Uranium calls for approved projects to go ahead, Paul Garvey, The Australian, Mining & Energy, March 13, 2017 Resources reporter Perth Labor’s emphatic victory in the West Australian election has cast a shadow over the state’s uranium sector, with the industry urging the incoming government to keep the door open for the most advanced uranium projects.
Labor went to the polls on a platform opposed to the development of uranium projects, with the exception of any proposal that had already received government approvals.
The WA uranium projects of ASX-listed duo Vimy Resources and Toro Energy, along with Canadian uranium heavyweight Cameco, were all ticked off by Colin Barnett’s government in the months leading up to the election.
But anti-nuclear campaigners argue that the ticks received by the projects to date fall far short of representing the full suite of approvals required before they can move into development.
Mia Pepper, a nuclear-free campaigner with the Conservation Council of WA, told The Australian she would be urging the new Labor government to block the proposed developments.
March 13, 2017
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politics, uranium, Western Australia |
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Elon Musk, Malcolm Turnbull in talks on renewables after billionaire’s ‘100 days or it’s free’ pledge http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-12/elon-musk-malcolm-turnbull-in-talks-on-renewables/8347554 Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says he has held a “great, in-depth discussion” with Elon Musk, after the billionaire tech entrepreneur offered to fix South Australia’s energy problems within 100 days.
On Friday, Mr Musk said energy storage could solve the state’s electricity problems with a Tesla battery farm, and work could be completed within 100 days, or it would be free.
He followed that up in talks with South Australia’s Premier Jay Weatherill, later tweeting that he was impressed by the State Government’s commitment to a “smart, quick solution”.
Twitter was again the preferred medium of communication on Sunday, with Mr Musk and Mr Turnbull swapping appreciative tweets after speaking for nearly an hour.
March 13, 2017
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AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, politics, storage |
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Fight To Stop Nuclear Waste Dump In Flinders Ranges , 11 Mar 17 SA Response of the office of South Australian State Liberal leader Steven Marshall, to query about Liberal opinion on the plan to import nuclear waste.
The State Liberal Team is united in its decision not to proceed with a nuclear waste dump.We have carefully considered the Royal Commission Report. We have taken note of the outcomes of the community consultation. We have actively participated in the parliamentary committee process. We have visited Finland, France and the United States to consider the technical aspects and financial risks.
It is clear that Premier Jay Weatherill’s plan to make South Australia the world’s nuclear dumping ground exposes taxpayers to unacceptable financial risks without knowing whether the project will even proceed.
For 70 years the State Liberal Party has demonstrated its commitment to creating realistic opportunities in the nuclear industry with the establishment of the Radium Hill mine and later the Olympic Dam Mine under Liberal Premiers Playford and Tonkin respectively……
The Premier, lacking support from his own Cabinet, had to establish a Citizen’s Jury at taxpayers’ expense, to progress his own agenda and with access to a wide range of advice, two-thirds of that jury has determined that this venture should not be pursued ‘under any circumstances’.
Appointed by the Premier, Royal Commissioner Kevin Scarce has acknowledged that it could take up to 10 years to secure vital public support and another 28 years to establish such a facility.
The advice to State Parliament shows it will cost taxpayers $600 million to continue the consultation and select a site without any guarantee of eventually securing investors or customers for the facility……The Weatherill Labor government is playing poker with your money and our state will be forced to place a blind bet of $600 million just to stay in the game…..
Nuclear Waste storage is a responsibility for those nations using nuclear power. It is not the instant fix for the South Australian economy as promised by the Premier. https://www.facebook.com/groups/344452605899556/
March 11, 2017
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Queensland govt slaps down LNP, Murdoch over renewable scareshttp://reneweconomy.com.au/queensland-govt-slaps-lnp-murdoch-renewable-scares-43765/ By Giles Parkinson on 8 March 2017
The Queensland government has attacked the LNP opposition and the Murdoch media for unfounded, baseless and “lazy” criticism of its plans to source 50 per cent of its electricity needs from renewable energy by 2030.
The conservative LNP has been getting a big run in the Murdoch press with a new anti-renewables campaign, which has wound up significantly since the start of the year with a host of new solar projects that will add 1GW of solar power to the state’s grid.
But Bailey wondered why the LNP hadn’t even bothered to make a submission to the government’s renewable energy review that it attacks so much. In total, 2,300 submissions were received, but none from the LNP or any of its MPs.
“Once again, all we’re hearing is anti-renewables doom and gloom, but of the 2023 submissions received by the Independent Panel following their public forums across the state, not one of them was from the LNP,” he said.
“On the leash of their Canberra mates, they run around the state, scaremongering and threatening to scrap Queensland’s RET if elected, but they were too lazy to do the work – to make a submission where it actually counts.
The LNP, in recent days, have been trying to make much of a report in The Australian which breathlessly announced in an “exclusive” story on its front page on Monday that it had acquired a “leaked” copy of an Australian Energy Market Operator submission into the Queensland government plans.
And while AEMO had warned that coal generators in Queensland may close earlier than expected, a line that the Murdoch media was keen to play up (it even wrote a follow-up story and an editorial the following day), Bailey pointed out that these generators were young, and most importantly, mostly government-owned.
That means that the Queensland government will not be in the same position as South Australia, which has had to watch with growing frustration as the private owners of the biggest gas plants in the state decide not to switch on during high demand periods, claiming they can find no economic incentive to help keep the lights on for their customers.
On the subject of South Australia, premier Jay Weatherill said the state had no intention of rowing back on its 2025 target of 50 per cent renewables, saying to do so it would have to effectively “physically prevent” developments in their tracks.
That much is true, because the build-out of the Hornsdale wind farm and the Tailem Bend solar project will take the state to 50 per cent wind and solar by the end of this year.
Weatherill says the biggest threat to power prices in South Australia is the lack of competition among generators, something that can addressed by having more renewable energy and other technologies such as battery storage.
Weatherill says the state will “soon” release” its planned intervention to ensure that no more rolling stoppages occur – as they did last month – while some gas generators sit idle. From that point of view, he must envy Queensland’s ownership of power generators.
Back in Queensland, Bailey also said Queensland has a high amount of (mostly government-owned) flexible gas-fired generation, which enables the system to ramp up quickly.
He said the government had confidence in the modelling, and in its conclusions that it would be broadly cost neutral to electricity consumers, and would not affect reliability.
Bailey also said the Palaszczuk Government is committed to transitioning to a clean energy future gradually and sustainably, while keeping affordability and network reliability front and centre.
“We’ve kick-started a renewable energy boom with more than 1GW of privately funded renewable energy projects currently in the works delivering more than $2 billion of new investment to Queensland and more than 1900 direct jobs, mostly in our regions,” he said.
“Energy is undergoing a transformational change in the way it is generated, transported and used – the former LNP government did nothing to prepare for this.
“Importantly, the benefits of the RET to the Queensland economy, particularly in regional areas will be largely driven by the additional $6 billion investment in renewable energy, and a projected increase of around 6,400-6,700 jobs per year on average between 2020 and 2030.
“The anti-renewables LNP have no credibility on energy policy. They oversaw the loss of 1300 renewable industry jobs while in government and inflicted 43 per cent electricity price hikes on consumers.”
March 11, 2017
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This summer saw record-breaking temperatures across New South Wales and most of eastern Australia. January 2017 recorded the highest monthly mean temperatures on record for Sydney.
The Bureau of Meteorology has confirmed the 2017 heatwave was the most severe since 1939, and since that time the frequency of such intense large-scale heatwaves has increased across spring, summer and autumn, and especially over the past 20 years. The maximum temperatures from the February 2017 heatwave now make up eight of the top 10 highest February temperatures for NSW ever.
What set this heatwave apart was the prolonged period of sweltering days and nights which impacted over one-third of the state. The people out at Moree suffered the most with 54 days in a row over 35 degrees. Walgett had 48 days above 35 degrees.
The heatwave contributed to almost 100 fires across NSW in February. Homes, stock and agricultural assets were lost.
NSW Health issued an air pollution alert and warning to those with asthma or respiratory problems on January 10, with ozone pollution made worse by the hot, still conditions. In Victoria, the heatwave was blamed for a large spike in deaths.
On the NSW South Coast, dairy farmers reported cattle dropping dead in the heat and humidity. Piles of dead turtle hatchlings were found on Queensland’s Mon Repos beach amid a heatwave which pushed the sand’s temperature to 75 degrees. This important breeding site for the Loggerhead turtle was turned into a baby turtle graveyard overnight.
Sydney Harbour suffered its first ever recorded coral bleaching last year and scientists predict more this year, with water temperatures exceeding 26 degrees at times.
Water temperatures have been more than 3 degrees warmer than average off parts of the NSW South Coast. It doesn’t sound like much when you’re enjoying mid 20s water on a 35 degree day, but marine life aren’t used to these spikes – these are signs that the ecological balance is at risk.
Of course, these heatwaves, fires, warming oceans and coral bleaching fit the predictions of climate change science about the impact of greenhouse gas emissions primarily by human activity.
New research released in February concluded that human activity was changing the climate 170 times faster than natural forces.
We are already seeing some key tipping points start to flip. In February, sea ice in Antarctica hit a record low. The melting permafrost in Siberia is causing craters to form on an ever-larger scale with the resulting methane release driving further global warming.
Before our very eyes the warnings of scientists are being realised. Climate change is not something off in the future – it is here and now – and given science has been right so far, their predictions about what happens next without action to drastically reduce emissions are truly frightening……..
The Greens, under Energy and Resources spokesperson Jeremy Buckingham have launched its ‘climate not coal’ policy. It sets out a 10-year framework for the phase out of thermal coal mining in NSW. This is a managed transition that calls for a 1 billion tonne cap on the amount of thermal coal that can be mined during the phase-out period while a supported exit of the industry occurs.
A $7 billion fund to assist impacted workers and communities would be created through the auctioning of permits to access the remaining coal allowance.
It is a bold plan but we need bold plans to respond to climate change. The Greens plan sits in stark contrast to no plan at all from the major parties in this state to deal with coal. https://newmatilda.com/2017/03/08/temps-rising-greens-plan-to-ban-coal-within-10-years-amid-record-heat-wave/
March 11, 2017
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New South Wales, politics |
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Farmers back emissions trading scheme, THE AUSTRALIAN, SARAH MARTIN, 7 Mar 17, Australia’s peak farming group has thrown its support behind a carbon price to fix the country’s energy woes, calling on the government to reconsider its opposition to an emissions intensity scheme in the electricity sector.
In its submission to the Finkel review of the Australian energy market, the National Farmers Federation has warned the agriculture sector is struggling without “secure, reliable and affordable” power supply and urges a bipartisan approach to energy policy.
NFF president Fiona Simson said the sector believed the cheapest path to a low-emissions future was “some form of market-based approach”, which could include an emissions intensity scheme.
“For us it is about having everything on the table; we certainly want security of supply, we want affordable power, we are technology neutral and we know we’re moving towards lower emissions,” Ms Simson said.
“It is just how we can actually put everything on the table to guarantee a long-term national plan facilitating a smooth, reliable transition to lower emissions generation.”……
The federal government has ruled out adopting an EIS.
Chief Scientist Alan Finkel is reviewing the national energy market and is expected to finalise his report to the Council of Australian Governments by mid-year. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/climate/farmers-back-emissions-trading-scheme/news-story/04146e9fba702b03c5730c9034a36af4
The Australian Institute of Architects has told the review government needs to focus on the demand side of the energy equation, arguing that making changes to energy efficiency of buildings could deliver up to 28 per cent of the 2030 emissions reduction target and achieve $20 billion in energy savings.
“Buildings contribute to nearly half of the country’s electricity consumption and the building sector offers a great opportunity for more energy productivity gains,” said institute president Ken Maher.
March 8, 2017
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AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, politics |
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The tragedy is that all this could have been avoided if we had seized the opportunity in the 1990s to build a unified national grid, with a single authority running transmission networks and the interconnectors between them. This would still allow competition in generation, but would abandon the idea of market incentives in the provision of network services.
The question has been addressed by pollsters in Britain, which provided the model for Australia’s energy reforms. The results show overwhelming public support for renationalisation, even though the electricity industry has been in private ownership for decades. Even a majority of Conservative voters support public ownership.
The issue will have its next electoral test in Western Australia, where the Barnett government is proposing to sell its majority interest in its electricity distribution enterprise Western Power. While nothing is ever certain in politics, current polls suggest the government is headed for defeat.
The case for renationalising Australia’s electricity grid https://theconversation.com/the-case-for-renationalising-australias-electricity-grid-73951 John Quiggin Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland March 6, 2017 The public debate over the problems of electricity supply displays a curious disconnect. On the one hand, there is virtually universal agreement that the system is in crisis. After 25 years, the promised outcomes of reform – cheaper and more reliable electricity, competitive markets and rational investment decisions – are further away than ever.
On the other hand, proposals to change the situation range from marginal tweaks to politically motivated mischief-making. The preliminary report of the Independent Review into the Future Security of the National Electricity Market, released last year, canvasses such options as the introduction of capacity markets for reserve power, which have done little to resolve problems overseas.
Meanwhile, the Turnbull government has used recent failures to score points against renewable energy (hated, for obscure historical-cultural reasons, by its right-wing base) and to promote the absurd idea of new coal-fired power stations.
A sorry state
This debate might make sense if the system had worked well in the past. In reality, however, the National Electricity Market (NEM) never produced lower prices or more reliable power for households. Continue reading →
March 8, 2017
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AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, energy, politics |
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Coalition’s “clean coal” plan to power Gina, Clive, Adani in Galilee basin, REneweconomy. By Giles Parkinson on 1 March 2017 The so-called “clean coal” power generator being promoted by the Coalition has been revealed to be a 2009 proposal from businessman Clive Palmer that would be used to help provide electricity to Galilee coal mines planned by Palmer himself, Gina Rinehart, and Indian group Adani.
Waratah Coal, the company owned by Palmer’s Mineralogy, confirmed to the ABC on Tuesday that it had made an application to the Clean Energy Finance Corporation last Friday to finance a proposed 900MW coal generator that proposes to use an unproven technology, carbon capture and storage.
The revived plan was originated in 2009, and the details can be found here. It proposed to bury the emissions from the coal plant under the very same coal province that the three mining groups propose to mine – except that it will be “sequestered” in an “un-mineable” area of coal seams some 1km underground.
The $1.25 billion figure comes from its 2009 estimates, but it is expected that this is well out of the ball-park now. It also does not, the application makes clear, include the cost of carbon capture and sequestration.
No plant in the world has come close to making this a commercially viable proposition and the owners of the most advanced project, Kemper in Georgia, now admit it would be impossible make money from coal generation and CCS.
But that hasn’t stopped the Coalition continuing to push “clean coal” over renewables, despite overwhelming consensus that it would cost at least twice as much – and possibly four times as much with CCS – than wind and solar alternatives.
Prime minister Malcolm Turnbull – who as recently as 2010 supported 100 per cent renewable energy scenarios – has now pitched the Coalition’s energy policy firmly behind the construction of new “ultra supercritical” coal plants.
Resources minister Matt Canavan has been particularly vocal in support of a new coal-fired power station in north Queensland. This proposal, from Palmer, is the only proposal in the pipeline. Most other energy investors in the area are instead looking to solar and wind farms.
This comes as new data shows that Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, jumping another 2.2 per cent in the last financial year and taking the growth since the repeal of the carbon price to more than 7 per cent.
Much of this growth has come from the electricity sector, due to increased coal-fired generation, and from the new LNG export facilities in Queensland, where more coal and gas is being burned to power the liquefaction of coal seam gas, so it can be shipped overseas.
New studies have again questioned whether coal seam gas is any “cleaner” than coal power, given evidence that “rogue methane emissions” which are not measured by the gas companies, are actually making CSG a dirtier power source than coal…..
The Minerals Council, it has been widely reported, supplied the lump of coal brought into Question Time last month by treasurer Scott Morrison, in the middle of a record-breaking heat wave. The coal was lacquered so Coalition ministers and MPs would not get their hands dirty.
The proposed coal-fired power station in the Galilee Basin reveals the farcical depths of Australia’s energy policy debate. Even the Energy Supply Council, which represents the country’s fossil fuel generators, admits that new coal power is now “un-investable”.
The Coalition wants such coal plants to be funded by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, but this has been dismissed on several occasions by CEO Oliver Yates, who points out that co-financiers would be impossible to find, and any such investment would require billions of dollars in government guarantees and indemnities against a future carbon price.
The Minerals Council, though, is pushing the Galilee coal basin hard. It has previously fought against a carbon price and has launched numerous campaigns to promote coal as a commodity……http://reneweconomy.com.au/coalitions-clean-coal-plan-power-gina-clive-adani-galilee-basin-35115/
March 3, 2017
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AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, business, climate change - global warming, politics |
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Climate pollution rising: Turnbull, Frydenberg failing, REneweconomy, By Matthew Rose and Suzanne Harter on 1 March 2017 If the Turnbull government had to pay a dollar for every time a minister claimed Australia was ‘meeting and beating’ its climate targets, the money would be stacking up. Their claims, however, would not.
New data, just released under the National Greenhouse & Energy Reporting Scheme, shows the climate policies of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Environment & Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg are simply not working.
The data reflects the emissions of approximately 400 of Australia’s biggest companies and sits alongside the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory as an indicator of our emissions trajectory.
The 10 biggest polluters remain the same as last year. although the order has slightly changed.
They include Australia’s biggest electricity generators, AGL, Energy Australia, Origin, Engie and CS Energy, along with mining giants Rio Tinto and Glencore.
Overall, climate pollution is up by 3.4 per cent since last year and by 7.5 per cent since the Abbott-Turnbull government axed the carbon price. Unlike the government’s current policy, the carbon price was reducing Australia’s pollution. This is evident in the data. [graph on original]
The new data also shows pollution from Australia’s electricity sector, which is responsible for about 35 per cent of our climate pollution, went up 2.6 per cent on the previous year and 5 per cent since the carbon price was removed.
The pollution increases — from specific generators and overall — show there is little incentive for big polluters to clean up their acts when they have a free ride to pollute.
Meanwhile, global warming continues to damage Australian treasures, like the Great Barrier Reef, and increase the likelihood and severity of heatwaves and bushfires.
And there’s no sign Australia’s international commitments under the Paris agreement, including our 2030 target for 26-28 per cent pollution reduction in 2005 levels, will be able to be reached without major policy changes that see Australia phase out fossil fuels and enable a rapid transition to clean renewable energy.
However, instead of acknowledging global warming as a national crisis that demands immediate serious action, the federal government is considering loaning Adani $1 billion for a coal-carting railway line from the Galilee Basin to the Great Barrier Reef coast and wants the Clean Energy Finance Corporation to fund new coal-fired power stations.
None of this stacks up for investors that see coal in terminal decline and are unwilling to sink their money into facilities that will undoubtedly end up as stranded assets.
Nor is support for coal consistent with our Paris commitments, which include driving down pollution to net zero well before mid-century keeping global warming under 1.5—2 degrees………
Turnbull and Frydenberg continue to blame renewable energy. The data released this week is hard evidence Australia’s pollution is going up and that means Turnbull and Frydenberg’s policies are failing. http://reneweconomy.com.au/climate-pollution-rising-turnbull-frydenberg-failing-15377/
March 3, 2017
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AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, politics |
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After all the negative comments from State and Federal politicians and the media about renewable energy not providing synchronous generation I find it ironic that this “event” was 99% related to synchronous thermal (coal and gas) electricity generators. Ill-informed comment from politicians and journalists exposes the subjective ideological underpinning of these commentators.
Dennis Matthews 1 Mar 17, INTRODUCTION The AEMO report (, 1 DECEMBER 2016) is shockingly (!) written.
It’s full of jargon and acronyms with no easy way of finding what the acronyms mean. We could be forgiven for thinking that AEMO publications are intended to be read only by industry experts rather than concerned consumers.
Its charts are frequently unreadable, with minute characters used to label the axes, the axes overcrowded with labels, and five figure labels such as 200.00 where 200 would have sufficed.
The continual use of the words “incident” and “event” are reminiscent of the nuclear industry’s description of its many serious accidents and failures.
AEMO has uncovered gross inadequate performance by the electricity industry from electricity transmission to fossil fuel electricity generation to systems needed to maintain the integrity of the overall generation-distribution-transmission system. At no stage is there even a hint that severe penalties should be incurred by those responsible. I suspect, even if there were penalties that these would be recovered through increased prices. Competition is almost totally lacking in the industry.
At no stage was the cause of the “separation event” (failure of the Heywood interconnector from Victoria to SA) the fault of wind or solar electricity generators, quite the opposite. Wind powered electricity generators contributed 6% to power supply and the interconnector failure led to the shutdown of 2 wind farms in Victoria.
The following discussion uses the same section notation as the AEMO report.
1. OVERVIEW Continue reading →
March 3, 2017
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http://wanganjagalingou.com.au/traditional-owners-v-adani-in-federal-court-today-then-to-canberra-to-discuss-native-title-amendments/ Wangan and Jagalingou (W&J) Traditional Owners Council 27 February 2017:
“Traditional owners fighting the Carmichael megamine are on the front foot this week, challenging in court the native title process which allowed the Qld Government to issue a mining lease without their consent, and meeting with Federal MPs to present arguments why the Government’s amendments to the Native Title Act threaten the rights of Traditional Owners and fail to deal with the real issues arising from the recent McGlade decision.
“Senior spokesperson for the Wangan and Jagalingou (W&J)
Traditional Owners Council, Mr Adrian Burragubba, says,
“The W&J Family Council have voted three times since 2012 to reject Adani’s sham deal, while the National Native Title Tribunal gave the green light to the Qld Government to issue Adani with a mining lease, after the mining company applied to have our decision overridden.
This is the crux of our appeal before the full bench of the Federal Court on Monday”.
“Spokespeople for W&J, Mr Burragubba and Ms Murrawah Johnson, will also visit Canberra this week to meet with key Federal MPs about the Government’s Native Title Act Amendment Bill and explain the failures of the native title process.
Labor and The Greens voted against rushing the Bill through the House of Representatives last week. The Bill is now being scrutinised by a Senate committee which is due to report on 17 March 2017. … “
March 1, 2017
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aboriginal issues, legal, politics |
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Government green bank receives funding request for $1.2 billion coal-fired power plant, The Age, Adam Morton Amy Remeikis 28 Feb 17 The Turnbull government’s push for taxpayers to finance new coal-fired power stations is facing its first test after an application for support was lodged with the national green bank.
Clean Energy Finance Corporation chief Oliver Yates told a Senate estimates hearing that the agency received an email on Friday from an unidentified company requesting a loan for a proposed $1.2 billion, 900 megawatt coal plant with carbon capture and storage.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the plan, but energy industry experts noted the size and estimated cost were similar to a previous proposal by former mining magnate and MP Clive Palmer for a generator in Queensland’s Galilee Basin.
Speaking to Fairfax Media on Monday night, Mr Palmer said he had “retired” and directed questions to Waratah Coal managing director Nui Harris. But he said the company had spent $20 million on a similar plant under the Gillard government and the project was in a “high state of readiness”.
The Clean Energy Finance Corporation is banned from financing capture and storage technology, which involves burying the greenhouse gas emitted in burning coal underground. Dropping the ban would require a challenging change in legislation – a step likely to be opposed by Labor and the Greens.
Mr Yates said he believed new coal plants were not commercially viable unless the government was willing to indemnify the owner for the life of the plant.
He said the indemnity would need to cover any future climate change policy – an unquantifiable sum covering decades – and potential delays in construction due to protests.
Mr Yates, a former Macquarie Bank executive director who is stepping down as head of the finance corporation, said he was not aware of any bank that would be willing to lend to a project that may not be viable.
“I don’t see that as a sensible risk position for the taxpayer to take,” he said.
“If a private sector participant wants to go and build anything – they want to build a theme park, want to build the Eiffel Tower – it may not be economically sensible, but they are entitled to go and do it if they want to.”…….
Mr Yates said among the risks facing coal proposals was the falling cost of renewable energy. Coal generators would need to compete to sell the electricity they produced.
An analysis by consultants Bloomberg New Energy Finance recently found new coal plants, with emissions up to 25 per cent lower than Australia’s existing plants, would be more expensive than gas, wind or solar power. Adding carbon capture and storage would dramatically further increase the cost. ……. http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/government-green-bank-receives-funding-request-for-12-billion-coalfired-power-plant-20170227-gume05.html
March 1, 2017
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AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, politics |
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Adani director appointed to body overseeing mining giant’s coal port despite conflict of interest warning http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-27/adani-director-appointed-government-body-overseeing-coal-port/8301104 Exclusive by the National Reporting Team’s Mark Willacy and Alexandra Blucher 27 February 2017:
“The Queensland Government appointed an Adani company director to chair the authority overseeing the Abbot Point coal port, despite being warned of “potential conflicts of interest”.
Key points:
“It’s undoubtedly a conflict of interest,” said law professor on Mr Fish’s appointment
Treasurer’s office confirms it knew of Mr Fish’s directorship and that he “disclosed potential conflicts of interest prior to his appointment”
But Mr Fish’s link to Adani was not disclosed publicly by the Treasurer when he was appointed … “
March 1, 2017
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politics, Queensland, secrets and lies |
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~ Sovereign Union http://www.sovereignunion.mobi/ http://www.sovereignunion.mobi/content/block-native-title-amendment-indigenous-land-use-agreements-bill-2017 16 February 2017: “There is a grave concern that the national parliament will accept the bleeting of the racist fear mongers
who run immediately to the king of racism, George Brandis, Attorney-General, to amend the Native Title Act.
The Commonwealth government is now desperate to overturn the recent decision of the full bench of the Federal Court in the McGlade v Native Title Registrar case v Native Title Registrar case, which puts the validity of many ILUAs in doubt as not all ‘named applicants’ who needed to sign an ILUA did so.
Incl: Hansard 2nd Reading Native Title Amendment”
“It truly represents that the Coalition government and the conservative Labor party govern for the non-Aboriginal society with little or no concern for inherent Aboriginal rights and this is despite years of condemnation by the United Nations Human Rights Commission and other treaty bodies such as the CERD, Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
“We cannot accept any further adverse changes to the Native Title Act, because the John Howard’s 10 Point Plan facilitated a repression and smothering of our inherent legal rights as the true land owners of this continent.
After the 1993 Native Title Act was passed, the late Nugget Coombs condemned the Keating Labor government and its Aboriginal advisors for agreeing to an Act to suppress Aboriginal rights and interests, in favour of ensuring a free pathway of access to Aboriginal lands in right of the multi-national and trans-national corporations, in order to exploit mineral wealth and natural resources without having to pay any fair and equitable compensation and royalty to the rightful owners.
“I call upon the Aboriginal members in both upper and lower houses of Federal parliament to stand their ground and not allow the current Native Title Amendment (Indigenous Land Use Agreements) Bill
to pass through the Federal Parliament. There can be no compromise on this issue. … “
February 27, 2017
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Like Trump, Turnbull’s environmental WTFness is a propelling us to disaster, Independent Australia Sue Arnold 25 February 2017, Like many Americans, Australians are wondering how the hell we ended up with a PM whose environment policies are a recipe for disaster. Sue Arnold reports.
AS THE Trump horror reality show unfolds, a collective shudder is being felt around the world. His anti environmental policies are winding back half a century of progressive laws created to ensure healthy human and animal habitats for current and future generations.
With the U. S. Environment Protection Agency now in the hands of climate sceptic and resource industry front man, Scott Pruitt , the Agency is scheduled to be repealed in 2018. The Endangered Species Act is also on the hit list and a U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement is definitely on the cards.
At the same time, scientists have announced that the ocean oxygen levels have dropped by 2% in 50 years, a truly frightening scenario. According to the WWF Report 2015, populations of marine vertebrates have declined by up to 50% since l970. Coral reefs are predicted to be extinct by 2050.
According to Dr Richard Leakey, author of The Sixth Extinction, within the next 30 years half of the species on earth could die in one of the fastest mass extinctions in the planet’s 4.5 billion years of history.
Yet the legacy of future generations has no currency with the world’s most powerful leader.
Banging the drum for “clean coal” and “putting the miners back to work,” Trump is ensuring pollution of rivers, forests, air, water, and the agricultural lands on which we depend for the very stuff of life. His refusal to acknowledge the damage climate change is wreaking on the planet is a threat to human existence.
A similar scene is unfolding in Australia as Malcolm Turnbull leads the way with a similar mindless rejection of environmental reality. Witness his latest Trump style policy to use the Clean Energy Finance Corporation to fund “clean coal”. Utter madness.
Where does this arrogance originate?…..
It’s almost impossible to separate Turnbull and Trump in terms of their attitudes towards the environment. The record speaks for itself. Given the current PM’s repeated assertions he’s an environmentalist, his sell-out on climate change, and his obvious deference to the extreme right wing of the Liberal Party, perhaps it’s time to change the definition of environmentalism. With “clean coal” now his government’s mantra, the PM is better described as a hypocrite, blind to the appalling state of this country’s environment.
Look at the record.
The most recent State of the Environment Report is dated 2011.
Key findings include: -……….
Several bills languishing in the parliament demonstrate the future of Australia’s unique environmental legacy under a Coalition Government, highlighting the move towards Trump extinction policies.
The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Standing) Bill 2015 aims to remove extended standing for community members (including environment groups) to seek judicial review of decisions made under the EPBC Act. Standing would then be restricted to a person “whose interests are adversely affected by the decision”. If this bill is passed by the Senate, the onus of protecting specific environmental matters would be in the hands of individuals who could demonstrate their “interests are adversely affected by the decision”. Common law has interpreted this to require “special interest”.
The likelihood of individuals mounting lawsuits against the Federal Government is remote. https://independentaustralia.net/environment/environment-display/like-trump-turnbulls-environmental-wtfness-is-a-propelling-us-to-disaster,10056
February 25, 2017
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, environment, politics |
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