Dan Tehan, Liberal MP for Wannon urged to save jobs, business, by keeping Clean Energy Finance Corporation
MP urged to help save clean energy fund ABC News, 19 Sep 2013, The Victorian Wind Alliance is calling on the Liberal Member for Wannon, Dan Tehan, to help stop the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) from being axed.
The Federal Government’s ministry was sworn in yesterday and it is understood legislation to abolish the clean energy fund is to be drafted immediately.The corporation recently granted a loan to a Portland wind project by Pacific Hydro and renewable energy businesses are concerned their projects will no longer get the investment needed.
Andrew Bray of the Victorian Wind Alliance says a strong industry has developed in Victoria’s south-west and Mr Tehan should move to protect that.
“For the Government to be moving in this way, in a way that’s so contrary to this area is not really a good look,” he said. “So we would really like to see Dan Tehan take up the fight for south-west Victoria, from within Government.
“We think there’s room for them, now they’re in Government, [to] adjust some of their thinking on this.” Keppel Prince Engineering general manager Steve Garner says the corporation has helped renewable energy projects be approved faster.
He says without the grants, business may drop off. “That’s the impact that we would see, is a lull between projects and if that happens then we really do have to assess whether this business is something we want remain in, because it has huge costs and huge impact on us,” he said.
“It’s disappointing that the Liberal National Party are continuing with this push to try and abolish the CEFC,” he said.
“I’m hopeful that those people are able to convince the Libs of a different position because I see them as an absolute asset for Australian manufacturing, Australian jobs and for getting the country moving in relation to renewable energy.”……http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-19/mp-urged-to-help-save-clean-energy-fund/4967196
To shut the Climate Change Authority is an attack on future generations
Abbott shuts down Climate Commission (includes opinion poll) Tom Arup Environment editor, The Age 19 Sept 13 A spokeswoman for Mr Hunt said he had also approved a brief to begin drafting a bill to repeal the separate Climate Change Authority as part of the Coalition’s broader efforts to remove the carbon price.
She said the government would hold more discussions with the authority in coming weeks.
While the Climate Commission could be abolished by the minister at any time, the authority can only be shut down by an act of Parliament.
The authority was created to advise the government on emissions-reduction targets and caps and to detail international efforts to combat climate change. It was due to release a draft of a report on targets and caps next month.
A Climate Change Authority spokeswoman said it believed the government intended to abolish the agency through the repeal of legislation, but it did not have any further information at this time.
Greens leader Christine Milne said said issuing instructions to close the authority was irresponsible in the face of dangerous climate change.
“The Climate Change Authority was set up to de-politicise the process of setting greenhouse emission reduction targets. Everyone knows that a 5 per cent emission reduction target is woefully inadequate,” Senator Milne said. “Shutting down the Climate Change Authority, ahead of its first report on fair and science based emission reduction targets for Australia, is cowardly and an attack on current and future generations.” http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/abbott-shuts-down-climate-commission-20130919-2u185.html#ixzz2fSelP96C
Legislation needed to axe Climate Change Authority. Public to be kept in the dark
”what will the future think of the people who voted for this action?”
Mr Hunt declined to respond to questions from Fairfax Media.
Scientists say climate cuts leave public in the dark September 19, 2013 Peter Hannam, The Age Carbon economy editor The Abbott government’s plan to make scrapping the Climate Commission and the Climate Change Authority among its first priorities will deprive Australians of independent information on global warming just when it is needed most, leading scientists say.
Staff at the Climate Commission, a federal body set up to publicise climate-change science, have all but ceased work as they await instructions from new Environment Minister Greg Hunt.
The Climate Change Authority, a statutory body that will need a change in legislation before it can be axed, is continuing work on a draft report due out next month. That report will recommend the level of cuts to greenhouse gas emissions Australia should set and also details international efforts to combat climate change.
Abbott government illegal in telling Clean Energy Finance Corporation to cease operations
Clean Energy Finance Corporation could sue over Coalition shutdown It is not lawful for the new government to tell the CEFC to cease operations, says leading barrister Lenore Taylor, political editor theguardian.com, Thursday 19 September 2013
The board of the clean energy finance corporation is legally obliged to ignore a directive from the new treasurer, Joe Hockey, to cease its operation and could take the Coalition government to court if it persisted in attempts to shut the CEFC down before the parliament voted to abolish it, according to advice from a leading barrister. Continue reading
Abbott scraps Climate Commission, puts the vacuous Greg Hunt in charge!
Heaven help Australia – no Climate Change Department, and Greg Hunt of all people, in charge of climate matters!
Tim Flannery sacked, Climate Commission dismantled by Coalition by: Gemma Jones Political Reporter From: News Limited Network September 19, 2013 PROFESSOR Tim Flannery has been sacked by the Abbott Government from his $180,000 a year part time Chief Climate Commissioner position with the agency he runs to be dismantled immediately.
Environment Minister Greg Hunt called Prof Flannery this morning to tell him a letter formally ending his employment was in the mail.
In the letter, Mr Hunt tells Prof Flannery: “The Climate Commission does not have an ongoing role, and consequently I am writing to advise you that the Climate Commission has been dissolved, with effect from the date of this letter…… All other climate commissioners will also be sacked with the move to save more than $500,000 this financial year and $1.2 million next financial year.
The Coalition will now take advice on climate change from the Department of the Environment. – [Greg Hunt as Minister]
Tony Abbott’s real reasons for abolishing carbon price – and for his Direct Action sham
Secondly, powerful vested interests in Australia, including the fossil fuel lobby, mining industry and carbon intensive corporations are heavy donors to Mr Abbott’s Liberal Party.
Why Tony Abbott wants to abolish the carbon price, The Guardian, by Alexander White Wednesday 18 September 2013
Why is abolishing the carbon price Tony Abbott’s ‘top legislative priority’? “……. in my view it’s clear that Mr Abbott wants to abolish the carbon tax primarily for two reasons.
Firstly, he is either not convinced of the urgency of the threat of climate change to Australia’s economy or society, or doesn’t believe in climate change at all. For example, one of Tony Abbott’s business advisors, former ABC chairman Maurice Newman, in an article in The Australian equated concern over climate change to a “global warming religion” and climate scientists as a “global warming priesthood”.
Mr Abbott himself famously said in an interview that climate change is “crap”, and his ministry and senior member of his political party are avowed climate change science deniers. This position was made clear in 2009 by Malcolm Turnbull after being dumped as leader: Continue reading
Nuclear lobby front man Paul Howes will bide his time to get into Parliament
Christina Macpherson What is this – Paul Howes posing as some sort of left-winger? Backed by the big mining corporations and the nuclear lobby, Paul Howes helped them to get rid of Kevin Rudd’s Super Profits Mining Tax, and indeed, to get rid of Kevin Rudd.
Paul Howes is a gung-ho advocate for Australia’s uranium/nuclear lobby – and he will make his move when he deems that he is sure to be elected
Union chief Paul Howes abandons bid for Senate vacancy, saying it would have got ugly PAUL CLEARY THE AUSTRALIAN SEPTEMBER 19, 2013
……….HIGH-profile union leader Paul Howes has decided not to stand for a possible Senate vacancy, saying he does not want to spark a brawl in the NSW branch of the Labor Party. “I don’t want to be a wrecker and I don’t want to divide,” Mr Howes, the national secretary of the Australian Workers Union and so-called “faceless man”, told reporters in Sydney……..
As an ALP Right faction powerbroker, Mr Howes played a role in Julia Gillard’s overthrow of Kevin Rudd as prime minister in 2010 -…….
Mr Howes refused to rule out running for parliament in the future, including as a lower house candidate in the next federal election. He declared his support for Bill Shorten in the leadership contest for federal Labor. : http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/union-chief-paul-howes-abandons-bid-for-possible-senate-vacancy/story-fn59niix-1226722672466#sthash.A7cN4HdX.dpuf
Martin Ferguson applauds the Abbott government’s attack on renewable energy
Christina Macpherson Just as well I’m not a subscriber to the Fin Rev – so I wasn’t able to read this almost certainly nauseous article. Anyway, readers might have noticed that Australia’s former (Labor) Energy Minister, Martin Ferguson, has gone very quiet in recent months.
In that job, Martin Ferguson functioned with determination as the Minister Against Renewable Energy. It was a hard job for him, seeing that he was in a government that supported renewable energy and action on climate change.
So now, at last, – Ferguson can come out in his true colours – as servant of the polluting industries, and happily supporting the Liberals in their servitude to the polluting industries. What’s next for Ferguson – a big job with BHP, or with the Australian Uranium Association, or with John 
White, working for Australia as international radioactive trash dump?
Ferguson backs lower renewable energy target Financial Review Former energy minister Martin Ferguson has backed an industry campaign to reduce the renewable energy target, an intervention which will strengthen the hand of critics of the scheme within the Coalition. (subscribers only)
18 SEP 2013 http://www.afr.com/p/national/ferguson_backs_lower_renewable_energy_KMQdzXIjg1aFFox2r6XIcJ
Indigenous Affairs to be run by Prime Minister’s Office, and the unelected Indigenous Advisory Council
Senator hails change NT News, STAFF WRITERS | September 17th, 2013 TERRITORY Senator Nigel Scullion is the country’s new Indigenous Affairs Minister………The administration of the portfolio will now rest within the Prime Minister’s office – not the Indigenous Affairs Department.
“Having the support of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet ensures that I will have influence across all portfolios,” he said.
Senator Scullion has already met with Indigenous Advisory Council chair Warren Mundine and said they shared “common ground on most issues”……http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2013/09/17/325000_ntnews.html
If uranium becomes profitable – likely that Queensland will ship it through Barrier Reef
Qld Mines Minister Andrew Cripps says no current plan to ship uranium through Barrier Reef ABC News, By James Kelly, Francis Tapim and Isobel Roe 13 Sep 2013, Queensland’s Mines Minister Andrew Cripps says uranium will not be exported through the Great Barrier Reef any time soon, but will not rule it out down the track. The State Government announced yesterday its action plan to reintroduce uranium mining in Queensland after lifting the ban in October last year…….
Mr Cripps says once mining starts, uranium would be shipped out of existing licensed ports in Adelaide or Darwin.
“Any situation where the commercial volumes of uranium developed in Queensland requiring the licensing of an additional port somewhere in Queensland is many years into the future,” he said.
Reef shipping ‘catastrophe waiting to happen’
Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) spokeswoman Felicity Wishart says shipping uranium through the reef is a catastrophe waiting to happen…… Continue reading
Australia’s new Abbott government to axe or gut 12 renewable energy programs
The Harvester Of Australian Renewable Energy’s Sorrow http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3941 13 Sept 13, Now that the coal dust of the Coalition’s election win is starting to settle; the soon-to-be clean energy corpses are easier to see. It’s been a period of mourning for many with a stake in Australia’s renewable energy efforts; with Prime Minister-elect Abbott’s well-oiled scythe poised to ruthlessly slash its way through related programs.
Here’s a partial casualty list; victims of the war on a low-carbon future:
To be axed:
– Clean Technology Program
– Energy Efficiency Information Grants
– Clean Energy Skills package
– Clean Technology Focus for Supply Chain programs
– Connecting Renewables
– CEFC
– Climate Change Authority
– Climate Change Commission
– Geothermal and tidal elements of Direct Action.
To be gutted:
– “Million Solar Roofs” rebate to be halved and with a narrowed scope
– Money for the above to come out of ARENA’s budget
– Reports of a further $532M to be cut from ARENA
According to The Australian, 33 climate change related schemes run by seven departments and eight agencies will be collapsed into just three bodies run by two departments. Whether this will provide better efficiency or just more bottlenecks interfering with progress remains to be seen.
As is widely known, the Coalition Government has its sights set on bringing legislation to axe the carbon tax to the first sitting of new Parliament; but it also realises it may not get its wish until after the senate changes in July 2014 (and even then there is some doubt). Continue reading
AUDIO: Government’s axing of Clean Energy Finance Corporation brings investor uncertainty
AUDIO: Renewable energy company calls for new government to provide certainty http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2013/s3848082.htm Simon Lauder reported this story on Friday, September 13, 2013 12:18:00 SCOTT BEVAN: The Federal Government’s plan to axe the Clean Energy Finance Corporation is causing concerns for at least one major company in the sector.
The Coalition says the clean energy finance corporation is little more than a hedge fund investing taxpayers’ money in financially unviable projects.
But Pacific Hydro, which has just benefited from a $70 million loan from the Corporation, says if the Coalition Government goes ahead with its plan, it must provide more certainty in the market or investment will suffer.
Simon Lauder reports. SIMON LAUDER: Pacific Hydro has announced it now has the money to go ahead with the fourth and final stage of a 179 megawatt wind farm near Portland in Victoria.
The company’s general manager Lane Crockett says private banks threw in more than $150 million after the government’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation invested $70 million in the project. Continue reading
Australia’s Liberal Government and Queensland State Government’s conflicting views on uranium mining
Abbott, Newman could clash on uranium http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/os-ed-front-burner-nuclear-loans-con-20130912,0,1513077.story 13 Sept 13 Queensland’s plan to control uranium mine approvals would bring it into conflict with the new federal government, conservationists say. The Liberal National Party state government released it’s uranium strategy on Thursday, and it wants the federal government to hand it power to approve uranium projects.
The federal coalition has campaigned to keep uranium approvals with the commonwealth.
Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) says the state plan would put it at odds with the federal government. “The Queensland government’s action plan is ill-considered and inadequate,” spokesman Dave Sweeney told AAP.
“The LNP position is in conflict with federal coalition uranium policy and commitments.” Mr Sweeney also said that Queensland’s plan completely ignored the world’s weak uranium market, where prices had plummeted since the Fukushima disaster in 2011.
Queensland government pro uranium mining, but cautions on poor market for uranium
Qld Government moves closer to re-establish uranium mining ABC News, By Kim Lyell, 13 Sept 13 The Queensland Government has released a plan to re-establish uranium mining in the state as early as next year…….. Mines Minister Andrew Cripps says the Government has accepted the findings of an independent committee that, with some adaptations, uranium mining could resume under existing industry regulation and radiation safety systems.
“An action plan has been released and an oversight committee established,” he said. Mr Cripps says the action plan covers all aspects of the approvals process, environmental and health and safety standards, Indigenous opportunities and native title.
The Government says although it could assess applications from next year, the market for uranium will ultimately determine when mining begins……http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-12/qld-government-moves-to-re-establish-uranium-mining/4953742
Climate denialist Dennis Jensen might become Australia’s Science Minister!
Climate sceptic MP Dennis Jensen wants to be science minister The Age, September 12, 2013 Jonathan Swan National political reporter Coalition MP Dennis Jensen, who is a vocal climate science sceptic, has called on Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott to appoint him as science minister.
“At the moment to be honest I’m feeling under-utilised,” said Dr Jensen, the member for Tangney in Western Australia, who has a master’s degree in physics and a PhD in material science. “I think that I’ve got a lot to offer,” he added. “I’ve got some unique attributes.”……..
Dr Jensen suggests he would be better qualified than anyone to take charge of science. “I’m not aware of any other scientist [in the Parliament],” he said.
Dr Jensen has made headlines by questioning the scientific consensus that humans are contributing to global warming.Dr Jensen believes carbon dioxide is contributing somewhat to global temperatures, but not as much as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is suggesting.
Moreover, Dr Jensen does not think governments should be taking urgent action to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
“In the climate area there is appeal to authority and appeal to consensus, neither of which is scientific at all,” Dr Jensen told Fairfax Media on Thursday.”Scientific reality doesn’t give a damn who said it and it doesn’t give a damn how many say it.”
It was wrong to accept the view of the 97 per cent of climate scientists who agree that climate-warming trends over the past century are very likely caused by human activities, because “the argument of consensus . . . is a flawed argument,” Dr Jensen said.
The colourful Englishman, Lord Christopher Monckton, who toured Australia to debunk the “bogus science” of global warming, was closer to the mark, Dr Jensen suggested. “Most of the stuff [Lord Monckton] says is entirely reasonable,” Dr Jensen said…….. http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/climate-sceptic-mp-dennis-jensen-wants-to-be-science-minister-20130912-2tltt.html#ixzz2eopPyvSg
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/235274195556
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 