Australia’s Prime Minister, and politicians just don’t “get” the solar photovoltaic energy revolution
Solar PV industry has a fight on its hands, REneweconomy, By Giles Parkinson 7 August 2012 Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s speech about the need for electricity market reform is hugely welcome, but it highlights some of the challenges that the solar PV industry will face in the near and medium term future.
Gillard today outlined her plan to gain COAG agreement on changes to energy pricing regulation, moving energy towards a service than a commodity, and recognising the value of demand management and energy efficiency.
But like the rest of Labor, she and her advisors do not yet get solar. As Energy Minister Martin Ferguson and Climate Change Minister Greg Combet have said in recent weeks, Gillard trotted out the old canard: solar PV is the plaything of the rich. And who should we blame for such nonsense? Well, let’s start with AGL Energy…..Solar PV is on the cusp of becoming a game changer in Australia because it is able to deliver electricity to households cheaper than via the grid. Some say it could be the the firstmass-market for solar PV in the world. Its availability will increase massively as new financing models are introduced that offer zero cost upfront. That message is understood by some, but not by many. It has the potential to change the nature of the electricity debate and the political debate too.
AGL Energy is happy – via its highly influential series of economic papers – to demonise solar PV as a rich person’s indulgence that penalises the poor, because having great swathes of panels installed across the roofs of Australia, as envisaged by recent AEMO forecasts, does not fit easily into its business model. Nor does it fit easily with other generators and network operators, which is why many are trying to push back against its deployment with tariff changes and other regulation as we highlighted in this story How utilities propose to kill solar PV.
Yet, solar is having a demonstrable impact. According to the REC Agents Association, an industry body, the combination of energy efficiency and solar PV will reduce demand on the network by around 10,66gGWy, or 5 per cent, by 2015. Around one fifth of Australian households already have solar power or a solar hot water system.
The challenge for the solar industry is to make sure that their message is understood – not just by the public, but by the politicians too. http://reneweconomy.com.au/2012/solar-pv-industry-has-a-fight-on-its-hands-35969
South Australian govt not keen to extend Olympic Dam agreement. BHP tightlipped
No extension offer to BHP – Weatherill. Christopher Russell The Advertiser August 01, 2012 PREMIER Jay Weatherill has rejected suggestions the State Government has offered to grant BHP Billiton an extension to the
indenture agreement on the Olympic Dam project.
Reacting to interstate reports that the Government was offering BHP an olive branch and was willing to “entertain” an extension, Mr Weatherill said he had been misinterpreted.
The Government’s position had consistently been that it wanted BHP Billiton to make a decision by the December 15 expiry date of the indenture agreement….. “There has been no proposition advanced to us that would justify an extension of the 12-month period at this time.”
This is consistent with Resources and Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis who has previously stated the Government would be reluctant to grant an extension… Despite outside speculation, BHP Billiton has said again this week that no decision has been made on the Olympic Dam project.
Its Adelaide office continues to work on a proposal to present to the BHP Billiton board.
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/no-extension-offer-to-bhp-weatherill/story-e6frea6u-1226440162081
Queensland’s Liberal-National Party policy on Climate Change- an international embarassment
Queensland and the weird alternate reality of climate change denialists Independent Australia, Graham Readfearn, 25 July, 2012 “….. we come to the latest episode, where Queensland’s currently in-power Liberal-National Party has accepted a motion that climate science shouldn’t be taught in schools. The proposer of the motion, which was accepted unanimously (but may not be taken up by the parliamentary wing of the party), is a Dr Richard Pearson, from Noosa.
It now appears that Dr Pearson has been conducting his own climate science experiments — at home, in his kitchen, armed only with thermometers, two fish cooler boxes and a roll of cling film. Some may find the results remarkable; you see, Dr Pearson believes he may have disproved the greenhouse effect (you may now pinch yourself).
We know this because he wrote about his experiment on the website of the climate sceptic group the Galileo Movement — whose patron is the noted climate expert (and radio presenter) Alan Jones. Dr Pearson’s conclusion?
‘That the Greenhouse Effect theory is not confirmed by this experiment and may be disproved by it.’
Now, even though the notion that a guy in his kitchen in Noosa armed with two eskies and a roll of cling film could single-handedly disprove the greenhouse theory may seem just a tad fanciful….
plausible to non-experts, such as the vast majority of the general public. At the end of his experiment, Dr Pearson recounts how his daughter had questioned how a man with cling film could “disprove a theory that hundreds of climate scientists around the world say is true”. “That my darling is science”, was Dr Pearson’s response. Is it really?…
Professor Matthew England, of the University of New South Wales Climate Change Research Centre and also chairman of the Australian Climate Commission’s science advisory panel, says the motion which Dr Pearson managed to get passed at the LNP’s state conference could have broad ramifications, if only for the state’s reputation.
If the proposal to remove greenhouse science from the school curriculum is enacted, Queensland’s education system will become an international joke overnight. Basic greenhouse gas physics has been established with around 200 years of scientific progress — any move to muzzle climate science facts from being taught at schools will be condemned as world’s worst practice in scientific education.
So if the Queensland Education Minister John Paul Langbroek does act on the motion from his party, then Prof England says the State will be a laughing stock. Until then, we’ll just have to settle for the majority of the members of the LNP. http://www.independentaustralia.net/2012/politics/queensland-and-the-weird-alternate-reality-of-climate-change-denialists/
Australian government standing firm on Renewable Energy Target (RET)
The Coalition has a bipartisan commitment to the 20 per cent RET.
But Mr Combet said a renewable energy target without a carbon price would increase the economic cost of achieving that goal.
Combet rejects calls for Renewable Energy Target changes BY: SID MAHER : The Australian July 25, 2012 GREG Combet has rejected calls for changes to the Renewable Energy Target, declaring the government is committed to what it legislated.
The Climate Change Minister’s comments amount to a direct rejection to calls from industry players such as Origin Energy for the RET’s large scale quota of 41,000TW/hrs of electricity from renewable sources to be reviewed.
Under the RET, 20 per cent of electricity must be generated from renewable sources by 2020. Continue reading
South Australian government not affected if BHP’s Olympic Dam expansion doesn’t go ahead
“Olympic Dam doesn’t have any significant revenue for the state government,” “Olympic Dam is never going to be some sort of cash cow for the state government
Olympic Dam no cash cow for state, says Jack Snelling THE AUSTRALIAN, BY: SARAH MARTIN July 25, 2012 BHP Billiton’s $30 billion Olympic Dam mine expansion will have no revenue implications for the South Australian government, Treasurer Jack Snelling says.
In comments far removed from earlier claims that the mega-project would transform the state, Mr Snelling said the budget would not be affected if the project did not go ahead. Continue reading
Australians learning to appreciate the importance of the carbon tax
Carbon tax dislike ‘can be turned around’, The Age, July 24, 2012 – Voter dislike of the carbon tax is a knee-jerk
response which could be turned around with more information, a new study by the Climate Institute has found.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has been battling to convince voters of the merits of a carbon tax since it was flagged in early 2011.
A Climate Institute study, released on Tuesday, showed only 28 per cent of voters supported the carbon tax, levied on the top polluters on July 1, with 52 per cent opposed and 20 per cent uncertain.
But when it was explained the tax revenue went to household assistance, business support and renewable energy the figure shifted to 47 per cent in favour, 29 per cent against and 24 per cent uncertain….. http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-national/carbon-tax-dislike-can-be-turned-around-20120724-22l5v.html
Union secretary Paul Howes paid to do a Murdoch media hatchet job on the Greens
Green-hating News Ltd confirms Howes on the payroll, Crikey, by Stephen Mayne , 19 July 12, Ever since Senator John Faulkner told Paul Howes to “put a sock in it” last Sunday, the frenetic media tart, AWU national secretary and political kingmaker has been surprisingly quiet.
It was Howes, a paid News Limited columnist, who teamed with the broader Murdoch press and fellow ALP young turk Sam Dastyari to launch an all-out assault on the Greens last weekend.
……… Howes….with a paid column savaging the Greens in The Sunday Telegraph…
While many have criticised the tactics of Dastyari and Howes — there is also an important issue about conflict of interest and News Ltd payments to Howes. When the HSU scandal was at its peak, Howes tweeted that his AWU salary is only $140,000. I asked the self-described faceless man on several occasions whether he’s on the Murdoch empire payroll courtesy of his weekly Sunday Telegraph column, but he’s declined to respond.
Sunday Telegraph editor Neil Breen cleared up the matter when he emailed this response yesterday: “Yes he is paid. ….Howes should disclose the precise figure, but it would probably exceed $20,000 a year.
So when you add the Murdoch payments (there’s the superannuation board fees too, but it’s unlikely he’s taking those) to Howes’ $140,000 AWU salary, the former radical Trot is arguably doing better than your typical 28-year-old working for the Millionaire Factory Macquarie Bank.
…….there is a legitimate question whether Howes should be returning the Murdoch moolah to his union considering he’s a full-time AWU employee and the column is written on union time.
The other problem with a unionist pocketing Murdoch cash is the stench around News Corp’s right-wing agenda and dodgy practices in Britain. As part of its power agenda, News Corp has long put emerging politicians on the payroll as paid columnists or delivered large cash advances for publishing deals.
Some argue this is a perfectly legal way to build relationships and bank balances, but there should be disclosure. …….
Howes was certainly very obliging in delivering a paid hatchet job on the one cause the News Ltd press hates above all else — progressive Green politics. But Howes has run into more trouble than just a public John Faulkner excoriation. Some progressive AWU members are equally unimpressed and have attempted to express their concerns through the union’s Facebook page.
Alas, Mount Isa-based AWU member Zane Alcorn had his comments blocked, so he set up his own Facebook page “for Australian Workers Union members & supporters to discuss progressive reform of the AWU re: union democracy and climate + social justice policies”.
The Sunday Telegraph assault on the Greens was described as follows: “Pretty damn sure Paul Howes has nothing even remotely close to a mandate from the AWU membership to be embarking on such a destructive divide and conquer mission as this. Note: reading this may cause nausea and vomiting. You have been warned.” *Disclosure: Stephen Mayne was not paid for this contribution http://www.crikey.com.au/2012/07/18/green-hating-news-ltd-confirms-howes-on-the-payroll/
Northern Territory Government joins Aborigines and unionists in protest rally against Muckaty nuclear waste dump
The Northern Territory Lands and Planning Minister, Gerry McCarthy, told the Herald the decision to use the NT for a national waste dump site had been based on political expediency, not science. ”The Commonwealth should go back and base its decision on science. It should also consult with Territorians and not exploit our weaker constitutional position for its political expediency,” he said.
Protesters step up campaign against nuclear waste dump Brisbane Times, July 13, 2012, Bianca Hall THE Northern Territory government has accused the Commonwealth of exploiting ”political expediency” by pushing ahead with plans for a nuclear waste dump in the top end.
After seven years in the planning, a nuclear dump at remote Muckaty cattle station, more than 120 kilometres from Tennant Creek, is still caught in red tape and subject to a Federal Court challenge by traditional owners.
The federal Resources Minister, Martin Ferguson, said the government would respect the outcome of the Federal Court’s decision and not act until the court case was resolved.
But local opposition to the plan has shown no sign of waning. Yesterday, the Maritime Union of Australia led a passionate protest at Darwin port against the plan, calling for a full and independent inquiry into the proposal. Continue reading
Above Australia’s State and Federal laws – BHP and Olympic Damn uranium mine
Jim Green: Project a rule unto itself Adelaide Now, Jim Green July 10, 2012 OLYMPIC Dam is like a state with no environment, water, Aboriginal and FoI laws, says Jim Green. HUNDREDS of Australians will converge on BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam uranium/copper mine – and a camp up the Oodnadatta Track – from Saturday for five days of protest, education and entertainment.
The concerns leading people to participate are many and varied. The overarching concern might be expressed as a failure of governance – corporate and political.
Olympic Dam is a state within a state. It operates under a unique set of laws enshrined in the amended Roxby Downs Indenture Act.
That would be unobjectionable except that the Indenture Act allows Olympic Dam wide-ranging exemptions from environmental, water management and Aboriginal Heritage laws and, for good measure, it curtails the application of the Freedom of Information Act.
SA Liberal Party industry spokesman Martin Hamilton-Smith said “every word of the (Indenture) agreement favours BHP, not South Australians”. It beggars belief the SA Labor Government would agree to such one-sided terms and that Mr Hamilton-Smith and his Liberal colleagues waved it through Parliament with no amendments. Continue reading
Which one REALLY is the liar – the Prime Minister or Tony Abbott?
Abbott is reported as saying during the post-election negotiations that he would ”do anything” to be prime minister. This implies that he, too, would have accepted a carbon tax as part of a minority government compromise.
Taxing the truth: why we must not let Abbott’s dogmas lie, The Age, July 7, 2012 Ian Robinson Opposition Leader Tony Abbott constantly accuses the Prime Minister of ‘lying’ when she made a commitment before the last election not to introduce a tax on carbon. But who’s the liar here? Continue reading
Australian businesses don’t want repeal of carbon tax
The opposition climate spokesman, Greg Hunt, (left) repeated his prediction that if the Coalition won the next election, there would be no carbon price in Australia for the next 20 years.
Keith Orchison, a former head of the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association, said Mr Hunt’s 20-year prediction was out of step with business. Investors in mining, power infrastructure and large manufacturing – which look 20 years or more ahead – were assuming a carbon price, he said.
Businesses reject Abbott’s vow to repeal carbon tax, SMH, July 7, 2012, David Wroe with Adam Morton and Paddy Doulman FEWER than a quarter of the biggest heavy greenhouse gas-emitting companies that will directly pay the carbon tax support Tony Abbott’s ”pledge in blood” to repeal the scheme, a survey by the Herald has found…
.The Herald asked 40 of the biggest emitters on the government’s list of 294 companies that will pay the carbon tax whether it was in their interests to repeal or change the scheme. Nine indicated they supported a repeal, Continue reading
Tony Abbott does not understand that the Muckaty nuclear waste dump plan is a national issue
Abbott weighs in on dump dispute, 06 Jul, 2012 http://tennantcreek.yourguide.com.au/news/local/news/general/abbott-weighs-in-on-dump-dispute/2615884.aspx FEDERAL Opposition Leader Tony Abbott will be just as despised as Resources Minister Martin Fergushima if he keeps banging on about dumping nuclear waste in the pristine Barkly.
Speaking in Darwin this week, Mr Abbott said that a nuclear waste facility would be in the national interest.
“I am confident that any waste arrangements here in the Territory will be conducted in the most effective way, with the least possible risk to the environment,” he said.
“You know, sometimes local concerns do have to give way to the national interest.
“The Territory waste centre will be a long, long way from built-up areas … and this is why it is appropriate to find a remote location for these kinds of facilities.”
National environment group, Beyond Nuclear Initiative (BNI), rejected Mr Abbott’s comments, saying the proposal to build the radioactive dump at Muckaty was based on politics rather than science. BNI spokesperson, Nat Wasley, said a senior departmental official admitted to a senate inquiry that the push for a remote dump site was political.
“Mr Abbott is also trying to dismiss concern about the Muckaty dump as ‘local’,” she said.
“Yet the Australian Council of Trade Unions and Australian Conservation Foundation – the peak trade union and environment bodies in the country – as well as other unions, health and human rights organisations have clearly stated opposition to the proposal. “Territory and national concerns reach beyond the environmental risks of transporting and storing radioactive waste in remote areas to include the social aspects of the flawed process that led to Muckaty being nominated.”
Ms Wasley said any attempts to advance the Northern Territory dump plan would be met with fierce national resistance.
Prime Minister Gillard holding firm on climate change action, rejecting nuclear power
Julia Gillard answers your questions about the carbon tax in live blog Annika Smethurst Herald Sun July 05, 2012 PRIME Minister Julia Gillard answered tough questions on the carbon tax in an exclusive live blog with Herald Sun readers today. The Prime Minister tackled questions on nuclear power, pension increases and the controversial carbon pricing scheme for an hour….
Ms Gillard reiterated her stance not to resort to nuclear energy due to the country’s wealth in alternative energy
sources such as wind, sun, tidal and geothermal energies. “What nation on earth has more access to abundant renewable energy sources than us? A clean energy future makes sense for our nation?” she said.
Ms Gillard also assured readers Australia’s economy and employment would continue to grow based on the country’s advantages in renewable energy….. Ms Gillard said that around the world other nations were moving to cut carbon pollution with Australians joining 850 million people around the world who live with a carbon pricing. “500 million Europeans live with carbon pricing and 200 million Chinese. And then there are nations like South Korea and Mexico
deciding to price carbon,” she said….http://www.heraldsun.com.au/ipad/julia-gillard-answers-your-questions-about-the-carbon-tax-in-live-blog/story-fnd2zcc1-1226418083783
Nuclear waste dumping is fine: local communities don’t matter, according to Tony Abbott
Nuclear waste dump in ‘national interest’: Abbott ABC News By James Glenday, July 03, 2012 Tony Abbott says local concerns sometimes do have to give way to the national interest. (AAP: David Crosling)
Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says he is confident a nuclear waste dump can be built safely in the Northern Territory……”Sometimes local concerns do have to give way to the national
interest.” http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-07-03/abbott-on-muckaty-nuclear-waste-dump/4107768
interest.
Queensland’s anti solar energy government swings into action
Campbell Newman Government axes Queensland solar energy scheme, nation’s largest by: Darrell Giles The Courier-Mail July 02, 2012 AUSTRALIA’S biggest solar energy scheme is dead in the water, torpedoed by the withdrawal of funding by the Newman Government. The State Government is pulling $75 million out of a renewable energy power project, effectively killing off up to 400 jobs.
Regional Queensland was set to be home to one of the biggest combination solar and gas power plants in the world under a $1.2 billion scheme, a joint Federal-State Government and private partnership.
The Solar Dawn project would have used Australian-pioneered technology and transformed Chinchilla and the western Darling Downs into the nation’s mixed-energy capital. But the Liberal National Party has found a way to back out of an earlier Bligh government agreement and halt its contribution.
Premier Campbell Newman signalled soon after winning the March state election that he would look at pulling the plug on the $75 million investment if he could do it without risk to taxpayers. Minister for Energy and Water Supply Mark McArdle wrote to federal Energy Minister Martin Ferguson last week to confirm he had cut the Queensland contribution. Mr McArdle was understood to have told Mr Ferguson Solar Dawn was unable to meet the State Government’s funding agreement.
As a result, the agreement between the two governments was “terminated”…… Prime Minister Julia Gillard had committed $464 million, saying the project would support Labor’s carbon tax and keep the environment clean…… http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/campbell-newman-government-axes-queensland-solar-energy-scheme-nations-largest/story-e6freoof-1226413831562
1 This month
17 October, Free Public Talk on Nuclear Issues in South Australia
David Noonan will speak on public interest concerns over the new Roxby Downs Indenture Act 2026 on BHP copper-uranium mining and ore processing in SA, and on how AUKUS may face SA with a High-Level nuclear waste agenda.
Dr Jim Green will discuss international developments in the field of nuclear power including ‘small modular reactors’ and Generation 4 ‘advanced’ nuclear reactor concepts.
Help Aunty Sue Protect Her Land and Sacred Sites From Destructive Rocket Testing.
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Australians deserve the truth
about
AUKUS – https://aukuspublicinquiry.com/
PETITION – To: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Australian Labor Government
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
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