Labor Leader Bill Shorten opposes nuclear industry mainly because it is ‘not viable’
Labor reopens nuclear divide at South Australian state ALP convention, Advertiser October 24, 2015 PAUL STARICK CHIEF REPORTER LABOR’S long-running nuclear energy divide reopened yesterday when federal leader Bill Shorten declared his opposition to reactors in Australia.
Speaking after the State Labor Convention, Mr Shorten said he was prepared to assess the outcome of South Australia’s present nuclear Royal Commission but federal Labor’s priority was renewable energy.
But Premier Jay Weatherill said SA had to take charge of creating future jobs — the state’s jobless rate is a nation-leading 7.7 per cent — and this included seriously considering a nuclear future…….
Asked whether he had an open mind about nuclear energy, Mr Shorten said he had always believed the cost outweighed the economic benefits, even before considering environmental safeguards.
“At this point, I don’t support nuclear energy. I don’t see it as a viable prospect — obviously I’ll see what the Royal Commission says,” Mr Shorten said………
State Labor president Peter Malinauskas told the conference it was right for the government to pursue jobs growth by “planting the seeds of new industries, like the clean and virtually carbon-free nuclear industry”…….
Tentative nuclear Royal Commission findings are expected to be released in February for public consultation, ahead of a final report in May…..http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/labor-reopens-nuclear-divide-at-south-australian-state-alp-convention/story-fni6uo1m-1227581198474?sv=89f1a1c2a3348d615bf8cb1f04ad75b0
Turnbull Government defending Abbott plan to stop community from enforcing environment law
Greens Senators Larissa Waters & Nick McKim:
http://larissa-waters.greensmps.org.au/content/media-releases/turnbull-government-defending-abbott-plan-stop-community-enforcing-environmen
21 Oct 15: “The Attorney-General last night in Senate Estimates confirmed the Turnbull Government was still pushing Abbott’s plan to remove community rights to protect the environment.
Senator Larissa Waters, Australian Greens Deputy Leader and environment spokesperson, said:
“Trying to silence communities, farmers and everyone who cares about the environment is an atrocious idea and, if the Turnbull Government brings this on in the Senate, it will be defeated. …
“What’s the point of having environmental laws if government can ignore them, or allow huge coal companies to ignore them, and only allow people to complain about that if they live next door? …
Greens Senator for Tasmania and legal affairs spokesperson, Nick McKim said climate change was a global problem with implications for all Australians. …
“They [Citizens] are entitled to have a say about the massive coal mines that are helping to drive climate change, threatening groundwater and driving threatened species to extinction.”
“Only a tiny fraction of developments have been blocked through legal action under the EPBC Act, yet the Government wants to water down the small protections we have.” “Our judicial system does not exist to serve the sold-out coal interests of this government. It exists to uphold the law,” Senator McKim said.”
Australian government withdraws funding offer to Bjorn Lomborg’s anti climate action centre
Bjorn Lomborg: Government withdraws $4 million funding offer for controversial research centre, ABC News, By political reporter Francis Keany and Sara Phillips 22 Oct 15 The Federal Government says it has withdrawn a $4 million offer to help establish a research centre headed by Danish academic Bjorn Lomborg.
Education Minister Simon Birmingham has told a Senate estimates hearing the proposal was quietly dropped in the week when Malcolm Turnbull became Prime Minister.
“Certainly, a specific incentive from the Government for such an institute is no longer available,” Senator Birmingham said……..
Greens Senator for South Australia Robert Simms described the withdrawal of funding as “welcome” and said it was “in response to a really strong campaign that’s been run across the community”.
“It’s good to see the Turnbull Government making a break with the Abbott era and dumping Dr Lomborg,” he said…… http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-21/govt-withdraws-funding-from-lomborg-centre/6873238
Malcolm Turnbull won’t back Clean Energy Finance Corporation
Malcolm Turnbull refuses to back Clean Energy Finance Corporation Labor uses question time to attack the prime minister and the Coalition over its climate change policies, Guardian, Lenore Taylor, 20 Oct 15 Malcolm Turnbull says the need for the Clean Energy Finance Corporation remains an “open question” and has dismissed emissions trading schemes as simply another “piece of economic plumbing”, as Labor attacked the credibility of the Coalition’s climate policies.
Turnbull lost the Liberal leadership in 2009 over his backing for the former Rudd government’s emissions trading scheme, and was forced to pledge to retain the current Direct Action climate plan in order to win support from conservative and climate-sceptic colleagues before becoming prime minister, despite having once described it as “bullshit” and a “recipe for fiscal recklessness on a grand scale.”
Under Tony Abbott, the coalition unsuccessfully tried to abolish the corporation, which the former prime minister derided as the “Bob Brown bank”.
The CEFC lends to clean energy projects on commercial terms and has so far lent $1.4bn, which will reduce emissions by 4.2m tonnes annually and also achieve a positive return on the commonwealth’s investments.
Under Turnbull the CEFC has been transferred to the environment department and the government has apparently dropped plans to hobble its mandate by banning investments in wind farms and small scale solar and has suggested it plays an important role in its climate plans.
But despite this, during question time on Tuesday, Turnbull refused to say he backed the institution – instead hedging his answer and pointing out the government had been unable to get the Senate to agree to the CEFC’s abolition…….http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/oct/20/malcolm-turnbull-refuses-to-back-clean-energy-finance-corporation
Environment Minister Greg Hunt full of praise for Clean Energy Finance Corporation
the new Greg Hunt was full of praise for ARENA and the CEFC, listing them as one of the “successes and tangible outcomes” his government had overseen.
“The Clean Energy Finance Corporation and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency are our major instruments to research, develop, test, and demonstrate emerging technology and solutions,” Hunt said.
while we welcome this change in tone, it is worth noting that the ARENA, CEFC and CCA Abolition Bills are still on the House of Representatives and Senate Notice Papers, meaning the government hasn’t formally changed their policies to abolish them.
Hunt hails ‘green shift’, praises ARENA, CEFC http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/hunt-hails-green-shift-praises-arena-cefc-24228 By Sophie Vorrath on 14 October 2015 Pop news quiz: Which Australian politician said the following this week: “It gives me great pleasure today to share my views on the required ‘green shift’ toward a more vibrant, resilient and low emissions society.”
If you answered Richard di Natale, you are wrong. It was Greg Hunt, in a speech titled “Australia’s Green Shift”, delivered to Australia’s Norwegian Embassy on Wednesday.
Yes, the federal environment minister – who as recently as July this year described the Labor Opposition’s comparatively ambitious renewable energy and emissions reduction targets “a triple-hit on electricity prices” – is now all about shifting to green, and wants everyone to know it.
“The Australian Government is driving this transformation in Australia and working globally to build a future that reflects the Sustainable Development Goals,” he said – a sentence it is safe to say he would never had uttered under his former boss, Tony Abbott. Continue reading
South Australia: subsidy for large-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) projects
Rooftop solar subsidies for SA business http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/rooftop-solar-subsidies-for-sa-business/story-fni0xqi4-1227569000315
CLIMATE Change Minister Ian Hunter says the subsidy for large-scale photovoltaic (PV) projects, between 10 and 50 megawatts, will help businesses take advantage of a $100 million commonwealth funding pool aimed at increasing the uptake of solar panels.
“This is a great opportunity for potential developers to bring the cost of solar PV down to a price comparable to wind energy,” Climate Change Minister Ian Hunter said on Wednesday.
Adani coal mine approval ‘grossly irresponsible’
Australian Conservation Foundation, October 15, 2015 Federal environment minister Greg Hunt’s approval of what could become one of the world’s largest coal mines sets back global efforts to combat climate change, the Australian Conservation Foundation said today.
“To approve a massive coal mine that would make species extinct, deplete 297 billion litres of precious groundwater and produce 128.4 million tonnes of CO2 a year is grossly irresponsible,” said ACF President Geoff Cousins.
“At a time when the world is desperately seeking cleaner energy options this huge new coal mine will make the effort to combat climate change all the more difficult.”
If it goes ahead the Carmichael mine would be the largest ever dug in Australia. It would take up five times the area of Sydney Harbour. The climate pollution resulting from burning its coal would be more than New Zealand’s entire annual emissions.
In August the Federal Court set aside Minister Hunt’s original approval of Adani’s controversial proposal to dig the massive coal mine in Queensland’s Galilee Basin.
Minister Hunt’s re-approval of the Carmichael coal mine flies in the face of rising public opposition to the proposal and scientific evidence that shows the mine would destroy 10,000 hectares of habitat for endangered species, including the largest known population of the southern black-throated finch.
“Tens of thousands of ACF supporters from all over Australia have written to Greg Hunt, asking him to reject the Carmichael mine once and for all,” Mr Cousins said.
“Just as Woodside lost its social license to build a gas factory at James Price Point in the Kimberley, most Australians do not want Adani to dig a massive coal mine and export the coal across the Great Barrier Reef.
“ACF will scrutinise this approval decision and carefully consider our options.
“We will use all appropriate means to stop this mine,” Mr Cousins said.
ACF and other environment groups ran ads in major newspapers in August urging Minister Hunt not to re-approve Adani’s Carmichael proposal.
Turnbull govt postpones effort to stop environmentalists using legal avenues
Anti-mine activist law changes delayed https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/29788659/anti-mine-activist-law-changes-delayed/ Federal government plans to stop environmental activists halting major projects through court action have been delayed until next year.
The Senate committee looking into the draft laws, drawn up by the Abbott government after the Federal Court overturned the approval of Adani’s $16.5 billion Carmichael coal mine, was due to report on Monday but has been given an extension until February 2016.
Government Senate leader George Brandis on Monday reconfirmed the coalition’s commitment to changing the law to restrict judicial reviews of environmental approvals to “aggrieved” people.
Trans Pacific Partnership’s Investor-State Dispute Settlement [ISDS] provisions bad for environment
Trans-Pacific Partnership bad for the environment, green groups say October 7, 2015 Peter Hannam Environment Editor, The Sydney Morning Herald “……Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson said the Investor-State Dispute Settlement [ISDS] provisions of the pact will allow large corporations to challenge any efforts to tighten environmental regulation.
“This is a watershed moment for the Liberals and the mining industry in their continuing assault against environmental protections in Australia,” Senator Whish-Wilson said. “ISDS will provide a massive chilling effect against improvements in environmental law at a local, state and federal level.”
Kelly O’Shanassy, chair of the Australian Conservation Foundation, said it was “a very silly idea to lock in restrictions to future policy in this country”.
Corporations could now have a look at a proposed policy change and if it threatened their ability to make profit, they would go to the courts as they did to oppose the Gillard government’s plain packaging laws to curb tobacco marketing.
“It could be the plain packaging fiasco for climate change,” Ms O’Shanassy said.
With the Paris climate summit now looking increasingly likely to fall short on locking in sufficient cuts to greenhouse gas emissions to limit global warming to 2 degrees, governments will need to make regular revisions of their targets beyond this year’s summit.
The TPP is likely to limit nations’ ability to take those necessary additional steps, she said: “It means governments won’t be bold and ambitious as they should be.”http://www.theage.com.au/environment/transpacific-partnership-bad-for-the-environment-green-groups-say-20151006-gk2bga.html#ixzz3o10RNuqa
Secrecy on nuclear waste plans, as Fed govt delays announcing site for radioactive trash dump
Federal Government delays announcement of Australian waste dump site after silence from NT October 5, 2015 NT News http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/federal-government-delays-announcement-of-australian-waste-dump-site-after-silence-from-nt/story-fnk1w5xx-1227557268139Nuclear lobby aiming to overturn an Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act ban
The first target of the lobbying push is to overturn an Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act ban on the nuclear development process.
Jim Green, an anti-nuclear campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said it was unlikely that nuclear would ever be feasible in Australia. “We don’t need a bridge from fossil fuels to renewables, we just need renewables. It’s viable and affordable. There is a lot of rhetoric around a nuclear renaissance, but not much else.”
Nuclear industry to push for Australia to adopt ‘clean, affordable power’
Australian Nuclear Association plans to lobby Turnbull government to embrace the technology ‘to create jobs and economic opportunity’ Oliver Milman , Guardian, 29 Sept 15 The nuclear industry will lobby for nuclear energy in Australia, saying the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, should embrace the technology as a way to slash greenhouse gas emissions.
The Australian Nuclear Association (ANA) will accompany Danny Roderick, chief executive of the leading US nuclear technology firm Westinghouse, to talk to government ministers and business leaders in Canberra and Sydney next week.
Roderick said nuclear power could help produce “clean, reliable, affordable electricity for more people”.
“We’d like to help Australia explore ways to create jobs and economic opportunity that are also good for the environment,” he said. South Australia’s nuclear inquiry is ‘a gale of commonsense’, Tony Abbott says
The ANA is optimistic that the change in Australia’s prime ministership will mean nuclear will be looked at “on its merits”.
The move is the latest attempt to overturn legal obstacles to nuclear energy generation in Australia.
Federal environmental law bans building nuclear reactors, and an attempt by the Family First senator, Bob Day, to scrap a separate law that blocks building reactors and uranium enrichment plants was halted in August by the Tony Abbott government……..
The ANA says nuclear is a better option to cut emissions from electricity than renewable sources such as solar and wind…….
Parker denied that nuclear was prohibitively expensive, estimating that Australia could build 29 reactors for $160bn with companies such as Westinghouse “lining up” to invest.
He also claimed “strong community support” for nuclear despite the Fukishima disaster in Japan…… Continue reading
Australia’s Resources Minister Josh Frydenberg will help Adani’s coal mine with tax-payer money
Frydenberg signals $5 billion taxpayer frolic with Adani’s unwanted fossil flop https://independentaustralia.net/environment/environment-display/frydenberg-signals-5-billion-taxpayer-frolic-with-adanis-unwanted-fossil-flop-,8193
IF AUSTRALIA’s new Prime Minister and refreshed front bench are showing signs of being more progressive about renewable energy investment and R&D, it looks like they are also going to be far more candid about coal, and their plans to invest heavily there, too.
In an interview with Fairfax media on Wednesday, the newly sworn in energy and resources minister Josh Frydenberg was crystal clear on the government’s intent to use taxpayer money from its $5 billion Northern Infrastructure Fund to help get the Adani-owned Carmichael coal mining project off the ground.
And he was equally clear that the Turnbull Government’s attitude to developing new coal projects – despite the smart money being on all untapped fossil fuel resources staying in the ground, and despite the fact that most banks and institutional investors won’t touch the Galilee Basin project with a 10 foot barge pole – remains the same as the Abbott Government’s. Frydenberg told the AFR, repeating the mantra of his former boss:
[Carmichael coal mine is] a very important project, which will see significant investment in Australia and provide electricity to millions of people in the developing world,”
Anti-development activism can create major delays in projects and send investment offshore, and you have to be very conscious of that when there are such large time frames involved and we are competing internationally for investment in this country.
Australia’s PM Turnbull under firm control of right wing on climate change
Liberal right wing’s climate warning to Malcolm Turnbull: don’t touch Direct Action, The Age, September 25, 2015 Mark Kenny and Philip Wen Malcolm Turnbull has been warned by his party’s right wing not to attempt changes to beef up the Abbott government’s Direct Action program in response to China’s introduction of an economy-wide emissions trading scheme by 2017.
West Australian Liberal Dennis Jensen welcomed the assurances 
of Environment Minister Greg Hunt, who said Australia would not be altering its climate change abatement measures in response to the Chinese development.
“It’s one of the conditions of the leadership change that we are sticking with the policy we had,” he told Fairfax Media………
While Mr Turnbull declined to comment, Mr Hunt was sent out to reassure nervous Liberals that the development out of Beijing would not lead to a similar move from Canberra. http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/liberal-right-wings-climate-warning-to-malcolm-turnbull-dont-touch-direct-action-20150925-gjv73s.html#ixzz3mnbYTxSM
Tony Abbott’s legacy – it’s not pretty
Tony Abbott’s department discussed investigation into Bureau of Meteorology over global warming exaggeration claims, FOI documents reveal
Former prime minister Tony Abbott’s own department discussed setting up an investigation into the Bureau of Meteorology amid media claims it was exaggerating estimates of global warming, Freedom of Information documents have revealed.
In August and September 2014, The Australian newspaper published reports questioning the Bureau of Meteorology’s (BoM) methodology for analysing temperatures, reporting claims BoM was “wilfully ignoring evidence that contradicts its own propaganda”.
Fact check scorecard: How does Tony Abbott’s record of claims and promises stack up?
ABC Fact Check was established shortly before the 2013 election, and has been checking Tony Abbott’s claims ever since.
Before the election, Mr Abbott repeatedly set a high standard for integrity, promising to lead a government that “says what it means, and does what it says”.
Mr Abbott made many claims during his tenure on a diverse range of topics, including the economy, environment, immigration and employment.
So now that his time as leader is over, how does his record of claims and promises stack up?
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-24/tony-abbott-fact-check-record/6792016
Poll shows most Australians support charity status for environmental groups
Voters have overwhelmingly rebuffed the government’s so-called “vendetta” on green groups, with new polling showing 70 per cent oppose any move to deny charity status to environment groups.
Voters have overwhelmingly rebuffed the government’s so-called “vendetta” on green groups, with new polling showing 70 per cent oppose any move to deny charity status to environment groups.
Removing such groups’ charity status, first proposed by key Tony Abbott backer Andrew Nikolic, could cost them hundreds of millions of dollars in tax-deductible income, and severely restrict their capacity to campaign on environmental issues.
Pressure has been building on the government to abandon the proposed changes, with Labor and the Greens flagging they will oppose any moves it makes on the matter.
Environment groups believe the proposal is designed to strip them of their ability to campaign against mining projects.
But new polling conducted by the Australia Institute shows 68 per cent of people support the right of green groups to conduct environmental campaigns and advocate policy changes, while also claiming charity status…… http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/most-oppose-denying-environmental-groups-charity-status-says-poll-20150924-gjtz4t.html#ixzz3mhlVxCnW
1 This month.
20 September –National Day of Action in Melbourne on the International Day of Peace
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PETITION – To: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Australian Labor Government
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