaying the project in the courts. The Abbott government’s attempt to amend the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act to stop “vigilante” activists was stymied in the Senate a month before Mr Turnbull became Prime Minister.
Writing in The Australian today, Mr Turnbull emphasises the opportunities for Australia as the Indian economy grows, increasing demand for Australia….. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/foreign-affairs/adani-to-press-turnbull-on-900m-boost-during-visit/news-story/6beae575a49aacfad4d51eca3dfe0846
April 10, 2017
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AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, politics, politics international |
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Coalition supporters back quicker shift to renewable energy, The Age, Adam Morton 10 Apr 17, (excellent graphs) The wisdom of a campaign by the Turnbull government emphasising the risks of moving too rapidly to renewable energy has been thrown into question by polling that suggests a majority of its supporters don’t agree. Left-leaning think-tank the Australia Institute surveyed 1420 voters on whether the country was moving too slowly or too quickly in embracing renewable sources wind and solar.
It found two-thirds of voters – and 55 per cent of those who identified as Coalition voters – believed the shift was too slow. Only 9 per cent – and 17 per cent of Coalition supporters – said it was happening too fast.
Forty-five per cent believed electricity prices would go up if the national renewable energy target of about 23.5 per cent by 2020 was abolished. Only 19 per cent thought bills would go down.
Again, Coalition supporters were broadly in step with the majority: 41 per cent said ending the target – a step floated by former prime minister Tony Abbott, among others – would actually push up prices; 23 per cent believed they would come down.
On cost, voters appeared to reject claims that renewable energy was the cause of the significant power bill increases. The support for clean energy is consistent with a Fairfax/Ipsos Poll a fortnight ago that found a third of voters believed the country should continue to use coal-fired power, and 61 per cent said it was time to turn to other sources.
Australia Institute executive director Ben Oquist said clean options were becoming increasingly economically and politically attractive as the price of renewable energy and battery storage came down.
“The war on renewables looks like the political version of the Somme. Furious attacks have not made any ground on the popularity of renewable energy,” he said.
The Australia Institute poll did not test whether views on clean energy would change how people voted.
It found a narrow majority of voters (52 per cent) backed an increase of the renewable energy target, while only 9 per cent wanted it cut.
A clearer majority (73 per cent) supported the introduction of a higher target for 2030.
More than three-quarters of voters (77 per cent) supported state renewable energy targets to drive further investment. Neither question considered what more ambitious policies would cost. (See data tables at the end of this story.- [on original] )……http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/coalition-supporters-back-quicker-shift-to-renewable-energy-20170409-gvgzh6.html
April 10, 2017
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With actuaries warning that some properties could become uninsurable in future, land values in some areas would likely plummet.
“The possibility of legal liability heightens risks for companies that aren’t responding”
While the financial sector is now seriously factoring the practical impact of climate change into their plans, many within it fear government is not.
Business takes lead on climate disasters, In the wake of cyclone Debbie, the insurance and banking industries are pushing for better mitigation measures, while the federal government lags behind. By Karen Middleton, Saturday Paper 8 Apr 17, “……..The Cannons and their neighbours join the residents of Murwillumbah, Lismore and other affected areas of NSW and Queensland in surveying the damage from cyclone Debbie, and the storms and flash flooding of its aftermath, and asking what can be done to help communities protect themselves in future.
The same questions are being asked in the boardrooms of corporate Australia – especially but not only in the finance sector – with an increasing emphasis on planning for and guarding against such events, rather than just cleaning up afterwards.
…….The Insurance Council of Australia wants the federal government to focus on mitigation as a priority in the upcoming federal budget.
“Cyclone Debbie and the floods that followed it should be a starting point for state and federal governments to address mitigation,” council spokesman Campbell Fuller said.
In the insurance and superannuation industries, work is being done on the likely longer-term impact of climate change on the frequency and ferocity of these major disasters and how they and other investors – and ultimately governments – should respond.
The big banks have also begun studying the implications of climate change on their risk exposure through mortgages reaching back 30 years. Continue reading →
April 8, 2017
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AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, business, climate change - global warming, politics |
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Off The Record: Orchestra now in baton race to replace young gun, The Advertiser April 1, 2017 “…….Hitting voters with ion fist OUR atomic adventure might be dead and buried, but a series of targeted nuclear strikes are about to be launched by the Liberals.
Having last November torpedoed Premier Jay Weatherill’s half-hearted push for an international nuclear waste dump, the Libs will now attack him for secret plans to put the dump in various sites across the state, Off the Record has learned.
A localised digital and leaflet campaign will accuse Mr Weatherill and his high-level waste dump of risking the destruction of agricultural industry and the environment through toxic nuclear leaks.
The advertising blitz will expand closer to next March’s election.
Regional areas likely to host a dump will be the focus, along with women worried about their children’s futures and those once known as “doctors’ wives” – affluent inner-city Liberal types concerned about the environment and social issues.
Of course, as no site was earmarked by the nuclear royal commission in its final report last May, the Liberals have fertile ground to declare any community could be at risk from the nuclear ogre…… http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/opinion/off-the-record-orchestra-now-in-baton-race-to-replace-young-gun/news-story/22c63df9efeb84f31fe3adf21ca65aa9
April 7, 2017
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NUCLEAR ROYAL COMMISSION 2016, politics, South Australia, wastes |
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Turnbull warns party faithful against drift to the right, Adam Carey, Eryk Bagshaw, The Age, 2 Apr 17,
Malcolm Turnbull has stared down the right-wing of his own party which has hamstrung his leadership and asserted that the Liberals should be the party of the “sensible centre”…….
April 3, 2017
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politics, Victoria |
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Antinuclear 