Australian Senate defeats motion regarding the safety of uranium transport
Today, 29 November, senator Ludlam moved this motion on the safety of uranium transport. It was defeated in the Senate
That the following matter be referred to the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee for inquiry and report by 30 June 2013:
The role, adequacy and effectiveness of government regulation of uranium oxide transport, including:
a. the mitigation of public radiation exposure from uranium oxide transport;
b. the evaluation of the frequency and severity of transport and handling accidents including the 27 December 2011 train derailment resulting in toxic copper concentrate flowing into the Edith River;
c. the process of issuing and auditing compliance with transport radiation management plans;
d. the resourcing and conduct of transport related aspects of nuclear actions referred under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC);
e. the preparedness and resourcing of regional emergency contingency planning, education and training services;
f. the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency Codes, including the Code of Practice for Safe Transport of Radioactive Material;
g. the Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office regulation of the transportation of nuclear material and issuance and auditing of compliance with transport permits;
h. other relevant related matters.
Secret Labor and Liberal plans to gut Australia’s environmental laws
Minister Burke: Don’t hand your powers to the states 22 Oct 2012 | Larissa Waters In April this year, a special meeting of big business leaders hijacked a meeting of state and federal governments (COAG). They demanded the weakening of Australia’s environment laws.
Now the Labor and Liberal parties are preparing to do just that. Secret discussions are now underway to gut our national environment laws by giving away the Environment Minister’s approval powers to state governments.
Our environment is under attack like never before. If environmentprotection were left to the states, they would have dammed the Franklin River, put oil rigs in the Great Barrier Reef and built Traveston Dam.
This December, the state Premiers and the Prime Minister will meet again at COAG to take the next step to gut Australia’s environment laws before final sign off at a meeting in March 2013. Before this happens, tell the Labor and Liberal parties not to gut Australia’s environment laws. Continue reading
New South Wales Greens condemn the call for nuclear energy
Nuclear Power In NSW – ‘Dangerous, Uneconomic And Retrograde’ http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3486 by Energy Matters, 26 Nov 12, A parliamentary committee that called on the state government to foster public discussion of nuclear power generation in New South Wales has been slammed by Greens NSW MP John Kaye; who labeled nuclear energy as “dangerous, uneconomic and retrograde”.
“Parading nuclear energy as a viable low emissions energy source while the O’Farrell government continues to devastate the renewable energy sector is deeply contradictory,” said Mr. Kaye.
“Despite the ink barely having dried on community submissions to the O’Farrell government’s long awaited Renewable Energy Action Plan, nuclear energy is again being dragged out for debate.”
Mr Kaye said wind energy and solar power technologies are cheaper to develop and avoid the threat of toxic waste products that will haunt humanity for thousands of years; plus what he called the unavoidable connection to nuclear weapons.
“Energy Minister Chris Hartcher must now rule out a review of nuclear energy development in NSW and focus on fostering a jobs rich, clean energy sector in NSW,” he said. Nuclear power is continuing to raise its ugly radioactive head in Australia, with Resources Minister Martin Ferguson making his love affair with nuclear power more apparent during a speech in Sydney last month.
“The Australian government’s responsibility is to test all forms of clean energy and if at some point in the future we don’t get the breakthrough on baseload clean energy Australia will need to think seriously about considering nuclear,” he said, apparently including nuclear power as a clean energy source; a questionable association.
Minister Ferguson may need to spend less time daydreaming about nuclear power and take more note of what is happening in the renewables industry as the “breakthroughs” have already occurred; for example, solar thermal technology combined with heat storage systems.
Residential solar panels have already helped put off the need for constructing more large carbon intensive power plants and home energy storage systems – the Next Big Thing for small-scale solar power – will also increasingly wean Australia off fossil fuel based baseload power generation.
What a uranium company CEO thinks of the Australian media
Funny – I go through the uranium so-called news each day. What I find there is a succession of obvious handouts from the uranium lobby, presumably to grateful journalists, who don’t bother to check the accuracy of these uranium market forecasts . Article after article has glowing predictions for the financial boom to come, (just a little later) from investing in uranium.
Nearly every article concentrates on China.And, I think to myself. Do these uranium dreamers ever consider that the Chinese might be intelligent? That they might notice how unpopular nuclear power has become globally, and the reasons why (- economic, and safety). Yes, China is reported as planning to expand its nuclear power programme. Oh goody! They might want our uranium! But what if China wakes up to the dismal outlook for nuclear, elsewhere.
But never mind. The Australian media dutifully regurgitates the China uranium-buying boom to come, – no mention of the other countries (especially India’s political mess over nuclear power). We carefully ignore the nuclear decline in Germany, Switzerland, USA, UK, even France.
However, the poor old uranium lobby still thinks itself to be hardly done by Australia’s government and media.- Christina Macpherson
Marathon Resources Chairman , Peter Williams, lambasts Government on resources industry attitude – today’s A.G.M. 22 Nov 12,
“……..The overwhelming influence of environmental and heritage activists and bureaucrats in South Australia in recent years, supported by Government, has seen the pendulum swing far away from balanced development and economic growth….
The SA Government’s actions in the North Flinders have jeopardised the State’s reputation as a safe place for resource investment…. “
Some more good questions in Senate, about Yeelirrie and Angela Pamela uranium projects
(a) what is the current status of this project;
(b) what assessment and approvals are needed to further advance development;
(c) have there been any formal or informal application or discussions between the department and the project proponent around this issue; and
(d) what implications does the recent change of government in the Northern Territory have for this project.
Labor-Coalition plan to build a nuclear waste dump “somewhere” in an earthquake zone
21 November 2012. A new earthquake hazards map produced by Geoscience Australia reveals Tennant Creek – near the proposed site for a nuclear waste dump – is an area of high earthquake risk. Report: http://www.ga.gov.au/earthquakes/
Following revelations that an alternative site for the waste dump was under active consideration, Australian Greens spokesperson for nuclear policy Senator Scott Ludlam noted the Federal Government appeared increasingly desperate on the issue.
“The Government is now scrambling to solve a mess of its own creation, repeating the same errors as before. Parking Australia’s radioactive waste on Muckaty station, far from centres of technical expertise and against the wishes of local people, that’s bad enough. Doing it in an earthquake zone compounds the offence.
“What we need is an independent commission with the technical expertise to find a world’s best standard solution for Australia’s inventory of radioactive waste. What we’re getting is a shed with two security guards, stuck on a site chosen by politicians – which happens to be in an earthquake zone.”
Senator Ludlam today put extensive questions through the Senate to Minister Martin Ferguson on what consultation is underway for selecting an alternative site: http://scott-ludlam.greensmps.org.au/content/questions-notice/questions-relating-site-selection-nuclear-waste
Senator Ludlam’s speech yesterday asking why questions asked one month earlier had not been answered: http://scott-ludlam.greensmps.org.au/content/speeches-parliament/unanswered-questions-notice-regarding-muckaty-nuclear-waste-dump And answers received today: http://scott-ludlam.greensmps.org.au/sites/default/files/sqon2389_answer.pdf
Exposing Australian Liberal Party’s absurd climate change policies
Turnbull calls out Abbott’s carbon hypocrisy (again) , REneweconomy,. By Giles Parkinson on 20 November 2012 Malcolm Turnbull has once again publicly outed the federal Opposition’s absurd climate change policies – playing word games over Tony Abbott’s “blood pledge” to repeal the carbon tax, and highlighting that the Coalition’s policy position is only a short-term one, at best.
It is becoming increasingly clear that the Opposition will find it nearly impossible to deliver on Abbott’s pledge to repeal the carbon price. And for months, as we pointed out in July, it has only been described as a pledge to repeal the carbon tax, not the carbon price. It’s a subtle but critically important distinction, and one that Turnbull was keen to highlight on ABC TV’s Q&A program last night…….
there is nothing to celebrate in a carbon price that is too low to inspire investment from a scheme that is too weak to meet environmental targets. This was underscored this week by a petition of 100 leading companies – including Shell, Unilever, EDF Energy, Statoil, Swiss Re, and Skanska – who complained that the carbon price was not sufficiently robust to drive the investments required in abatement technologies. And there is nothing to complain about in a renewable energy target delivering more renewable energy that planned. It’s more than just a box-ticking exercise.
Questions in Australian Senate on the status of Olympic Dam and other uranium mines
(7) What is the current status of expansion plans at Olympic Dam.
(a) what is the current status of this project;
(b) what assessment and approvals are needed to further advance development;
(c) have there been any formal or informal application or discussions between the department and the project proponent around this issue; and
(d) what implications does the recent change of government in the Northern Territory have for this project.
A searchlight in the Senate, into the Government’s Muckaty nuclear waste dump mess
The vast majority of people on the Muckaty Land Trust who are signatories, and their families, remain not only unpersuaded but implacably opposed. Does the government really think that the same factors will not come into play if another site is chosen in the same earthquake zone that has been the site of so much contest and division between family members since this nomination first came to light-a place where several of the same groups of traditional owners have the same interlocking ownership and the same say over country due to overlapping songlines and stories? All of the same problems will follow the dump if the government tries to simply move it 10 or 20 kilometres in one direction or another. It 
must know that.
Unanswered questions on notice regarding Muckaty nuclear waste dump, http://scott-ludlam.greensmps.org.au/content/speeches-parliament/unanswered-questions-notice-regarding-muckaty-nuclear-waste-dump
Senate transcript, 19 Nov 2012 “…..Senator LUDLAM: I will put some brief remarks on the record as to why I am bringing this forward now… I have sought explanation for these unanswered questions on notice because several of them pertain to time-sensitive matters.
Question No. 2389 included questions about the status of the tender process for the concept design of a national radioactive waste facility. The question also put to the minister whether the department had any dialogue or provided briefings to the new Northern Territory government or its agencies regarding the location of a national radioactive waste facility at Muckaty. Particularly importantly, the question asked: has the department had any dialogue with any stakeholders over the potential for a further site nomination, either within the Muckaty Land Trust area or in any other region of the Northern Territory or elsewhere?
At successive budget estimates hearings I have put precisely that question to officers from DRET: are you looking at an alternative site? We know that the government is in serious trouble with the existing Muckaty nomination that is now five or six years old. We have been warning the government, from the time that it was proposed in the late years of the Howard government to the time that it was taken up by Minister Martin Ferguson of the Rudd and then Gillard governments, that the government has gone the wrong way and that this proposal would fail. I believe what we are seeing now are some signs that the government realises its proposals for the Muckaty radioactive waste dump is going nowhere. Continue reading
Minister Martin Ferguson delaying answers to questions about Muckaty nuclear waste dump plan
http://scott-ludlam.greensmps.org.au/content/speeches-parliament/unanswered-questions-notice-regarding-muckaty-nuclear-waste-dump Unanswered questions on notice regarding Muckaty nuclear waste dump 19 Nov 2012 Today Senator Ludlam Scott took the opportunity 
immediately after Question Time to ask why Minister Martin Ferguson
had exceeded the 30 day limit for answering Questions on Notice. 2389 Senator Ludlam: To ask the Minister representing the Minister for Resources and Energy—
(1) With reference to the tender process for the concept design of a national radioactive waste facility:So far, Australian government catering to big utilities, to damage rooftop solar industry
Rooftop solar PV poses a greater threat to the business models of the utilities because it gets behind the meter. This means that, unlike the boom in air conditioners in recent years, rooftop solar PV reduces demand on the network rather than adds to it. The business models of all generators, distributors and retailers have long been based around the unwavering assumption of growing demand. They are simply not able to deal with with the absence of growth – and for this reason, rooftop solar PV is likely to have an even greater impact on their business models than more wind farms
Is Australia’s solar industry being blindsided by utilities?, REneweconomy, By Giles Parkinson 19 November 2012 Beware of people bearing gifts, the old saying goes. And beware of politicians bearing promises of a reduction in electricity bills.
The Federal Government last Friday announced the early closure of its Solar Credits scheme which offered a multiplier in the number of renewable energy certificate issued for the output of a rooftop solar PV systems.
It justified this on the basis that it would save Australian electricity consumers between $80 and $100 million in 2013. But this amounts to be just $10 a year, or 20c per household a week, in an average bill of more than $2,000. If the government were really serious about reducing the impact on electricity bills from the scheme, there were numerous other options.
It could, for instance, be pushing for a change in the rules that allow utilities to pass on a fixed $40 price for each certificate, rather than the much lower market price. (Only the ACT pricing regulator has reduced the pass-through cost, although NSW’s IPART is considering it). Such a move would save perhaps one quarter of the estimated $1.2 billion cost of the scheme this year. Even that amounts to less than 2 per cent of electricity bills – and is forecast to decline to around 0.8 per cent in coming years.
So what is the government up to? The decision announced by Climate Change Minister Greg Combet on Friday took the solar industry by surprise. It’s not so much the financial impact of the decision that worries the industry – it will reduce the savings of a 1.5kW system by around $700, but this was going to happen in July anyway. As Nigel Morris pointed out in his blog, the biggest impact is to effectively cancel Christmas for solar installers, because they will be too busy trying to cope with the last minute rush.
What really worries the solar industry is the form guide of the decision, its timing– coming in the middle of a review of the Renewable Energy Target by the Climate Change Authority – and its arbitrary nature. Continue reading
South Australian government jumps to obey BHP? Greens will oppose extension of Olympic Dam Expansion Indenture Agreement.
BHP: Jump! SA Govt: How High? …..for 4 more years 13 Nov 12 The Greens will move in Parliament to stop any extension of the Olympic Dam Expansion Indenture Agreement.
The Weatherill Government has agreed to an extension of the starting date for the project in the controversial contract until October 2016.
“The Indenture was a dud deal for South Australia when we debated this in Parliament last year, and will still be a dud deal in 4 years’ time,” said Greens Parliamentary Leader Mark Parnell.
“Instead of again meekly accepting whatever the world’s richest resource company wants, the Government should seize the opportunity to start renegotiating terms to expand local procurement, increase royalty returns and improve environmental outcomes.
“The project appears years away. Yet, the Government has recklessly locked in last century environmental outcomes decades into the future.
“BHP Billiton appears to be moving further and further away from job-rich local processing, and yet has still managed to lock in a feeble ‘production based’ royalty rate for 45 years.
“Surely it would be better to finalise the Olympic Dam Expansion contract with BHP Billiton when the project is actually guaranteed to begin?
“That will ensure royalty rates, local processing and procurement targets and environmental conditions are based on the expectations, rules and operating conditions of the day, not locked in years ahead,” he said.
Protest rally: New South Wales Labor Party opposes uranium mining
“NSW Labor will stay true to what its position has always been, and that is no exploration or mining in NSW”
NSW uranium exploring immoral: opposition http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/nsw-uranium-exploring-immoral-opposition/story-e6frf7kf-1226515943188 THE “immoral” decision to allow companies to express interest in exploring for uranium in NSW is simply testing the waters for a uranium mining industry, NSW deputy opposition leader Linda Burney says.
About 100 protesters gathered outside parliament in Sydney on Tuesday to mark the end of the government’s initial 60-day period for expressions of interest in uranium exploration. The protesters are highlighting the dangers of uranium mining, use and waste. Continue reading
Obama – Gillard attitudes on climate change – not a good omen for Tony Abbott
The same vested interests who tried their darndest to kill carbon pricing here will try and kill it in the US.
Could this be a global game-changer in 2013, validating Australia’s early action?
The vibes from America are bad for Abbott The Age, November 12, 2012 Katharine Murphy “…… Australian politics watched the US race closely, as politics does. It would be silly to draw too many conclusions and export the precise conditions of the US to here – but it’s not silly to see election season in America as a harbinger for our own contest in 2013.
Australian politics is manifesting the same broad issues: the forwards/backwards construction that’s an oldie but a goodie when progressives and conservatives vie for government……
Climate change is one issue that could get interesting between now and the Australian federal election in 2013.
Obama keeps bringing it up. There’s speculation carbon pricing is back on the agenda in the US, either as a revenue raising measure (and God knows they need revenue), or as an Obamacare ”vision thing” equivalent to rally the progressive base….. Continue reading
Broken Hill Councillor inadvertently spelled out the problem with uranium mining
Broken Hill Land Council open to exploring uranium Australian Mining, 9 November, 2012 Alex Heber The Broken Hill Aboriginal Land Council is open to uranium exploration in New South Wales’ far west.
However BHALC chair Maureen O’Donnell said the details and risks still need to be discussed before any mining begins.
“I’ve got to see what benefits (it has) for the people,” she told the ABC .
“I don’t like uranium as it is because it causes a lot of cancer and there’s enough sickness but it sort of depends on how they’re going to do it and what they’re going to do.”
The New South Wales state government lifted the ban on uranium exploration earlier this year in a bid to ramp up the state’s involvement in the mining boom…. http://www.miningaustralia.com.au/news/broken-hill-land-council-open-to-exploring-uranium
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 