Tony Abbott’s Tea Party proposals in full swing
Abbott confirms his tea party connections http://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/5-things-we-learned-this-week-about-tea-party-politics-22437 REneweconomy, Giles Parkinson, 1 Feb 13, We’ve been casting Tony Abbott in the role of Tea Party conservative for months now, fretting that he might somehow take offence. Not at all. The Opposition leader proudly told the Canberra press gallery in his stump speech on Thursday that he had hosted not one, not two, but 33 local morning teas with voters over the past year or so. And, by golly, he conceded, climate change is real and man may even be making a contribution towards it, which is why he is proposing something sensibly practical that the CWA would be proud of – organize a series working bee to pick up litter, build boardwalks, and plant trees. There will probably even be a BBQ.
Abbott did, of course, promise to repeal the carbon tax, saying his previous support for the measure was in the context of other countries doing the same. He insisted no other country is going “anywhere near” carbon taxes or trading schemes – apparently never having never heard of carbon taxes and ETS’s and pilot programs implemented and planned throughout the 27 states of Europe, Scandinavia, New Zealand, South Korea, China, California, a bunch of other American states and Canadian provinces, South Africa and Mexico. Not to mention Kazakhstan. And where did we find such subversive information? Well, Google would have done the trick, but most of it is contained in his own Direct Action policy. Here it is on page 9.
Tony Abbott selects anti-wind power, climate denialists, as top advisors
Abbott’s adviser hates wind farms, doubts climate change Crikey, TRISTAN EDIS | JAN 29, 2013 Tony Abbott’s latest Coalition policy statement remains short on climate policy detail. More worrying is his selection of a noted anti-wind farm advocate and climate change sceptic as lead business adviser.
Tony Abbott’s policy statement promised the direction, values and policy priorities of the next Coalition government. It contained no additional detail on climate change policy beyond what was outlined in the Coalition’s 2010 election policy, which was largely expected. But what was more unnerving was outlined under economic policy:
“We will establish a new Prime Minister’s Business Advisory Council to advise the Executive Government on developing the economy. The Business Advisory Council will be chaired by leading Australian business leader Mr Maurice Newman.” ….
he [Newman] has also made a range of public statements that indicate his advice to Abbott will be detrimental to businesses focussed on clean energy and carbon abatement. On wind power, Newman wrote in the publication The Spectator on January 21 last year: Continue reading
Australian political parties’ policies on Climate Change
Where the major parties stand on clean energy and climate REneweconomy, By Giles Parkinson 31 January 2013 The official party platforms have not yet been unveiled for the September 14 poll – and may not be until after the “official” campaign period begins on August 12. Still, it’s pretty clear where the three main parties stand, so we’ve outlined the principal issues.
CLIMATE CHANGE, IS IT REAL?
Coalition: Abbott is still haunted by his remark describing the science underpinning climate change as “crap”, and in his written campaign speech on Monday said nothing to suggest he has changed his mind. Quite the opposite, actually. Party policy still has no mention of “climate change” or the threat it poses, rather talk of “cleaning up the environment” via direct action to reduce carbon emissions and “a 15,000-strong Green Army charged with the clean-up and conservation of our environment – so that we can all enjoy a cleaner environment and a more sustainable future without the impost of the carbon tax.”
Abbott is also surrounded by climate denialists in own party, and on his Business Advisory Council, which is to be chaired by Maurice Newman, who also happens to be a vocal anti-wind energy campaigner. Joe Hockey has vowed to dismantle the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency.
Labor: Yes. Federal climate change minister Greg Combet has repeatedly said that “the debate over whether climate change is real was decided long ago,” while the PM told the National Press Club on Wednesday that “climate change is not a future proposition. We are living through climate change.”
Greens: Yes, and they are the only party to propose policies that truly reflect the science.
CARBON PRICE…
RENEWABLE ENERGY TARGET…..
EMISSIONS REDUCTION TARGET….
SOLAR:….
CARBON FARMING INITIATIVE….. http://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/where-the-parties-stand-on-clean-energyclimate-82709
Tony Abbott’s climate policies – straight from USA’s Koch brothers and Tea Party
In Australia, those [climate change action] mechanisms have been set in motion – albeit a little too slowly – through the carbon price, the renewable energy target, and the Clean Energy Finance Corp (CEFC) and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.
Abbott, though, is determined to throw this transition into reverse.
The whole policy is, of course, absolute nonsense, as even Malcolm Turnbull has revealed on several occasions. It’s a policy designed by vested interests – to sweep away as many environmental checks and balances and initiatives at state and federal level to allow certain organisations to maximise short term profits.
Abbott locks in with Tea Party and a green army http://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/abbott-locks-in-with-tea-party-and-a-green-army-67668 By Giles Parkinson 28 January 2013 This is going to be a very long year. Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has kicked off the political calendar with a sort of mini-election launch in the western suburbs of Sydney. Some media types billed it as a presidential-style event, but the most striking and worrying similarity to the last US election campaign was not Abbott’s shirt sleeves nor his soapbox, but his grim determination to hang on to Tea Party politics and policies on climate and clean energy.
“Isn’t it bizarre that this government thinks that somehow raising the price of electricity is going to clean up our environment, stop bushfires, stop floods, stop droughts?” Abbott said in his speech. “Just think of how much hotter it might have been the other day but for the carbon tax!”
Borrowed straight from the handbook of Fox News in the US, Alan Jones, and News Ltd bloggers such as Andrew Bolt and Tim Blair. Abbott seems grimly determined to ignore the science in the search of cheap trick.
Of course a carbon imposed six months ago won’t knock 0.5C off Sydney’s record of 45.6 in early January – any more than paying utilities to close coal-fired generation would under the Coalition’s plans would.
As the science explains, the climate impacts we are feeling now are the result of man-made emissions built up over decades. And as President Obama explained in his inauguration speech last week, the action we take now will influence our legacy for future generations. It is worth repeating those words. “We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations. Continue reading
Mining enthusiast new candidate for Katter’s Australia Party
Katter candidate throws hat in ring: mining, Aborigines on Australia Party agenda Central Western Daily 25 Jan 13 BRIAN Cain was officially endorsed as the Calare candidate for Katter’s Australia Party on Wednesday, with Aboriginal equality and improving the image of mining high on his agenda…… Mr Cain spoke about how the Greens had tarnished the image of the mining industry and he wanted to give the industry a public relations facelift in the eyes of Calare constituents….. Mr Cain worked in the mining industry for 40 years. ….. Mr Cain wants Aboriginal people to have more involvement, particularly in mining.
He said 98 per cent of people employed by the mining industry in Australia’s north were Aboriginal, yet only 2 per cent of people employed in the south were Aboriginal….. http://www.centralwesterndaily.com.au/story/1256428/katter-candidate-throws-hat-in-ring-mining-aborigines-on-australia-party-agenda/?cs=103
Ms Nova Peris-Kneebone – an Aboriginal puppet and show pony for the Australian government?
Michael Anderson condemns Peris-Kneebone “steamrolling” Dubbo, central NSW, 23 January 2013 – A prominent Aboriginal sovereignty campaigner has condemned Prime Minister Gillard’s choice of former athlete, Nova Peris-Kneebone, for the Northern Territory Senate seat.
“I do not have confidence in her ability to stand up for and fight the hard fight that is coming our way,” writes Michael Ghillar Anderson in a media release.
“Ms Peris-Kneebone is only being used as a public relations exercise for Labor.
“After all, what role has Ms Nova Peris-Kneebone played in fighting the hard political fights that we are currently involved in?
“Ms Nova Peris-Kneebone has not been involved in major political processes, rallies or otherwise. She has been missing in political action all the time,” Mr Anderson writes.
Mr Anderson is the last survivor of the four young Black Power men who founded the Aboriginal embassy in Canberra 41 years ago and now speaks for the Sovereign Union of First Nations Peoples set up at its 40th anniversary last January 26th.
“The question that has to be asked of Ms Nova Peris-Kneebone is, if she is going to be involved in politics at this level, is she going to be a Julia Gillard puppet with little to no power or opinion, but instead, fall in line with Julia Gillard’s personal and political ambitions?
“The other horror will be that Ms Nova Peris-Kneebone will be put up and used as a show pony for the Labor party at an international level,” the media release says.
“I appeal to Ms Nova Peris-Kneebone to rethink this offer so as to ensure that she is not a puppet of Julia Gillard’s Labor party, otherwise we need her to come out and simply say that just because she is Aboriginal she is not our voice.
“She is the voice of the Labor party and their policies. She cannot argue that she has an Aboriginal mandate to speak for what our people want.
“I condemn Julia Gillard’s action of steamrolling Ms Nova Peris-Kneebone into the Northern Territory Senate seat.”
Mr Anderson’s release in full: Continue reading
Balance freedom and security or put both in danger – Greens
23 January 2013. Australian Greens communications spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam warned the 
Federal Government to avoid jeopardising civil liberties and human rights in the pursuit of security in the wake of the Prime Minister’s national security announcements today.
“It’s a positive that the Prime Minister recognises that a secure international environment is built on trust, and reaffirmed the nation’s commitment to multilateralism, but some of her statements and much of the Government’s ‘security’ agenda causes concern.
“The notion that online security threats are ‘the new terrorism’ is already generating an expensive overkill in cyber security measures. The Government has touted a series of troubling measures including the proposed retention of the electronic communications data of all Australians for a period of two years. What’s next?
“We are concerned by the implications of greater collaboration between Government and the private sector on online matters. While the idea sounds innocuous, what will be the implications for privacy, copyright, and freedom of communication?
“The Prime Minister glosses over Australia’s legislative response to the crimes of 9/11 as though it was a resounding success. The Howard-Ruddock ‘anti-terror’ laws were extreme, damaged civil liberties and undermined our justice system. The tripling of security budgets the Prime Minister cited has entailed the expanded apparatus seeking new ways to justify its huge and growing money pot.
“We will continue to subject the Government’s cyber security plans to intense scrutiny, to ensure the human rights and civil liberties of Australians are not sacrificed in the fervent pursuit of a largely questionable agenda.”
Not happy, Julia, about pre-selection of Nova Peris
AUDIO Some internal ALP unrest over Nova Peris pre-selection http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-23/some-internal-alp-unrest-over-nova-peris-pre/4479622?section=nt
The Prime Minister Julia Gillard has sidelined the sitting Northern Territory Labor Senator Trish Crossing by intervening in the Territory’s pre-selection process to have Indigenous Olympian Nova Peris selected. The move has raised the hackles of some within Labor ranks, who say it was not only politically brutal but has marginalised NT Labor members…..
MARION SCRYMGOUR: I think people are cranky. It just robs the territory of the right to have a say.
LEXI METHERELL: Darwin-born Indigenous woman Marion Scrymgour has been involved with the NT Labor Party for many years and was deputy chief minister.
MARION SCRYMGOUR: At the end of the day, yes the Prime Minister has her way. But she had her way with Warren Mundine, she had her way with Kevin Rudd. And I’m a bit sick of this National Executive who aren’t the elected arm to make these decisions…..
DOUG CAMERON: If we have got a problem in the Northern Territory with Indigenous representation we should have been dealing with this six months ago or longer. We should be looking at how we can attract talented Aboriginal people into the party, how we can make the party relevant to them.
I don’t think it’s relevant just to be parachuting people in and saying that that soothes our conscience in terms of Aboriginal representation, because it’s a short term fix that belies the deeper problem….. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-23/some-internal-alp-unrest-over-nova-peris-pre/4479622?section=nt
Australian Greens not all in agreement with Jonathan Moylan’s Whitehaven Coal stunt
Greens at odds over Whitehaven stunt, The Age, 17 Jan 13
The Australian Greens are split over a hoax that temporarily wiped $300 million off the value of Whitehaven Coal. The Greens leader, Christine Milne, has said the action was part of a long history of civil disobedience. Her colleague Lee Rhiannon congratulated the activist Jonathan Moylan, who issued a bogus press release purporting to be from ANZ Bank cancelling a loan facility. But another Greens senator, Sarah Hanson-Young, said the stunt was not something she would encourage. She told Sky News: ”I wouldn’t be encouraging people to go willy-nilly and taking this type of action. I understand why it was taken, I understand the frustrations but don’t encourage others to do it.” Another Greens senator, Peter Whish-Wilson, told The Australian Financial Review he would not have taken such action or congratulated Mr Moylan for it.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/greens-at-odds-over-whitehaven-stunt-20130117-2cw44.html
Queensland’s Premier Newman shows his ignorance about climate science
Climate change talk ‘convenient’: Newman THE AUSTRALIAN AAP January 14, 2013 Qld premier Campbell Newman (R) says it’s “convenient” to blame climate change for the bushfires. Source: AAP
THE Queensland premier says it’s “very convenient” to blame climate change for conditions that have always occurred in Australia. Campbell Newman made the comment after federal Nationals Leader Warren Truss said it was “utterly simplistic” to draw a link between climate change and Australia’s recent heatwave and bushfire crisis.
But last week, the federal government’s Climate Commission said the heatwave and bushfires had been exacerbated by global warming.
On Monday, Mr Newman was asked if he believed there was a link between the bushfires, the heatwave and climate change.
“It’s very convenient to blame things that have happened in this country for millennia on climate change,” he replied…….
“I believe we can leave to the experts to make the debate about whether that’s the case….
“The Climate Commission says climate change is making heatwaves more frequent and making it more likely they will stay for longer,” The Australian Conservation Foundation spokesman Tony Mohr said in a statement. “The same body of climate experts expects extreme fire danger days to rise more than 15 per cent in most of eastern Australia.” http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/climate-change-talk-convenient-newman/story-fn3dxiwe-1226553573449
Australia’s Maralinga atomic test victims – soldiers and Aboriginals – deserve compensation
Government must do the right thing by Maralinga victims, 11 January 2013. The Greens have called on the Government to ensure victims of the atomic testing at Maralinga are properly compensated after a British court decision overnight shattered hopes for justice.
Greens spokesperson for nuclear policy, Senator for Western Australia Scott Ludlam, said the hopes of Australians exposed to nuclear testing in the 1950s were dealt a serious blow by another UK court ruling against compensation.
“In 2010 the British courts ruled British veterans who participated in nuclear tests in Australia could not sue the Defence Ministry because they could not prove their illnesses were caused by exposure to radiation. Now, Aboriginal people expose to the same toxic tests have been told their legal fight is over for the same reason.
“Foreign Minister Bob Carr should be on the phone urging the British Government to deal directly with the victims – outside of court – and compensate them appropriately with an act of grace payment.”
Senator Ludlam said the veterans have said the exposure caused cancer, birth defects amongst their children, and other disorders such as anaemia.
“There is no doubt these people were exposed to dangerously high levels of radiation and there is no doubt many of them have suffered greatly, but it is almost impossible to prove concretely that the testing more than 50 years ago caused their illnesses and the illnesses of their children.
“The British Government detonated atomic bombs in this country and should take responsibility for the consequences. People should need only to prove that they were exposed to high levels of radiation as a result of the weapons testing in order to get compensation,” he said.
Kimberley gas hub an election issue – Compulsory Acquisition pressure on Aboriginal people
The Barnett/Grylls government’s act of Compulsory Acquisition…is simply another episode in the dispossession of
Aboriginal people. Compulsory acquisition can never promote nor lead
to self-determination. By no measure was the James Price Point Native
Title Agreement made with ‘free, prior and informed consent’,
consistent with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples.
The Greens say that it is morally wrong to use Compulsory Acquisition
to pressure native title holders to trade their country for services
and benefits that are entitlements of citizenship…….
Greens Candidate Chris Maher says the proposed Kimberley gas hub is
the central election issue this year. Kimberley Page, 10 Jan 13,
“But the election will be about more than just the gas hub; it will be
about a vision for the future of the Kimberley,” Mr Maher said. Chris
Maher
The Greens Candidate for the Kimberley. 8 January 2013 The central
issue for the Kimberley in this year’s WA State Election is the
proposed LNG processing factory at James Price Point, just north of
Broome Continue reading
Australia’s new weather demands a new politics
Events have not been kind to the likes of Abbott, Bolt and Plimer. The current heatwave – so severe that the Bureau of Meteorology has been forced to add a new colour to its temperature maps – is just the latest event in a decade of extraordinary weather: weather of the kind that scientists have long warned is a likely consequence of man-made global warming.
Tony Abbott says he’s currently on standby with his local fire brigade but as his opposition to effective action on climate change is likely to contribute to even more extreme events in the future, this looks like the most cynical kind of stunt politics.
Australia’s new weather demands a new politics; a politics capable of responding to an existential threat.
Heatwave: Australia’s new weather demands a new politics http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/08/australia-heatwave-weather
Climate change clashes with the myth of a land where progress is limited only by the rate at which resources can be extracted George Monbiot
guardian.co.uk, 8 January 2013 I wonder what Tony Abbott will say about the record heatwave now ravaging his country. The Australian opposition leader has repeatedly questioned the science and impacts of climate change. He has insisted that “the science is highly contentious, to say the least” and asked – demonstrating what looks like a wilful ignorance – “If man-made CO2 was quite the villain that many of these people say it is, why hasn’t there just been a steady increase starting in 1750, and moving in a linear way up the graph?”He has argued against Australian participation in serious attempts to cut emissions.
Climate change denial is almost a national pastime in Australia. People such as Andrew Bolt and Ian Plimer have made a career out of it. The Australian – owned by Rupert Murdoch – takes such extreme anti-science positions that it sometimes makes the Sunday Telegraph look like the voice of reason. Continue reading
Heaven help us if Abbott gets into power – listen to his top business advisor Maurice Newman
From Wikipedia – Maurice Newman on Climate change and Wind Energy
In a speech to senior ABC staff on 10 March 2010 he said climate change was an example of “group-think”. According to an ABC PM account of the speech: “Contrary views had not been tolerated, and those who expressed them had been labelled and mocked. Mr Newman has doubts about climate change himself and says he’s waiting for proof either way.”
Interviewed by Brendan Trembath he said: “But climate change is at the moment an emotional issue but it really is the fundamental issue about the need to bring voices that have authority and are relevant to the particular issue to the attention of our audiences so that they themselves can make decisions. So that we are seen to trust and respect them sufficiently that they can make up their own minds about the various points of view that are being expressed through the medium of the ABC.”[7]
In answer to the question of whether he was a climate change denier he replied: “I am an agnostic and I have always been an agnostic and I will remain and agnostic until I’ve found compelling evidence on one side or the other that will move me. I think that what seems fairly clear to me is that the climate science is still being developed. There are a lot question marks about some of the fundamental data which has been used to build models that requires caution.”[8]
Wind farms
In an article published in The Spectator, Newman expresses views in opposition to wind energy. He wrote “I am not a conspiracy theorist, but we have witnessed the birth of an extraordinary, universal and self-reinforcing movement among the political and executive arms of government, their academic consultants, the mainstream media and vested private sector interests (such as investment banks and the renewables industry), held together by the promise of unlimited government money. It may not be a conspiracy, but long-term, government-underwritten annuities have certainly created one gigantic and powerful oligopoly which must coerce taxpayers and penalise energy consumers to survive.” His article concluded “But don’t expect help from academia, mainstream media or the public service. They are members of the same establishment and worship together at the altar of global warming. By ruthlessly perpetuating the illusion that wind farms can somehow save the planet, they keep the money flowing. All the while the poor become poorer, ever more dependent on welfare and colder in winter.” (“Against the wind”, 21 January 2012, http://www.spectator.co.uk/australia/7589188/against-the-wind.thtml) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Newman
Australian mining companies are lobbying to remove Aboriginal right to veto mining on their land
Northern Territory Review of Aboriginal Land Rights https://www.amec.org.au/northern-territory-review-of-aboriginal-land-rights-4030 Association of Mining and Exploration Companies
December 10, 2012
Part IV of the Aboriginal Land Rights Act (1976) is under review to ensure that the regulations are fulfilling the purposes that were intended. AMEC, in consultation with various members that operate in the Northern Territory, have responded that significant and often unnecessary delays are inherent in the current system.
The main recommendations from the AMEC submission is the removal of the right of veto from traditional owners and the instating of the “Right to Negotiate” system that is used under Native Title Acts. Using this system, negotiating is not threatened by 5 year moratoriums and both parties have an opportunity to negotiate in good faith. Letter and submission to NT Aboriginal Land Commissioner re ALRA review
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
20 May – Webinar – The dangerous world of AUKUS, US, military occupation and suppression of dissent
National Webinar, 20th May, 2026, 6.30pm AEST. Confronting laws restricting/suppressing protest speech and action
Speakers: Former Sen. Rex Patrick, Lawyer Nick Hanna ,Arthur Rorris ,Jorgen Doyle, Sen David Shoebbridge,
Facilitator Kelley Tranter.
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity
Antinuclear 