Bob Carr and Tony Abbott in perfect harmony
Bob Carr: ‘I agree with Tony Abbott’, Green Left, March 5, 2012 By Peter Robson Prime Minister Julia Gillard anointed former NSW premier Bob Carr as the foreign minister on March 2. It awaits the approval of a joint sitting of NSW parliament but for all intents and purposes, Carr has just been catapulted to the third-highest political post in the land after being out of politics since 2005….. . We found a stand-out post from January 27. Here, Carr commented on the protest against opposition leader Tony Abbott and Gillard on January 26 by members of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy.
Carr said: “I agree with Tony Abbott and think his remarks entirely sensible. The Tent Embassy in Canberra says nothing to anyone and should have been quietly packed up years ago…….Carr also said: “The block-headed demonstration sets back reconciliation and would seal the defeat for Aboriginal recognition in the constitution if a referendum were pending.”
I think the best bit about being an Labor Party intellectual must be having the gall to tell an impoverished, oppressed minority — whose rate of imprisonment exceeds that of the imprisonment of blacks under South African Apartheid — that they are drawing too much attention to their cause. That takes some chutzpah….. In the context of discrimination of the kind his party supports by supporting the NT intervention, and the context of the vast gulf in living conditions and incarceration rates between black and white, such a policy would gut any attempt at “narrowing the gap”. It would, in short, be a policy of assimilation. Aboriginal disadvantage would become simply “disadvantage” — inexplicable, unsolvable, but most of all, no one’s fault.
Carr (bravely, Sir Humphry Appleby might say) started his post with “I agree with Tony Abbott …”. Maybe he should have just left it there. http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/50251
The pro nuclear Thoughts of new Foreign Minister Bob Carr
“Australia has a theological objection to nuclear power. It’s illogical but deeply entrenched. Still polls have been moving and younger people are more open-minded than those who come of age politically in the 1980s. It remains the only serious base-load alternative to incinerating more coal.
One should applaud every move in India and China to try nuclear plants..
You need two things.
One, a longer term education campaign by a coalition of pro-nuclear industry, science, union and indigenous groups . Second, a Lib-Lab consensus.
A fourth generation reactor, with its high level safety and minimal waste ..” Bob Carr http://bobcarrblog.wordpress.com/2010/12/01/the-nuclear-thing/
“Of course the O’Farrell Government is right to attempt legislation to permit uranium exploration in New South Wales. I said this two months ago. The Federal Government has expanded uranium mining and opened exports to India. South Australia boasts what will become the world’s largest uranium mine“. Bob Carr http://bobcarrblog.wordpress.com/2012/02/15/uranium-mining-in-nsw/
Why Australia should kick pollution politician Martin Ferguson out of the government Ministry
REMOVE MARTIN FERGUSON FROM ENERGY, by Tom Swann (and Swann doesn’t even mention Ferguson’s unswerving loyalty to the nuclear lobby! – C.M.) )
Here’s just a short list of what Fergo gets up to:
– He invited climate skeptics to launch their book at Parliament House;
– He had the AFP and private companies spy on climate volunteers and campaigners, under the pretence of protecting the energy supply–are we being tracked right now?;
– On a 16 person panel designing future energy policy, he chose only one from the renewables industry, and only after pressure;
– He’s infamous for his ‘open door’ to coal and gas lobbyists;
– He advocates massive expansion of coal and gas, and is pushing ahead with the new HRL coal plant despite HRL missing deadlines, community outrage and the PM’s promise for no new coal;
– He has a long history of holding back our struggling renewables industry, from irregular funding to poor program administration;
– For example, he is responsible for the poor design and continued delays in the Solar Flagships program, which hasn’t yet issued a single flagship grant;
– Gillard acknowledged he is a liability when she made sure he was not in charge of setting up the new Clean Energy Finance Corporation;
– As Ministerial Chair of the International Energy Agency, he ignores the IEA’s recent push for urgent climate action through strong support for big solar;
– Meanwhile, government reports overlook the projections, from the IEA and elsewhere, of rapidly falling renewables costs, especially in solar, as well as new evidence showing support for renewables can actually cut costs;
– He agitates for nuclear power in Australia, nevermind the cost, emissions impact and health risk (the recent Energy White Paper makes a big deal out nuclear power in Australia even while showing all too clearly how expensive it would be!);
– He wants Australia to become a global nuclear waste dump, and has started by forcing a dump on Muckaty, a remote Aboriginal community that wants nothing to do with it – Senate debate on Muckaty started when everyone was focused on leadership spill!
– As the Minister for Tourism, he’s responsible for hundreds of thousands of jobs provided by the Great Barrier Reef — many times more than in fossil fuels. But the reef is under extreme threat from climate change — and so are those jobs! http://www.communityrun.org/petitions/move-martin-ferguson-out-of-energy
“Stronger Futures” legislation, an indignity to all Australians, not only to Aborigines
They are policies that have been shamelessly trialled on the Aboriginal people of the Northern Territory and that are now to be imposed on other so-called areas of disadvantage across Australia. The degrading trail of internal colonisation continues, discriminating one moment on the basis of race and the next moment on the basis of class.
The ‘Stronger Futures’ legislation might strengthen the futures of the powerful but it is an attempt to weaken the dignity of those who are subjected to its control.
Picking the scab of colonisation, Eureka Street JOHN FALZON MARCH 01, 2012
There’s a deep wound in Australia.
There’s a gash in our story.
It is a wound that is known by different names:
Colonisation.
Dispossession.
Coercion.
Control.
It is still with us. Continue reading
South Australia happy to flog off uranium – but says nuclear power’s no good
Uranium industry in major turnaround, Adelaide Now by: TIM DORNIN AAP February 29, 2012 AUSTRALIA has no need for nuclear power and no licence from society to develop it, South Australian Mineral Resources Minister Tom Koutsantonis says.
The minister says he fully supports uranium mining in SA but not nuclear power. “The truth is, you need a social licence to operate, and there is not a social licence for nuclear power,” Mr Koutsantonis told a uranium
conference.
“The Australian public don’t want it. “I don’t think it’s economic, I don’t think it’s viable, and I don’t think it’s politically saleable.”
Historic day as Arkaroola finally gets permanent protection
The Upper House of State Parliament has just passed a Bill to permanently protect from mining the iconic mountains of Arkaroola in the State’s far North. The legal protection is the culmination of a long-running community and Greens campaign to ensure this magnificent part of our State is no longer threatened by damaging mining activity.
“This is a wonderful, historic day,” said Greens Parliamentary leader Mark Parnell. “It’s taken a long time, but finally a law has been passed that ensures the permanent protection of the world famous mountains of Arkaroola.
“If a future Government wants to let the miners back in they will have to over-turn this Act of Parliament. I am totally confident that this will never happen. “It is wonderful that all sides of politics have finally accepted what the Greens have been arguing all along: that some places are simply too precious to mine,” he said.
In passing the Bill, the Greens moved 2 successful amendments to ensure appropriate consultation with the traditional owners from the Adnyamathanha people over the management of the land. “As this is such an important piece of legislation, it is vital we get it right and ensure that all traditional owners have a say in how Arkaroola will be managed,” said Mr Parnell.
“The Greens have been very proud to stand alongside the Sprigg Family, Adnyamathanha Elders and the many passionate environmental and heritage campaigners from across the state and across the world who have fought to protect this precious place.“They can all be very proud of what they have achieved,” he said.
Government’s snap decision to close solar rebate scheme will damage this emerging export industry
Australia to Close Renewable Energy Bonus Scheme on June 30 Bloomberg By Jason Scott – Feb 27, 2012 Australia’s Renewable Energy Bonus Scheme, which has provided more than A$320 million in incentives for households to switch to more energy-efficient hot-water systems, will close June 30, the parliamentary secretary for Climate Change and
Energy Efficiency, Mark Dreyfus, said today in a statement.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-28/australia-to-close-renewable-energy-bonus-scheme-on-june-30.html
Solar scheme axed to meet budget: Greens, THE AUSTRALIAN AAP February 29, 2012 THE Australian Greens have accused the Gillard government of closing a household solar rebate scheme to help it deliver a surplus in the May
budget.
The renewable energy bonus scheme, which provided a $1000 rebate for a solar hot water system and $600 for a heat pump, was closed abruptly late yesterday.
While the scheme closes at the end of June, only those who had paid a deposit by yesterday were now eligible for the rebate.
The industry had hoped the scheme would be extended, after the government allocated $24.5 million towards it in budget forward estimates for 2012/13.
Greens Senator Christine Milne accused the government of cutting costs so it could achieve its promised budget surplus. It was “a ridiculous idea” that in order to meet a political imperative, the government was jeopardising local manufacturers who were building export markets in the new low carbon economy.
Senator Milne said the decision would put enormous pressure on manufacturers such as Rheem, which employed about 1200 people around Australia. “They are already under pressure because of the high Australian
dollar,” she told reporters in Canberra. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/solar-scheme-axed-to-meet-budget-greens/story-fn3dxity-1226285021321
Australian Labor attempts to sneak nuclear waste dump under the radar
February 27th, 2012. Labor’s attempt to pass widely-opposed nuclear waste dump legislation under the cover of their leadership squabble is cynical and shameless, the Australian Greens said today.
Greens spokesperson for nuclear issues Senator Scott Ludlam said Labor wants to pass the National Radioactive Waste Management Bill behind the fog of the leadership dispute because the law is 
“completely rotten”.
“The Traditional Owners do not want this eternal radioactive waste dump on their country; the locals don’t want it; the Northern Territory government does not want it; and medical experts have criticised the Government’s scheme.
“There is a Federal Court case currently unresolved as to the status of this land, yet the Government pushes on – lead by Martin ferguson, a resources and energy minister obsessed with the nuclear industry. This legislation does not just represent a problem for Muckaty – it places enormous and virtually unchecked power in the hands of that solitary minister.
“Medical experts have argued correctly that we don’t need a reactor to make medical isotopes. This dump is not about ‘low level medical waste’ – but high level waste which is scheduled to land in Australia from the UK and France.
“Last month, in a report to the US Energy Secretary, the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future strongly recommended a ‘consent-based approach to siting nuclear waste storage… noting that ‘trying to force such facilities on unwilling states, tribes and communities has not worked’. The Government ignores the lessons of history and blunders on at the behest of the nuclear industry.”
Australian Greens call for uranium to be included in the Mineral Resources Rent Tax (MRRT)
Renewed calls for MRRT to include gold, uranium Mining Weekly, By: Esmarie Swanepoel 23rd February 2012 PERTH – The Australian Green Party has renewed calls to the federal government to include gold and uranium in the mineral resources rent tax (MRRT), in an effort to garner more revenue.
Greens leader Bob Brown said on Thursday that the Treasury needed to reconsider extending the mining tax across gold and uranium, as well as other minerals, while the nexus with royalties should be dropped.
“Australia has the means to adequately fund education, health, transport. It should not have a watered-down mining tax pass into law that fails to collect potential funding sourced from resources that
belong to the nation,” Brown said….
South Australian government framed laws for BHP Billiton’s uranium mining, not for the people
Commercial vested interests of uranium mining companies are writing the script for Australia’s uranium sales deals under both Liberal and now ALP federal governments…….
South Australia should come to its senses and recognise our society’s responsibilities to get out of the uranium trade and not be made complicit in nuclear risks for BHP Billiton’s vested interests.
Our uranium fuelled Fukushima, David Noonan, The Guardian, 22 Feb 12 “……..How did the SA government perform in exercising their responsibilities after Fukushima? Indigenous people bear a disproportionate burden of impacts from uranium mining and this will certainly continue to be the case in SA
under the Roxby Indenture deal “negotiated” by the state with BHP Billiton that is being pushed through Parliament with bi-partisan support.
BHP Billiton is not bound by the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1988 in the “Stuart Shelf Area” of some 1.5 percent of the area of SA around the Olympic Dam mine.
Aboriginal heritage obligations that apply to every other miner or developer do not apply to the Big Australian for the 70-year extended period of the Roxby Indenture, and the state further agreed that this can only be changed in future with the agreement of the company. Continue reading
South Australia, the Uranium State, moves further away from clean energy
Labor pulls plug on energy role, by:Belinda Willis , The Advertiser , February 21, 2012 THE State Government has ended Renewable Energy Commissioner Tim O’Loughlin’s position more than a year before his contract was due to expire. Mr O’Loughlin was appointed in mid-2009 with some fanfare by then Premier Mike Rann. His contract was meant to run until 2013.
A spokesman for Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis said he would not be replaced. Yesterday’s Budget and Finance select committee heard Mr O’Loughlin’s job ends about 18 months short of his contract by “mutual agreement”, and that there had been a payout……
The move follows a budget decision late last year to scrap the $11.7 million remaining in the $20 million Renewable Energy Fund. This fund was overseen by RenewablesSA, and industry said there were now no state funding support avenues available for renewable energy.
The South Australian branch of the Australian Solar Energy Society and the Australian Geothermal Energy Association have raised concerns that the State Government had lost interest in renewable energy.
“It makes a complete mockery of the fact that in the last week of Rann being premier, he released a new renewable statement for South Australia,” said Mr Marshall. “It’s clear the new Premier has no interest in this sector whatsoever.” http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/business/labor-pulls-plug-on-energy-role/story-e6frede3-1226276364284
Paul Howes, the nuclear lobby’s man aiming for Canberra?
Until very recently, both Liberal and Labor parties in New South Wales opposed uranium mining in that State.
Now the Liberal Party in government will allow uranium exploration, and no doubt permission for uranium mining will follow. Why else would uranium mining companies bother to dig?
New South Wales Labor opposition opposes the new move towards uranium mining.
But it’s interesting to see how forthright is Paul Howes, a very prominent union leader, with his eye on apolitical career, presumably in the Labor Party – in his enthusiasm for the nuclear industry. Ziggy, and Barry, and the rest of the Nuclear Push must be thrilled to bits, with this little union go getter.
Paul Howes is quoted in today’s Cowra Community News, as saying that ” uranium exploration
is a step in the right direction, particularly as Australia looks to develop cleaner energy sources into the future.”
“cleaner?” – Paul – you’ll have to think of a more sophisticated term that that. Nobody believes in “clean” nuclear any more.
Look out, New South Wales, the uranium economic downward plunge beckons!
Look out – New South Wales residents! You thought coal seam gas exploration was a threat? And it probably is.
But now, your government, in its unwisdom, is going to allow uranium exploration.
The yellow area shows the area of uranium mineralisation in New South Wales.
Very handy, I suppose, to where some of Ziggy Switkowski’s 50 nuclear reactors will supposedly be positioned.
South Australia is going to go down the economic drain, for its drive for all things nuclear. Meanwhile, what with Paladin Uranium looking like going broke, and the nuclear industry winding down, – Does New South Wales want to join this plunge? – Christina Macpherson
GOVERNMENT TAKES STEP TOWARDS URANIUM MINING Lee Jeloscek, 7 News Sydney February 14, A map drawn up by the government and reported on by 7News shows a large swath of land from north western town of Bourke stretching down past Canberra to the Victorian border could be explored for the resource. http://au.news.yahoo.com/nsw/latest/a/-/newshome/12905605/government-takes-step-towards-uranium-mining/
NSW people don’t want the uranium industry
Opposition lashes O’Farrell’s plan to overturn NSW ban on uranium exploration, THE AUSTRALIAN, AAP, February 15, 2012 THE NSW opposition has criticised a plan to overturn the state’s decades-old ban on uranium exploration….. Opposition Leader John Robertson said voters don’t support the industry. “The people of NSW didn’t vote for it and they don’t want it,” he said in a statement. “Only months ago the Premier categorically ruled out uranium mining and exploration in NSW – now it is on for young and old.”
Greenpeace campaigner Julien Vincent called the expected announcement an “insult”….. “Next month we are marking the first anniversary of nuclear disaster in Fukushima, which is one of the best reasons for not going nuclear,” he added.
Australian Greens nuclear affairs spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam added: “Australian uranium was used in every reactor at Fukushima. “Why would the O’Farrell government want New South Wales to be complicit in the next disaster?”
Uranium mining is banned in Queensland but allowed in Western Australia and South Australia.
… Just days before that vote Australian Workers’ Union secretary Paul Howes called on states that don’t allow uranium mining to overturn their bans. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opposition-lashes-ofarrells-plan-to-overturn-nsw-ban-on-uranium-exploration/story-fn59niix-122
Muckaty is not needed for radioactive waste, and the traditional owners will fight on
Medical professionals have called for federal politicians to stop using nuclear medicine as justification for the Muckaty proposal.
Both the NT and Commonwealth governments have systematically stripped back resources for small remote Indigenous communities, placing increased pressure on them to accept long-term and high impact projects like the waste dump.
there is a simple solution: leave the waste where it is produced at the Lucas Heights nuclear research centre .. As Dr Ron Cameron from ANSTO said: “ANSTO is capable of handling and storing wastes for long periods of time. There is no difficulty with that.” Similar views have been expressed by the Commonwealth nuclear regulator, ARPANSA, by the Australian Nuclear Association and even by Martin Ferguson’s own department.
Ferguson’s Dumping Ground Fights Back New Matilda , 13 Feb 12, The Gillard Government is pushing ahead with plans to host a nuclear waste dump at Muckaty in the NT, despite local opposition. Traditional Owners have vowed to fight on, writes Natalie Wasley…. The legislation names Muckaty, 120 kilometres north of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory, as the only site to remain under active consideration for a national nuclear waste dump.
The proposal is highly contested by the NT Government and is also being challenged in the Federal Court by Traditional Owners. Despite this, the Bill is currently being debated in the Senate — and will likely pass.
Ferguson’s law is a crude cut and paste of the Howard government’s Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Act that it purports to replace. It limits the application of federal environmental protection legislation and it curtails appeal rights. The draft legislation overrides the Aboriginal Heritage Protection Act and it sidesteps the Aboriginal Land Rights Act. It allows for the imposition of a dump on Aboriginal land with no consultation with or consent from Traditional Owners. In fact, the Minister can now override any state or territory law that gets in the way of the dump plan. Continue reading
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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