Australia’s Minister For Nuclear Energy squashes solar power’s prospects
the budget cuts come as solar policy is in turmoil, as feed-in-tariffs, introduced over the past few years to support the installation of rooftop solar, are set to be wound back or abolished.
Spending, like meters, goes backwards and forwards, Sydney Morning Herald, Paddy Manning, May 14, 2011 The budget was dismal for the renewable energy industry and the Energy Minister just doesn’t get it.
MORE proof ricocheted through Twitter this week that federal Energy Minister Martin Ferguson doesn’t ”get” renewables. Continue reading
Australian govt’s Budget – no interest in renewable energy revolution
The importance of the green revolution, the multi-trillion dollar clean-tech industry that the world’s largest companies predict will emerge within the next decade does not seem to register in our policy-making.
BUDGET 2011: Lean on clean,CLIMATE SPECTATOR, Giles Parkinson, 11 May 2011, This was not a good budget for the clean energy industry.
A whole host of schemes were either cut, closed, recycled or pushed back beyond current spending horizons. Some of the measures were expected, or even warranted. Others reflect that Australia finds it hard to see itself as an innovator and developer of new technologies. Continue reading
Northern Territory Labor Minister joins anti nuclear waste dump rally
Nuclear waste dump opponents rally, ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), By Jano Gibson, 11 May 11 , A Northern Territory Labor Minister has called on his federal colleagues to abandon plans to set up a nuclear waste storage facility in the Northern Territory. Member for Barkly Gerry McCarthy was one of about 50 people who staged an anti-nuclear dump protest outside Parliament House in Darwin this afternoon.
Mr McCarthy says a federal court challenge to the Muckaty Station nomination shows the site is in dispute among Aboriginal clan groups and the nomination should be withdrawn.
Traditional owners, environmentalists and trade unionists called on federal politicians to block a bill before the Senate, which would allow a waste dump to be built at Muckaty Station, about 100 kilometres north of Tennant Cree……this is an issue for Australia and Australia’s first nuclear waste management facility.”
Lorna Fejo told the crowd she was a traditional owner from the Muckaty Station area and she was against a waste dump.
“I am a traditional owner of Muckaty by acceptance to the land, the law and the culture, and I say no to Muckaty being used as a dump,” she said.
Nuclear waste dump opponents rally – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Hidden under Budget news, Australian govt sneaks in Radioactive Waste Bill
Nuclear debate shrouded in budget, Sky News May 10, 2011 The Greens suspect the Senate nuclear waste debate was timed intentionally to coincide with the federal budget. Greens Senator Scott Ludlam said legislation to set up Australia’s first nuclear waste dump at Muckaty Station, near Tennant Creek, was listed for debate in the Senate on Tuesday, when the federal budget will be handed down.
‘It’s a sign that the government’s got something to hide … it’s curious timing,’ he told AAP. Continue reading
Australian government opposes any expansion of nuclear industry – Penny Wong
Wong said the federal government has made its position on the nuclear industry clear and it was also clear in opposing any expansion of the nuclear industry.
She said solar and wind powered energy should be considered, as should the potential for geothermal energy. “We do have these resources and we should use them,” she said.“We have an underinvestment in the energy sector.”
ENRICHING THE URANIUM DEBATE, Australian Mining, By Jessica Burke 9 May 2011“……Penny Wong recently warned South Australia against becoming involved in nuclear enrichment. The senior federal South Australian Minister and former climate change minister told ABC radio that enriching uranium or having power stations is “not the sort of vision I want for South Australia.” Continue reading
Australian govt’s rush to pass nuclear waste law – no consultation with Palmerston municipality
Palmerston Mayor nuclear fallout with Federal Government ABC News Darwin By Nicole Foote, 10 May 11 The Mayor of Palmerston has strong concerns over the transportation of radioactive nuclear waste from Darwin Port through his community. The proposed nuclear waste dump at Muckaty Station is around 800 kilometres south-east of Palmerston, yet Palmerston Mayor Robert McLeod is very concerned about its impact.
If the dump site goes ahead, radioactive waste from other states and overseas is likely to be transported through Palmerston.
Looking at proposed transport routes, Mayor McLeod says the current recommendations from Linfox and Toll to the government would see waste transported in 20 foot containers either by rail or road from East Arm Port down the Stuart Highway. Either way, the Palmerston Mayor is concerned that neither the Territory or Federal government have consulted Palmerston Council so far.
“At this stage the Federal Government hasn’t spoken to anyone within regards to moving stuff throughout our municipality.”…… The Palmerston council has passed a motion for the Mayor to approach Energy Minister Martin Ferguson. Robert McLeod will be writing to the minister and meeting with him in Canberra this June to raise his concerns….. http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2011/05/09/3211495.htm
Despite legal action, Australian govt to rush nuclear waste law
Traditional owners have begun a challenge to the nomination in the Federal Court.
Ownership of nuclear waste site disputed, Lindsay Murdoch in Tennant Creek, Sydney Morning Herald, May 9, 2011 DOCUMENTS unearthed in the National Archives challenge the Gillard government’s push to build a nuclear waste dump on disputed Aboriginal land near Tennant Creek, lawyers say. Continue reading
South Australian govt’s unseemly haste to push for uranium mine expansion
Concerns have been raised that the State Government will ram through approval of the $20 billion project on the same day the latest environmental impact statement is released – leaving no room for public consultation.
Concern at pace of mine approval | Adelaide Now, Russell Emerson May 08, 2011 THE latest version of the Olympic Dam expansion is likely to be released publicly on Thursday or Friday. Continue reading
Australian Parliament: Greens Senator tabling call for Independent Commission on Nuclear Waste
Senator Ludlam plans to table a counter proposal calling for an independent commission to make decisions on nuclear waste disposal…..” Mr Ludlam had “real concerns about the obsession the government has with location the material at remote Aboriginal sites”.
NT nuclear waste dump plan forges ahead 9 NEWS, May 7 2011 By Fiona Willan, “…….WA-based Australian Greens senator Scott Ludlam told ninemsn it was “grossly inappropriate” for the nuclear waste dump to be debated in Parliament while there was an ongoing court case over the proposed land. Continue reading
Australian Politics – Secret Deals on Nuclear Waste Importing
“We would return an enormous amount of money’ – Bob Hawke
Mr Sweeney said there was a bi-partisan push for nuclear waste dumping….“We are seeing increasing amounts of back-room deals in the wake of Fukushima in Japan,” he said.
Nuclear debate heats up behind closed doors, Government News, :06/05/2011 By Lilia Guan, Additional reporting by Paul Hemsley According to Bob Hawke the greatest contribution Australia could make to the nuclear cycle would be to take the world’s nuclear waste.
Martin Ferguson pushes uranium industry, but not nuclear
A nuclear Australia is inevitable: Rio chairman, Sydney Morning Herald, Courtney Trenwith, May 6, 2011“….The Minister for Resources 
and Energy. Martin Ferguson, was not persuaded by Mr du Plessis’s argument, saying Australia did not need nuclear power given the country’s abundance of low-cost and reliable alternative energy sources, namely fossil fuel and renewable.
Mr Ferguson said the Fukushima incident had not changed the government’s position on uranium exports. It would continue to support an expansion of uranium mining and the supply of the resource to countries that were signatories to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty…..’Australia’s uranium industry will continue to expand and my immediate priority is ensuring this happens in the proper way.”…… http://www.smh.com.au/business/a-nuclear-australia-is-inevitable-rio-chairman-20110505-1ea83.html#ixzz1LaYkrZiv
Martin Ferguson – Australia’s prime nuclear salesman
Ferguson backs nuclear power, post-Fukushima, The Age, Katharine Murphy, May 5, 2011, RESOURCES Minister Martin Ferguson has defended the nuclear industry following the recent crisis at Fukushima, …
….. Mr Ferguson has made a public call for the ALP to adjust its uranium policy to allow yellowcake sales to India even though the country remains outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Australia’s Liberal Party in the grip of fossil fuel lobby
…..could it be that the credulous and uninformed are being preyed upon today using the same chicanery big tobacco employed to such good effect in the ‘90’s; back then the credo was the same as today: deny the science, or failing that, delay action!…..
So we see the big polluters following the sordid history of big tobacco—creating doubt to delay regulation and extend by decades their market share…The fossil fuel lobby in Australia and the USA doesn’t attempt to convince the well informed: they target the credulous
The Liberal Party receives millions from fossil fuel lobby, Independent Australia, 4 May 11, The fossil fuel lobby has secretly donated millions of dollars to the Liberal Party in an attempt to prevent climate change action and hoodwink voters. Barry Everingham reports. Continue reading
Greens will not give up on renewable energy feed-in tariff
”The entrenched fossil fuel lobby still fills the airwaves and the corridors of parliaments with their nonsense that renewables cannot deliver and that clean coal or nuclear power are the only answers.
while the Government seems oddly implacably opposed to a feed-in tariff, we are not giving up on this world-leading policy option
Renewables could power nation: Milne, Canberra Times, BY CHRIS JOHNSON, 05 May, 2011 Opposition to renewable energy is more dangerous now than denying climate change even exists.
That’s according to Greens senator Christine Milne, who will use an address to the Clean Energy Council conference in Melbourne today to criticise the Government’s failure to fully embrace the sector……. Continue reading
South Australia to be radioactive industries hub?
Christina Macpherson, 3 May 11 Today’s glowing uranium industry news for South Australia carries the promise of future developments. South Australia has long
been suggested as the location for a radioactive nuclear waste import industry. Could this be a logical extension of its nuclear bomb testing past, and its uranium mining future?
Today, Mineweb tells us: South Australia seen as China’s next mining investment frontier. A mining conference in Adelaide today was told that Chinese mining and metal companies view South Australia as the world’s next mining frontier.
While Sydney Morning Herald enthuses about opening up of Woomera to uranium mining
the area was estimated to contain..about 78 per cent of the nation’s uranium… “jolt to drive further development in the future.”[ says Premier Rann]
SA hopeful of mining in Woomera zone, Sydney Morning Herald, Tim Dornin, May 2, 2011 , South Australian Premier Mike Rann says he’s hopeful of a decision soon from the federal government to unlock the mineral wealth in the Woomera Prohibited Area (WPA).
1 This month.
20 September –National Day of Action in Melbourne on the International Day of Peace
Help Aunty Sue Protect Her Land and Sacred Sites From Destructive Rocket Testing.
.
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)
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity
Antinuclear 