Abbott Praises Coal And Gas — Hints At Nuclear
Abbott’s Praise Of Coal All You Need To Know About Renewable Energy Target Review Clean Technica August 11th, 2014 by Joshua S Hill “………To top it all off, and to add insult to injury, Tony Abbott went to speak to the Australian Industry Group last week and promptly made it perfectly clear just how he feels about Australia’s energy future.
“I would like us to be one of the world’s affordable energy capitals. We have an abundance of coal, we have an abundance of gas; let’s make the most of this natural advantage,” he said to the gathering, before concluding with this gem;
“But right now, we have massive reserves of coal, massive reserves of gas; let’s make the most of them.”
The sheer absurdity of Abbott’s understanding of the situation boggles the mind, and leaves one wondering just where his priorities lie and who is in his back pocket (or maybe, whose back pocket is he in).
These comments represent the last straw in understanding Tony Abbott’s position on climate change. His appointments to the four-member RET Review were but another example, as Tristan Edits wrote for Business Spectator.
The chair of the review, Dick Warburton, isn’t willing to accept the conclusions of the Academies of Science of Australia, the US, UK and other nations as well as their meteorological bureaus, that burning fossil fuels creates a major problem with global warming. And another review panel member has declared the RET as a dead-weight loss to society, and assisted the gas industry in their lobbying for it to abolished.
In the end, the actual review of the RET will simply be the final nail the coffin — a coffin, I might add, that contains the health of Australia and her international legitimacy. It’s a coffin that Tony Abbott has already been frantically throwing soil onto, hoping to have the issue dead and buried, all the while the renewable energy industry flounders under the political uncertainty, costing the consumer, the employer, and the environment.
So well done, Mister Abbott, for burying Australia’s chance to be a forward thinking, environmentally conscious, industry leading, scientifically integral, force for change. Let’s all join hands and welcome in a repeat of pre-industrial thinking, where big business drives policy to the detriment of everyone else. http://cleantechnica.com/2014/08/11/abbotts-praise-coal-need-know-renewable-energy-target-review/
Tony Abbott includes nuclear power in Australia’s future energy mix
Nuclear in future energy mix: Abbott Prime Minister Tony Abbott says nuclear power may be a future source of energy for Australia. The Age, 8 Aug 14, But coal and gas should remain the focus of generators for now, he says.
Mr Abbott was asked about his position on nuclear power during an Australian Industry Group lunch in Sydney on Friday.
He said he would like Australia to be the world’s “affordable energy capital”, making the most of its natural advantage in terms of coal and gas…….http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-national/nuclear-in-future-energy-mix-abbott-20140808-3dd9b.html
Proposed changes to Western Australia’s Aboriginal Heritage Act for benefit of mining companies
Fast track approvals should be dumped: KLC ABC News 6 Aug 14 By Nicolas Perpitch Proposed changes to Western Australia’s Aboriginal Heritage Act have been labelled discriminatory, amid calls for them to be dumped and the act rewritten. In a scathing submission, the Kimberley Land Council (KLC) also warned the amendments would disenfranchise Indigenous people.
KLC chief executive Nolan Hunter said the draft bill focused power in the hands of one bureaucrat – the Department of Aboriginal Affairs’ chief executive officer. “This is a totally bureaucratic government process, so we pretty much will be disenfranchised in terms of having a say once all this is set,” he said.
“This basically discriminates against Aboriginal people. It favours the state’s position.”
Currently the Aboriginal Cultural Material Committee (ACMC), established through the act, provides advice and recommendations to the Aboriginal Affairs Minister on heritage sites. Fast track’ authority for permits handed to CEOMinister Peter Collier revealed the draft bill in mid-June, saying the pace of economic development in recent years, particularly in mining and construction, had highlighted inadequacies in the current legislation.
The draft bill would speed up the approval process for mining and other development by giving the Department of Aboriginal Affairs chief executive officer “expedited” or “fast track” authority to declare whether or not an Aboriginal heritage site existed.
The CEO would be able to issue land use permits when he or she decided a site would not be significantly damaged or altered.
Submissions on the draft amendments have been overwhelmingly critical of the proposed changes, in particular the new fast track approvals process. The KLC and other land councils, Aboriginal corporations, the Law Society of WA, individuals and anthropologists such as La Trobe University’s Nicholas Herriman have argued the new process would largely cut out Aboriginal people.
The Law Society, in its submission, said the proposed amendments stripped the ACMC of its evaluative role and predominantly shifted power to the CEO, who was not obliged to consult with Aboriginal people or to apply anthropological expertise.
Mining and other companies could appeal decisions but no statutory right of review was provided for Aboriginal custodians or traditional owners.
“The lack of such a right again negates the claim that these amendments are increasing the strength of the voice of Aboriginal people or that the amendments increase accountability,” the Law Society said.
The Goldfields Land and Sea Council pointed out the Government had not specified the process to be followed by the CEO in making his or her decisions, raising concerns about “the validity of any decision made”.
“It remains that the most significant issue raised by the proposed amendments to the act is that the regulations that will govern how it will operate are not yet available,” the land council wrote in its submission…………
‘Streamlining development’ aim of act: council
National Native Title Council CEO Brian Wyatt said the changes were not primarily directed at heritage protection.”There’s no real will or desire by government to protect heritage. It’s all about streamlining the processes of development,” Mr Wyatt said.
The KLC also stressed a new section in the act making it a criminal offence not to declare potential heritage sites could force land councils and representative bodies to break the law. There would be fines for people, other than traditional owners, who did not report sites or objects.
Mr Hunter said traditional owners disclosed information to consultants, development proponents and representative bodies on a legal, confidential basis and that arrangement could fall foul of the new provision.
“It sets a default position where we can be subject to a criminal prosecution with very little culpability on our part,” he said.
“How can you create legislation that compels you to break the law?”
He called on the Government to dump the draft bill and start again……….
Submissions on the draft amendments to the 42-year-old act close this week following an eight-week public consultation period. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-05/indigenous-groups-speak-out-about-aboriginal-heritage-act/5650320/?site=indigenous&topic=latest
Green MP Robin Chapple’s submission on the Aboriginal Heritage Legislative Changes
These matters are especially important given the lack of both review/appeal processes and
compensation processes in the Act and Bill for Aboriginal peoples facing damage to or
destruction of their heritage.
Dear Chief Heritage Officer
Feedback on the Aboriginal heritage legislative changes
Thank you for the opportunity to provide feedback on the Aboriginal heritage legislative
changes.
I would like first to acknowledge that the Aboriginal Heritage Amendment Bill 2014 makes
improvements, for example the extension of time in which to bring a prosecution, the
provision of express penalties where these are currently lacking, and the increased
penalties for offences.
The Bill also seems likely to deliver on its promise to deliver better quality registers, and the
inclusion of a historic record of all approvals should assist with monitoring compliance.
The Bill also seems likely to deliver on its promise to deliver faster decision making, and the
prescribing of processes for decision-making would make those processes more certain
and transparent.
However, on the draft legislation currently available, and particularly in the absence of draft
regulations, I am not at all satisfied that the legislative changes will effectively improve
either the protection of Aboriginal heritage or adequately involve Aboriginal peoples in that
process. At the end of the day, protection of Aboriginal heritage is what the Act is for. Continue reading
Liberal MP steps out of line, promoting the Renewable Energy Target
Out on a limb, or a return to common sense on renewable energy? http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/out-on-a-limb-or-a-return-to-common-sense-on-renewable-energy-83989 By Kane Thornton on 5 August 2014 Being out on a limb can be a dangerous place to be, particularly in politics. When federal Liberal politician Sarah Henderson stated loudly and proudly that she supports Australia’s Renewable Energy Target, she certainly went against the grain of some of her party colleagues who have been calling for a massive reduction in the target.
But did she step out on a limb, or was she simply showing a deeper understanding of the policy, and recognising the strong support of voters for clean energy?
The truth is that producing renewable energy from our wind, sun, waves and more just makes sense to people. This is why, whenever someone asks the question in a survey, renewable energy polls its solar panels off – it is generally supported by more than three quarters of the population.
The Renewable Energy Target (RET) has helped deliver more than 20,000 jobs in renewable energy across Australia. Sarah Henderson’s electorate of Corangamite is blessed with an abundance of wind energy resources and includes dozens of small businesses employing hundreds of qualified solar panel installers. And almost a quarter of homes have either solar power or solar hot water, which is well above the Victorian average.
The RET is also driving innovation, something the greater Geelong region needs as it rises to the challenge of major changes in the manufacturing and automotive sector. IXL Solar is a good example of this transformation, with operations in South Australia and Geelong. It used to produce parts for car manufacturing and is now busily manufacturing parts for several huge solar power farms being built in New South Wales. It is a fantastic reminder of how innovative companies can respond to the many changes we are facing.
Of course, benefits such as these do come at a cost and the cost of the RET is about 3 per cent of the average Australian household power bill. That’s not much compared to the 40 per cent of bills that goes towards the poles and wires necessary to deliver the electricity. And the cost of the RET is balanced out by the savings it creates on another party of your bill – the cost of wholesale power.
If we weren’t using renewable energy, we would also have to rely on more gas for our electricity, and gas prices seem to have a nasty habit of going up lately. This is why economic analysis undertaken by ACIL Allen for the Federal Government has found the Renewable Energy Target will actually save consumers money in the long run, as it will help shield us from rising gas prices.
This and four other economic studies this year have led the Australian Industry Group – the nation’s leading business group representing over 60,000 major energy customers – to conclude that scrapping the RET would not save any money on power bills.
With all of this in mind, it is not surprising that Sarah Henderson can tell which way the wind is blowing in her electorate. It’s an electorate that is home to thousands of solar power systems, and a region in much need of alternative economic opportunities.
In supporting the RET she is also continuing a long Liberal tradition. The RET was first introduced back in 2001 by the Howard Government and the Liberals supported its expansion and refinement in 2009 and 2010. It has been a bipartisan policy.
At a time when people are desperately looking for authenticity in their public figures, it’s great to see a politician take the time to look at this issue sensibly and stand up for the courage of their convictions. In doing so, Ms Henderson is not out on a limb. She is joining the vast majority of Australians, the renewable energy businesses and workers in her electorate, and the 144 countries around the world with renewable energy target policies, that are all pushing even harder for a transition to a cleaner, smarter energy system. Kane Thornton is Acting Chief Executive of the Clean Energy Council
Tony Abbott’s top Aboriginal adviser, Warren Mundine is a nuclear industry lobbyist
Environmentalists respond to Warren Mundine’s attacks 1 Aug 2014, Jim Green, Indymedia Nuclear lobbyist “………..Mundine’s role as a lobbyist for all things nuclear has been particularly offensive. In June, Muckaty Traditional Owners in the NT won a famous victory, defeating the efforts of the Howard−Rudd−Gillard−Abbott governments to impose a nuclear waste dump on their land. The racism could hardly have been cruder, with bipartisan support for legislation overriding the Aboriginal Heritage Act, undermining the Aboriginal Land Rights Act, and allowing the imposition of a nuclear dump with no Aboriginal consultation or consent.
Mundine’s contribution to the eight-year battle of Muckaty Traditional Owners? Nothing. Silence.
In February 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd highlighted the life-story of Lorna Fejo − a member of the stolen generation − in the National Apology in Parliament House. At the same time, Rudd was stealing her land for a nuclear waste dump. Fejo said: “When are we going to have fair go? I’ve been stolen from my mother and now they’re stealing my land off me.”
Mundine’s response to Lorna Fejo’s plight? Nothing. Silence.
When Muckaty Traditional Owners finally won their battle, Marlene Nungarrayi Bennett said: “Today will go down in the history books of Indigenous Australia on par with the Wave Hill Walk-off, Mabo and Blue Mud Bay. We have shown the Commonwealth and the NLC [Northern Land Council] that we will stand strong for this country.”
And it was indeed a famous victory. No thanks to Warren Mundine. He could have spoken up for Muckaty Traditional Owners in his previous role as National President of the ALP; he could have spoken up as a self-styled Aboriginal ‘leader’; he could have spoken up as a Director of the Australian Uranium Association and co-convenor of the Association’s ‘Indigenous Dialogue Group’ (which made no effort to establish dialogue with indigenous people); and he could have spoken up as head of the Indigenous Advisory Council. But he remained silent for eight long years.
Mundine says Australia has “a legal framework to negotiate equitably with the traditional owners on whose land many uranium deposits are found.” Bullshit. Only in the NT do Traditional Owners have any right of veto over mining. And even then, sub-section 40(6) of the Commonwealth’s Aboriginal Land Rights Act specifically exempts the Ranger uranium mine in the NT from the Act and thus removed the right of veto that Mirarr Traditional Owners would otherwise have enjoyed.
Another example ignored by Mundine: in 2012 the NSW government passed legislation which excludes uranium from provisions of the NSW Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983. Nothing equitable about that.
And another example ignored by Mundine: In 2011 the SA Parliament passed amendments to the SA Roxby Downs Indenture Act 1982, legislation governing the Olympic Dam copper/uranium mine. The amendments retain exemptions from the SA Aboriginal Heritage Act. Traditional Owners were not even consulted. The SA government’s spokesperson in Parliament said: “BHP were satisfied with the current arrangements and insisted on the continuation of these arrangements, and the government did not consult further than that.” Nothing equitable about that.
And on it goes. The Western Australian government is in the process of weakening the WA Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 at the behest of the mining industry. Nothing equitable about that….”http://indymedia.org.au/2014/08/01/environmentalists-respond-to-warren-mundines-attacks.
Tony Abbott’s secret nuclear dreams are out of step with reality
It’s time for Abbott to dump secret nuclear ambitions Echo Net Daily, By Giles Parkinson, RenewEconomy, 29 July 14 Michael Goldsworthy is not the only one who has been betting the house on nuclear beating renewables to be the low carbon energy source of the future.
Last month, Goldsworthy announced that the ASX-listed Silex Systems would look to jettison its solar assets and focus instead on its uranium laser enrichment technology, confident that the global nuclear industry would rebound and that his technology would be worth billions within a decade.
Now its partners, GE and Hitachi, have dashed the plans by suspending all work on the nuclear technology.
Two of the world’s biggest suppliers to the nuclear industry no longer have faith in the industry. Silex shares crashed in response. The Tony Abbott government, it seems, is prepared to do exactly the same, jettison the country’s renewable energy industry and achievements in favour of a belief that the centralised form of generation will remain dominant for decades to come, and that nuclear will one day be the answer.
Numerous studies suggest that this is nonsense, that the emergence of solar, storage and software solutions will results in at least half the world’s electricity generated (and stored) ‘on site’.
But the conservative side of politics doesn’t want to know. It wants to extend the life of fossil fuel generators, pursue various of forms of emission reduction technologies for coal generators through its Direct Action plan, and leave the door open for nuclear.
The nuclear option is as yet unstated by the Abbott government, but you don’t have to scratch far beneath the surface to reveal a deep-seated belief in nuclear energy.
Abbott has surrounded himself with nuclear advocates. Most significantly, the man he appointed to adjudge the fate of the renewable energy target, and the wind and solar industries in Australia, climate change denier Dick Warburton, is convinced that nuclear is the only alternative to coal.
In an opinion piece he co-wrote for Quadrant magazine in 2011, Warburton wrote:
‘Except for nuclear power, there are no straightforward strategies for reducing dependence on fossil fuels without large economic costs. Wind and solar generators often cannot function when needed.’
Others in Abbott’s orbit of business advisors share similar views. So do many of his cabinet colleagues and backbenchers.
Industry minister Ian Macfarlane has explicitly written in nuclear as a consideration for the upcoming energy white paper.
In an issues paper released last December, Macfarlane’s team wrote that nuclear technologies continue ‘to present an option for future reliable energy that can be readily dispatched into the market’.
It also says: ‘A growing area of global interest is in the use of small modular reactors, which have the potential to reduce the cost uncertainties and construction time frames associated with current generation reactor designs.’
The conservative commentariat is full of references to nuclear as a potential solution to safe-guarding Australia’s cheap energy status ………….http://www.echo.net.au/2014/07/time-abbott-dump-secret-nuclear-ambitions/#comment-1776807
Senator Larissa Waters slams Abbott Government decision for massive coal mine
Green (Black) Light For Australia’s Largest Coal Mine http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=4417 29 July 14 Australia’s biggest coal mine, the $16.5 billion Carmichael Coal and Rail Project in Queensland’s Galilee Basin, has been given the nod by Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt; much to the dismay of environmental groups and many Australians.
Minister Hunt has said the project proposed by Indian company Adani could go ahead, subject to 36 conditions (PDF) designed to reduce environmental impact.
The Australian Greens have blasted the decision.
“History will look back on the Abbott Government’s decision today as an act of climate criminality,” said Senator Larissa Waters, Australian Greens environment spokesperson.
“The Abbott Government’s claims that it has put ‘stringent’ conditions on the approval are a joke given the Auditor General last month found that the federal environment department is so under-resourced it is failing to monitor and enforce environmental conditions. Adani has a track record of non-compliance with environmental conditions in India – why take the risk with our climate and Great Barrier Reef?”
Greenpeace also has a list of grievances; among them, the 12 billion litres of water each year from local rivers and underground aquifers that will be needed by the operation, the 60 species at risk and the burning of coal from Carmichael mine producing four times the fossil fuel emissions of New Zealand.
“It is a catastrophe for the climate,” says the group. Environmental issues aside, there may be massive financial risks involved too.
The Greens state Adani is already in “dire financial straits” and earlier this yearan analysis found major coal projects that rely on new export markets such as India face a very uncertain future. India’s Finance Minister also recently announced plans to double the nation’s tax on coal in order to help finance renewable energy projects.
The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) says building renewables is cheaper than constructing imported coal power capacity, they are cheaper to maintain and can be constructed more rapidly.
“The notion that anyone will want to buy our coal in 60 years is economic lunacy, so this project is economically foolhardy as well as an environmental disaster,” said Senator Waters.
Bill Shorten, Labor Leader urges that climate change must be on the G20 agenda
In Australia Nuclear interests trump aboriginal rights
The nuclear war against Australia’s Aboriginal people, Ecologist Jim Green 14th July 2014 Nuclear war“……….Muckaty Traditional Owners have won a significant battle for country and culture, but the problems and patterns of radioactive racism persist. Racism in the uranium mining industry involves: ignoring the concerns of Traditional Owners; divide-and-rule tactics; radioactive ransom; ‘humbugging’ Traditional Owners (exerting persistent, unwanted pressure); providing Traditional Owners with false information; and threats, including legal threats.
One example concerns the 1982 South Australian Roxby Downs Indenture Act, which sets the legal framework for the operation of BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam uranium mine in SA.
The Act was amended in 2011 but it retains exemptions from the SA Aboriginal Heritage Act. Traditional Owners were not even consulted. The SA government’s spokesperson in Parliament said:
“BHP were satisfied with the current arrangements and insisted on the continuation of these arrangements, and the government did not consult further than that.”
That disgraceful performance illustrates a broader pattern. Aboriginal land rights and heritage protections are feeble at the best of times. But the legal rights and protections are repeatedly stripped away whenever they get in the way of nuclear or mining interests.
Nuclear interests trump aboriginal rights
Thus the Olympic Dam mine is largely exempt from the SA Aboriginal Heritage Act. Sub-section 40(6) of the Commonwealth’s Aboriginal Land Rights Act exempts the Ranger uranium mine in the NT from the Act and thus removed the right of veto that Mirarr Traditional Owners would otherwise have enjoyed.
New South Wales legislation exempts uranium mines from provisions of the NSW Aboriginal Land Rights Act. The Western Australian government is in the process ofgutting the WA Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 at the behest of the mining industry.
Native Title rights were extinguished with the stroke of a pen to seize land for a radioactive waste dump in SA, and Aboriginal heritage laws and land rights were repeatedly overridden with the push to dump nuclear waste in the NT.
Most of those laws are supported by the Liberal / National Coalition and Labor. Radioactive racism in Australia enjoys bipartisan support.
Muckaty Traditional Owners have won a famous victory, but the nuclear war against Aboriginal people continues – and it will continue to be resisted, with the Aboriginal-ledAustralian Nuclear Free Alliance playing a leading role Jim Green is the national nuclear campaigner with Friends of the Earth, Australia, and editor of Nuclear Monitor.
Nuclear Monitor has been publishing deeply researched, often strongly critical articles on all aspects of the nuclear cycle since 1978. A must-read for all those who work on this issue! http://www.wiseinternational.org/node/36 http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2476704/the_nuclear_war_against_australias_aboriginal_people.html
Regulators to decide on Cameco’s Kintyre uranium mine, but not economically viable now
Cameco: Australia Regulator to Rule on Uranium Mine Within Weeks By Stephen Bell Capiyal Gr. 16 July 14 PERTH-–Canada’s Cameco Corp. (CCJ) expects Australian regulators to decide on its proposed Kintyre uranium mine within weeks, but will likely delay construction after prices of the nuclear fuel slumped to nine-year lows.
Brian Reilly, managing director of Cameco Australia, said Wednesday he expects Western Australia state’s Environmental Protection Authority to release a report into the project soon.
“The EPA is sitting on the report and recommendations–we anticipate seeing that released publicly within the next few weeks,” Mr Reilly told The Wall Street Journal on the sidelines of a uranium conference in Perth.
The regulator will make a recommendation to state and federal ministers, who will then make a final decision on whether the project can go ahead.
Mr. Reilly said Cameco hopes to “be in a position by the end of this year to have this project approved.”
However, Cameco would need uranium prices to recover sharply before starting construction of the mine. It would also look to discover more uranium reserves at the mine site.
In mid-2012, Cameco deferred development of Kintyre due to a collapse in the uranium price in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan. At the time, Cameco said the project likely wouldn’t be viable if uranium prices fell below US$67 a pound.
Spot uranium prices are currently around US$28 a pound because of a slower-than expected restart of Japanese nuclear reactors idled soon after the Fukushima crisis. There has also been a build-up in global uranium inventories as nuclear facilities recycle more fuel……http://english.capital.gr/News.asp?id=2064849
Tony Abbott was elected to destroy action on climate change
History will condemn climate change denialists Robert Manne theguardian.com, Wednesday 16 July 2014
Tony Abbott was elected by the right-wing of his party for a single purpose: to destroy any meaningful action in Australia against the threat of climate change ……..
Climate change denialism soon spread beyond the US, especially to the countries of the English-speaking world. As Australia is a country extremely sensitive to the cultural winds blowing in from the US, reliant on the export and consumption of coal, and where the denialist Murdoch newspapers exercise enormous unhealthy influence, it is hardly surprising that over the past decade climate change denialism quickly sunk deep roots here.
The impact was seen in late 2009 with the coup inside the Liberal party which replaced Malcolm Turnbull, a rational believer in climate science, by a complacent opportunist, Tony Abbott, who regarded and still regards climate science as “crap”. The anti-Turnbull coup represents the most critical moment in the recent history of Australia. Abbott was elected by the right-wing of his party for a single purpose: to destroy any meaningful action in Australia against the threat of climate change. When the carbon tax is repealed, the leaders of the coup and the fossil fuel interests they represent will receive from a dutiful prime minister their anticipated reward.
The right-wing denialists, now dominant within the Coalition, often call themselves conservatives. They are not. At the heart of true conservatism is the belief that each new generation forms the vital bridge between past and future, and is charged with the responsibility of passing the earth and its cultural treasures to their children and grandchildren in sound order. History will condemn the climate change denialists, here and elsewhere, for their contribution to the coming catastrophe that their cupidity, their arrogance, their myopia and their selfishness have bequeathed to the young and the generations still unborn. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/16/history-will-condemn-climate-change-denialists
Former Liberal leader supports Renewable Energy Target
Liberal veteran Hewson backs Renewable Energy Target, Sunshine Coast Daily Daniel Burdon | 11th Jul 2014 A FORMER Liberal Party leader has urged the Abbott government not just to retain the renewable energy target, but increase it to ensure carbon emissions can be curbed.
But Dr Hewson said the RET, likely the only specific target for reducing Australia’s emissions left once the carbon tax is removed, is doing the job. He said while the RET and other climate change policies could help to reduce emissions, in less than a week, Australia could be without any overarching policy on climate change………http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/former-liberal-party-john-hewson-renewable/2315456/Radioactive racism, the war to dump nuclear waste on Aboriglnal land in Australia
legal rights and protections are repeatedly stripped away whenever they get in the way of nuclear or mining interests. Thus the Olympic Dam mine is largely exempt from the SA Aboriginal Heritage Act. Sub-section 40(6) of the Commonwealth’s Aboriginal Land Rights Act exempts the Ranger uranium mine in the NT from the Act and thus removed the right of veto that Mirarr Traditional Owners would otherwise have enjoyed. NSW legislationexempts uranium mines from provisions of the NSW Aboriginal Land Rights Act. Native Title rights were extinguished with the stroke of a pen to seize land for a radioactive waste dump in SA, and Aboriginal heritage laws and land rights were repeatedly overridden with the push to dump nuclear waste in the NT
The bipartisan nuclear war against Aboriginal people, Dr Jim Green, Online opinion 11 July 14 The nuclear industry has been responsible for some of the crudest racism in Australia’s history. This radioactive racism dates from the British bomb tests in the 1950s and it has been evident in more recent debates over nuclear waste.
Since 2006 successive federal governments have been attempting to establish a nuclear waste dump at Muckaty, 110 kms north of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory. A toxic trade-off of basic services for a radioactive waste dump has been part of this story from the start. The nomination of the Muckaty site was made with the promise of $12 million compensation package comprising roads, houses and scholarships. Muckaty Traditional Owner Kylie Sambo objected to this radioactive ransom: “I think that is a very, very stupid idea for us to sell our land to get better education and scholarships. As an Australian we should be already entitled to that.”
While a small group of Traditional Owners supported the dump, a large majority were opposed and some initiated legal action in the Federal Court challenging the nomination of the Muckaty site by the federal government and the Northern Land Council (NLC). Continue reading
Australia’s fossil fuel front groups “tax deductible gift recipients” !
The IPA and Waubra Foundation’s charitable tax status rorts Independent Australia Sandi Keane 8 July 2014 Why do corporate lobby groups like the IPA and fossil fuel front organisations like the Waubra Foundation retain ‘deductible gift recipient’ status, while genuine environmental charities like the Australian Conservation Foundation face having theirs stripped away by the Abbott Government.Sandi Keane investigates.
FOR AN ORGANISATION that has been touting ‘low taxes‘ for sixty years, the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) sure delivers big on tax benefits to its major donors, especially Big Mining — which is already heavily subsidised by Australia’s taxpayers (note graphic below right).
Some, like Glencore, not only enjoy such subsidies but have no qualms about paying zero tax. These are the true “leaners” we tax-payers have to “lift”, as this article will show……….
Fortunately, Sourcewatch has done significant work into the IPA’s funding and relates the following:
The IPA has heavily relied on funding from a small number of conservative corporations. Those funders disclosed by the IPA to journalists and media organisations include:
- Major mining companies – BHP-Billiton and Western Mining Corporation;
- Pesticides/Genetically modified organisms: Monsanto;
- A range of other companies including communications company Telstra, Clough Engineering, Visy, and News Limited;
- Tobacco companies – Philip Morris (Nahan) and British American Tobacco
- Oil and gas companies: Caltex, Esso Australia (a subsidiary of Exxon) and Shell and Woodside Petroleum; and fifteen major companies in the electricity industry;
- Forestry: Gunns, the largest logging company in Tasmania;
- Murray Irrigation Ltd …
In 2003, the Australian [Howard] Government paid $50,000 to the Institute of Public Affairs to review the accountability of NGOs.
The latest truly breathtaking rort is tax deductibility for donations to fund the new IPA-promoted misinformation manual, Climate Change: The Facts 2014. Like previous books, it attacks climate science, carbon pricing and renewable energy targets……….http://www.independentaustralia.net/environment/environment-display/the-ipa-and-waubra-foundations-charitable-tax-status-rorts,6649
1 This month
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/2352741955560
15 April – Zoom –Nuclear Power is Not the Solution
Apr 15, 2026 01:00 AM in Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney
Join the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) on Tuesday, April 14th for a timely webinar exploring the risks associated with nuclear power and challenging the myth that it offers a simple, safe, carbon-free solution to the climate crisis
21 April Webinar: No Nuclear Weapons in Australia
Start: 2026-04-21 18:00:00 UTC Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney (GMT+10:00)
End: 2026-04-21 19:30:00 UTC Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney (GMT+10:00)
Event Type: Virtual
A virtual link will be communicated before the event.
Host Contact Info: australia@icanw.org
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity
Antinuclear 