Alan Hewett submission to Senate Nuclear Inquiry- Nuclear power could only delay Australia’s transition to clean renewable energy
Environment and Other Legislation Amendment (Removing Nuclear Energy Prohibitions) Bill 2022 Submission 92
The federal Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources expects 69% renewable
supply to the Australian National Electricity Market by 2030. The Albanese Labor government’s
target is 82% renewable supply by 2030.
South Australia has already reached 67% renewable supply and will comfortably meet the target of 100% net renewable supply by 2030.
Nuclear power could not in any way facilitate Australia’s energy transition ‒ it could only delay the
transition and make it more expensive and contentious
Nuclear power would unnecessarily introduce risks of catastrophic nuclear accidents and military or terrorist attacks. It would inevitably bequeath future generations with streams of high-, intermediate- and low-level
nuclear waste. We urge all politicians and political parties to focus on the transition to a lowcarbon economy and to reject nuclear power because it is too slow, too expensive, too dangerous, and those promoting it are mostly the same people trying to slow and derail the transition to a low-carbon economy. https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Environment_and_Communications/Nuclearprohibitions/Submission
Michele Kwok Submission – nuclear power is not clean -it’s polluting at every stage
Environment and Other Legislation Amendment (Removing Nuclear Energy Prohibitions) Bill 2022 Submission 80
It’s concerning that nuclear energy is viewed as clean energy and as a solution to climate crisis.
Every stage of the production pollutes.
Uranium poses high risk in ground water contamination, currently a subject of concern all over the world due
to related severe health problems to humans, as groundwater is the main drinking water source in remote
communities.
Nuclear energy is very expensive compared to wind and sun energy Every power reactor construction project in Western Europe and the US over the past decade has been a disaster: True costs have exceeded company and government estimates by $10 billion or more for all these projects, and delays range from 7 to 13 years. Unsurprisingly, few new reactors are being built.
There is no viable means to manage nuclear waste.
Overall, not economical, too risky and the negative impacts on health should be a concern for us all. https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Environment_and_Communications/Nuclearprohibitions/Submission
Unions question Labor over AUKUS nuclear submarines
Canberra Times, By Tess Ikonomou, March 28 2023
Australia’s union movement has criticised plans to acquire nuclear-powered submarines under the AUKUS partnership, declaring support for a “nuclear-free defence policy”.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese earlier this month revealed the $368 billion pathway Australia will take to get the boats under a security pact with the US and UK.
ACTU president Michele O’Neil said unions were seeking more detail from the government so they could discuss what this meant for workers in worried communities.
“The ACTU has a long-standing policy of opposition to nuclear power, nuclear waste and proliferation,” she told the National Press Club in Canberra on Tuesday.
“We also have a long-standing policy position that supports a nuclear-free defence policy.”
Under the nuclear submarine program, US and UK boats will start rotating through Western Australia from as early as 2027.
Ms O’Neil said there had not been the chance to talk through the acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines due to a lack of information.
“There are safety issues for us,” she said…………………………….. https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8139050/unions-question-labor-over-aukus-nuclear-submarines/
Solar relief for social housing as four companies act to slash soaring power bills — RenewEconomy
Four solar companies partner to create a lower-cost rooftop PV package that can slash power bills for social housing tenants by up to 40%. The post Solar relief for social housing as four companies act to slash soaring power bills appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Solar relief for social housing as four companies act to slash soaring power bills — RenewEconomy
South Australia about to take another big step towards fossil free grid — RenewEconomy
The world’s most renewable grid is about to take another big step towards running truly fossil fuel free – at least on occasions. The post South Australia about to take another big step towards fossil free grid appeared first on RenewEconomy.
South Australia about to take another big step towards fossil free grid — RenewEconomy
From Coalition fig leaf to Green-teal ALP deal: A closer look at Safeguard Mechanism 3.0 — RenewEconomy
The Coalition thought of it, and the Greens, Teals and Labor got rid of most of its warts. But exactly what will the Safeguard Mechanism do? The post From Coalition fig leaf to Green-teal ALP deal: A closer look at Safeguard Mechanism 3.0 appeared first on RenewEconomy.
From Coalition fig leaf to Green-teal ALP deal: A closer look at Safeguard Mechanism 3.0 — RenewEconomy
Rooftop solar’s dominant summer: Homes and businesses outpower brown coal — RenewEconomy
New figures show that small-scale rooftop solar systems provided the biggest chunk yet of Australia’s electricity needs during the summer months. The post Rooftop solar’s dominant summer: Homes and businesses outpower brown coal appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Rooftop solar’s dominant summer: Homes and businesses outpower brown coal — RenewEconomy
Over 100 Canadian organisations oppose funding for small modular nuclear reactors in federal budget
Ottawa, Monday, March 27, 2023 – Environmental and civil society groups are giving a thumbs-down after the federal government announced new funding on Friday towards the development of small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs). The groups will be looking closely at the numbers in Tuesday’s budget.
The “Prime Minister Trudeau and President Biden Joint Statement,“ issued on Friday March 24, committed Canada to provide funding and in-kind support for a US-led program to promote SMRs.
The Canadian government’s Strategic Innovation Fund has already given close to $100 million to corporations working on experimental SMR technologies. In addition, the Canada Infrastructure Bank has committed $970 million to Ontario Power Generation’s plan for a 300-megawatt SMR at Darlington. Federal funding is benefiting US-based companies GE-Hitachi and Westinghouse, and Canada’s SNC-Lavalin, among others.
All the funded SMR projects are still in the research and development phase. Worldwide, no SMRs have ever been built for domestic use.
In addition, the federal government is giving Atomic Energy of Canada Limited $1.35 billion a year to conduct nuclear research and development and to manage its toxic radioactive waste. Nearly all this funding is transferred to a consortium of SNC-Lavalin and two US-based companies (Fluor and Jacobs) that that are heavily involved in nuclear weapons and SMR research.
Over 100 groups from all across Canada have criticized the federal government’s plan to promote SMR nuclear technology, stating that:
- SMRs are a dirty, dangerous distraction that will produce radioactive waste of many kinds. Especially worrisome are those proposed reactors that would extract plutonium from irradiated fuel, raising the spectre of nuclear weapons proliferation.
- SMRs will take too long to develop to address the urgent climate crisis in the short time frame necessary to achieve Canada’s goals.
- SMRs will be much more expensive than renewable energy and energy efficiency. Small reactors will be even more expensive per unit of power than the current large ones, which have priced themselves out of the market.
- Nuclear power creates fewer jobs than renewable energy and efficiency. Solar, wind and tidal power are among the fastest-growing job sectors in North America. The International Energy Agency forecasts that 90% of new electrical capacity installed worldwide over the next five years will be renewable.
The federal government needs to invest urgently in renewables, energy conservation and climate action, not slow, expensive, speculative nuclear technologies.
QUOTES:
“Taxpayer dollars should not be wasted on a future technology whose time is past, like nuclear reactors, when truly clean renewable solutions are up-and-running and getting more affordable all the time.” – Dr. Gordon Edwards, Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility
“Let’s compete to be world leaders in renewables. Pouring public funding into speculative reactor technologies is sabotaging our efforts to address the climate crisis.” – Dr. Ole Hendrickson, Sierra Club Canada Foundation
The SMR technologies are all at the early R&D stage, yet the funding is not following good governance practices by requiring high standards of peer review.“ – Dr. Susan O’Donnell, Coalition for Responsible Energy Development in New Brunswick
Australian and other nuclear news this week
Some bits of good news: What went right this week: ‘a surge in benevolence’, plus more
Coronavirus. A hidden pandemic: the orphans Covid has left behind.
Climate. Climate change: 5 charts from the IPCC report that show why every increment of warming matters. Why Normal Is Never Coming Back.
Nuclear. Apologies – this newsletter is getting out of hand. It’s good if people can just read the stories in large bold green type – usually selected because of their particular importance. Sorry – so much Australian stuff – AUKUS remains a very big deal here.
Worldwide – economics matter – the rampaging costs of weapons, the ever-more apparent unaffordability of small nuclear reactors.
Christina notes. Two ways of looking at the world. Here we go again. Depleted uranium weapons for Ukraine to use against Russia. Everything’s OK – depleted uranium is just a pretty harmless “common type of munition”. NuScam – the sad little canary that’s scared of a tweet . Australia’s Defence Minister Richard Marles is a master of “weasel words”
AUSTRALIA.
- AUKUS and Nuclear Submarines. Senator Barbara Pocock demolishes the arguments put up for small nuclear reactors, and for nuclear submarines. Greens attack Albanese government’s ‘deeply unsettling’ secrecy on submarine nuclear waste plans. May Day March planned – against AUKUS. Some Labor and Independent members of parliament not happy with AUKUS nuclear submarine deal. AUKUS, the Australian Labor Party, and Growing Dissent. In Australian conventional media, when it comes to discussion on AUKUS, only certain limited views are permissable. Richard Marles’ ill-advised spending on completely inappropriate Tomahawk missiles for Australia’s existing submarines. Australia’s defence policy explained – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTCqXlDjx18
- Big Tech, weapons, tax havens, even Rupert Murdoch – secrets from the Future Fund investment vault. Australian military looks to build crucial space capabilities that will support Aukus nuclear subs. Guardian Essential Poll: AUKUS support collapses, 3-in-4 oppose. AUKUS nuclear subs deal should torpedo Kimba radioactive waste plan.
- The cost and unnecessary suffering of military spending. National Party MPs seek nuclear submarine base in central Qld. PM flags nuclear prohibition treaty still on agenda despite AUKUS subs deal. Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) flexes its muscles – forces the ABC to back down on a Media Watch show that dared to criticise ASPI. Nuclear power costs prohibitive.
Submissions to Senate.
- Ivan Quail – a devastating fact-filled critique of the costly, dangerous, unhealthy, nuclear industry.
- Judy Schneider – keep Australia’s nuclear bans, use renewables, including tidal energy.
- Ray Tauss = for health, safety, and future generations’ well-being – Australia’s nuclear bans should NOT be repealed.
- Greg Chapman – Nuclear power is dirty and its fallout lasts forever.
CLIMATE. World on ‘thin ice’ as UN climate report gives stark warning. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gKGcWqzH1Y Samoa’s desperate plea for world climate action. What is the IPCC AR6 synthesis report and why does it matter? Burning down the house — Climate options are available now- Nuclear power isn’t one of them. Lethal underwater nuclear submarines –their power to devastate the climate. Nuclear energy will not halt the climate crisis. Climate change may pose key risk to French reactors – said the country’s Court of Auditors.
Briefing Paper on Nuclear Weapons, the Environment, and the Climate Crisis.
CIVIL LIBERTIES. UN Rights Official Concerned Over Summary Executions Of POWs By Both Russia, Ukraine.
CULTURE. Rebooting memories of life before the nuclear devastation of Hiroshima. France in national denial– rejecting renewable energy, clinging to out-dated nuclear.
ECONOMICS. Bad news for NuScale. Author of controversial memo puts the final nail in the coffin: Nuclear power in Denmark is not cost-effective. Tiny Modular Reactor Deal Starts With Absurdly Expensive Electricity.
Marketing. U.S. government marketing nuclear power to Indonesia. Thorium fake charity group cons El Salvador into joining the “Nuclear Power Club”. South Korea coming for a slice of Africa’s emerging nuclear power market. Mini nuclear reactors all the rage, but are they the answer? Rolls Royce marketing its mini nuclear reactors to Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, but deals could collapse.
EMPLOYMENT Strikes hit French nuclear output, disrupt EDF maintenance plans.
ENVIRONMENT. Campaigners claim permit change at Hinkley Point would kill billions of fish.
HEALTH. Radiation Low-dose Radiation Linked to Heart Disease
LEGAL. Second U.S. Citizen Headed to German Prison for Anti-Nuclear Weapons Actions. Legal case begins against Sizewell C nuclear project. “Together Against Sizewell” argue in UK’s High Court against this nuclear development’s impact on environment . Lawsuit over internal records of 2018 ‘near miss’ at San Onofre nuclear plant moves forward.
NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY. NuScale Power the canary in the small modular nuclear reactor market. European
OPPOSITION TO NUCLEAR. Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament condemns UK decision to send depleted uranium shells to Ukraine. Restarting Michigan Nuclear Power Plant Risks ‘Chernobyl-Scale Catastrophe,’ Coalition Warns. Bi -Partisan measure opposes Canadian plan to store nuclear waste long term near Lake Huron.
POLITICS. Mixed messages to the nuclear industry as Biden’s budget cuts funding for nuclear energy . The UK Budget pushes nuclear and CCS, and the military link with small nuclear reactors is now overt.
POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY.
- Macron’s nuclear power plan hits trouble. Seven countries reject nuclear-derived hydrogen from EU renewables law. EU leaders remain deadlocked on classification of nuclear energy. France trying to “sell off its old nukes” to the Netherlands?
- Imperial Visits: US Emissaries in the Pacific.
- US won’t let Ukraine even consider peace talks – Moscow. Xi Jinping’s Russia trip reduced chance of nuclear war, says EU foreign policy chief.
SAFETY. 12 years later, evacuation orders lifted in parts of two towns near the crippled Fukushima nuclear power station . Fears that France’s nuclear safety system may now fail – from Nuclear Transparency Watch, 11 French and European NGOs and 23 members of European Parliament. Minnesota nuclear plant shuts down for leak; residents worry. Incidents. Russian Factory That Makes Nuclear Missile Engines Catches Fire.
SECRETS and LIES. UK says no nuclear escalation in Ukraine after row over depleted uranium munitions. US and UK deny harmful effects of depleted uranium.
WASTES. US regulators delay decision on nuclear fuel storage license. Will Scotland’s next Chief Minister heed the warnings of Dounreay?
WAR and CONFLICT.
- Sung-HeeChoi reports on U.S.-NATO military expansion in South Korea.
- UK’s depleted uranium plan threatens all of Europe – Moscow. The West has ‘brought humankind to the brink of nuclear Armageddon’ with its decision to use depleted uranium ammo in Ukraine, says Russia’s US envoy.
- Stolen Valor: The U.S. Volunteers in Ukraine Who Lie, Waste and Bicker.
- NATO pushes European Socialists for thirty more years, eternity of new wars.
- Strengthening the international maritime force: NATO gathers global fleet commanders to study Ukraine war.
- Declassified Video Shows How B-52 Crews Would Conduct Nuclear Strikes During Cold War.
WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES.
- A $1 trillion defense budget would be madness. Where the $1.3 Trillion Per Year U.S. Military Budget Goes.
- EU to ship $2 billion more in shells, other ammunition to Ukraine . Poland’s prime minister boasted of “very good compensation” from the European Union for Polish weapons sent to Ukraine. Baltic to Black Sea: NATO deploys Portuguese, Romanian F-16s to Russian border .
- Britain supplying depleted uranium rounds to Ukraine. UK could fuel radioactive disaster in Ukraine – Russia. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6FjWEPAGWw
- The world needs Japan to rally the G-7 against nuclear weapons.
- North Korea tests new nuclear-capable underwater drone.
Senator Barbara Pocock demolishes the arguments put up for small nuclear reactors, and for nuclear submarines
There is a long list of reasons why the $368 billion spend proposed for AUKUS is a terrible idea, but it’s not least that the government has no viable solution to care for the weapons-grade nuclear waste and keep us safe.
Senator BARBARA POCOCK (South Australia) : THE SENATE CHAMBER SPEECH, Wednesday, 22 March 2023
“The proposal for nuclear power for Australia is wrong on many counts. Small modular nuclear power generation is too expensive, it’s not operating commercially and it’s a distraction from what we have to really get on with, which is a very fast move to renewables. We senators in this place have a responsibility to consider realistic proposals to advance citizens’ interests, not run impractical, risky, uncommercial proposals up the flagpole on behalf of, in this case, nuclear industry spruikers.
Last time I looked, only two small modular reactors were in operation on the planet, one in China and one Russia. In both cases the cost blowouts have been huge. Many other such next-generation nuclear reactors have been cancelled as people have worked out that renewables are the cheaper, more-reliable way forward.
But I want to especially focus on what Senator Canavan has raised, and that’s the question of nuclear waste disposal. The truth is that finding a permanent solution for the safe storage of nuclear waste arising from power generation remains a big, dangerous problem everywhere—a very expensive problem. The UK has 70 years of waste, 260,000 tonnes of it, from its nuclear power plants, in unsafe temporary storage. It’s a major problem for that country and its citizens.
The US nuclear industry has similarly been plagued by dangerous leaks and failures. No long-term solution exists in the US for waste from power generation or from nuclear powered submarines.
South Australians have had some experience with these issues. In 2016 our citizens had a very close look at a proposal that we take the world’s nuclear power waste and store it. We were promised an income stream of $51 billion. That’s a lot of money, but South Australians said no. The world’s largest citizens jury of 350 South
Australian citizens read the fine print. They saw that the proposal was for temporary storage for above-ground for more than a century. They said no to the false promise of huge incomes but especially to the safety risks and the fact that those who spruik nuclear power never offer a long-term waste solution that is safe and that will last the 100,000 years that is needed.
First Nations people across South Australia in particular said no. They remember Maralinga. This is a national challenge of long standing.
Since Australia first started producing nuclear waste, 70 years ago, five successive governments have tried and failed to find a suitable place for the permanent storage of our relatively small quantities of low-level and intermediate-level waste. Low-level waste, arising from medical use, must be stored safely for 300 years, and it’s nowhere near as dangerous as intermediate waste, but no community in this country has agreed to take and store that waste. Intermediate-level waste, arising from research at Lucas Heights, must be safely stored for 10,000 years. The previous government began a process towards that storage at Kimba, and it’s been bitterly disputed at every step of the way since, opposed by farmers, by community members and by First Nations people.
The Barngarla people are currently in the Federal Court fighting the current government, which is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to oppose the voice of the Barngarla people.
In the case of AUKUS, the fuel from decommissioned submarines is nuclear weapons grade, and it requires military-scale security. It must be stored safely not for 300 years, not for 10,000 years, but for 100,000 years, and neither the UK nor the US have been able to find permanent storage solutions for their own submarine waste. So, given that successive governments have continuously failed to manage much-less-dangerous radioactive waste in Australia, our government would find it very difficult in this country to find a solution to dispose of nuclear waste or AUKUS submarine waste. Traditional owners of the future in particular should have a say and a veto about any such proposal.
There is a long list of reasons why the $368 billion spend proposed for AUKUS is a terrible idea, but it’s not least that the government has no viable solution to care for the weapons-grade nuclear waste and keep us safe.
The Australian public is right to be sceptical and concerned about waste disposal in relation to AUKUS. There is no plan, and the same argument applies to any ill considered, expensive adventurism around nuclear power.
Our children need practical, affordable action on renewable energy that cuts carbon pollution, not pies in the sky that generate toxic waste for which there are no safe solutions.”
In Australian conventional media, when it comes to discussion on AUKUS, only certain limited views are permissable.
Social media and independent news sites have had a significant effect on opening up the political debate over the AUKUS deal, writes Professor John Quiggin.
Social media and independent news sites have had a significant effect on opening up the political debate over the AUKUS deal, writes Professor John Quiggin.
Opening the Overton window. Independent Australia, by John Quiggin | 24 March 2023
ONE OF THE MOST useful ideas in thinking about political debate is that of the Overton window, named after American political scientist Joseph Overton. The Overton window is the range of ideas considered permissible in public discussion at any given time.
Overton’s crucial insight was that, while active participants in political debate could only take positions within the window of acceptable views, outside bodies like think tanks could help to shift it.
……………………………….The Overton window provides a way of thinking about current policy debate, particularly the treatment of the AUKUS deal by the mass media. At one end of the Overton window is the hyperbole of warmongers like Matthew Knott gushing that Australia is ‘no longer a middle power’ to the more cautious view that perhaps we should have had some public discussion before such a major change.
The mass media has been vigorous in policing even the slightest dissent within the political class, such as the questions raised, cautiously, by a handful of Labor backbenchers. It has responded with fury to criticism from those it can’t control like Paul Keating and Malcolm Turnbull. And, as usual, it has done its best to ignore criticism from outside the Overton window.
Although think tanks like the Australia Institute still play a role, the biggest challenge to the mainstream media’s role in policing debate has come from social and alternative media. The ease of communication through the internet is reflected in social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and more recently Mastodon, which have largely displaced older models of blogging. Equally important has been the proliferation of online magazines like Independent Australia and Crikey, and the rise of single-author newsletters distributed through Substack and Medium.
At least regarding issues like AUKUS, there is an Overton window for social and alternative media. Almost all opinions are critical, with the dominant viewpoint being that the project is economically wasteful and puts Australia in danger of being dragged into war. The most positive views to be found on Twitter are “Labor inherited this from Morrison” and “cheer up, it will probably never happen”. The only point of contact with the political class Overton window is the view that we need to discuss this further.
Traditional mass media still has a greater reach than online alternatives. But it can no longer constrain debate within the Overton window defined by the political class.
May Day March planned – against AUKUS
The Age (print version) , David Crowe, Matthew Knott,23 Mar 23,
Laboutr organisers will escalate their concerns about the AUKUS defence pact by movingan annual workers’ march to the NSW city of Port Kembla to oppose its use as a base for a future submarine fleet.
The organisers agreed on Tuesday night to relocate the MayDay March from Wollongong out of growing c oncern at the prospect that nearby Port Kembla could become the eas-coast home for eight nuclear-powered vessels.
“the battle for Port Kembla has begun” said Arthur Rorris, the secretary of the South Coast Labour Council, a longstanding Labor member and one of the organisers of the annual march.
The move cam after former Labor cabinet minister Kim Carr added hi svoice to concerns about AUKUS in the wake of criticism from former prime minister Paul Keating………………..
The location of the fleet is a major obstacle because the AUKUS plan includes$10 billion for an east coast base to house the submarines, with Brisbane and Newcastle named as options, but the idustrial city of Port Kembla seen as the government’s most likely choivce.
The protest will focus attention on AUKUS befoe Albanese heads to the G-7 summit in Japan on May 19 and United States President Joe Biden visits Sydney for the Quad summit in the same months, with expectatins that tehpresident will address federal parliament.
Rorris said the groups concerns about AUKUS were about the national interest and nota “not-in-my-backyard” protest.
The name is Port Kembla not Fort Kembla” he said.
“We will not cop lectures about the national interest from spooks and arms dealers”, he said……….
NuScam – the sad little canary that’s scared of a tweet
NuScale, maker of the pioneering (supposedly little) Small Modular Nuclear Reactors, must have had a little hissy fit at my beautiful picture of NuScale’s SMR plunging down a bottomless money hole.
I mean, that is pretty much what is in fact happening. But I can understand that NuScale was not all that thrilled with my artwork – they had it removed from Twitter, explaining that –
“This person has taken and modified our rendering without our permission and in a derogatory fashion. “
Well, that’s true. Unfortunately sometimes “derogatory” = “true”.
And “true” can be painful. NuScale is seen as the canary in the coal mine for SMRs,
NuScale and the Utah Municipal Power Systems, its partner in an SMR project planned for Idaho, announced early in January, that the target price for the power from their proposed modular reactor had risen by 53% from $58/MWh to $89/MWh.
So NuScale has a lot more to be sad about than just my little picture, and somebody else’s tweet of it. The reality is that the business prospects for all those hyped-up small nuclear reactors are looking very gloomy indeed.
NuScale, Rolls Royce and the rest of them might soon have to face up to the fact that SMRs can survive only as tax-payer funded toys for the military – nuclear submarines, military stations on the moon, whatever new follies that the macho boys think up.
Big Tech, weapons, tax havens, even Rupert Murdoch – secrets from the Future Fund investment vault
AUKUS wins
Paul Keating’s words still resonate in Aussie minds,
“At the Kabuki show in San Diego … there’s three leaders standing there, only one is paying, our bloke, Albo.“
Michael West Media, Philip Dorling and Rex Patrick | Mar 26, 2023
The secretive Future Fund’s chairman Peter Costello might not like it, but Freedom of Information requests are peeling back the lid on the Fund’s weighty overseas investments. Philip Dorling and Rex Patrick report the more controversial ones.
Big Tech, Big Pharma and Big Oil are the top of the pops in a newly released list of Future Fund Investments across the United States, United Kingdom and a range of tax havens, notably among the Cayman Islands.
These revelations come on top of revelations earlier this year about ethically and environmentally questionable Future Fund investments in China.
The latest FOI drilling into the side of the vault also shed light on the Fund’s investments in arms manufacturers, Chinese companies operating out of the Caymans as well as politically controversial investments in Rupert Murdoch’s right-wing media empire.
It’s so infuriated Senator Barbara Pocock, who has been pursuing the Fund’s investment practices the Senate. “It should not take FOI requests for Australian citizens to find out where their own money is being invested. The Future Fund is suffering from a corrosive secrecy disease.
The public should know about these Future Fund investments in carbon polluting fossil fuels, in arms manufacture and in companies based in tax havens – not to mention the Murdoch and Fox media empires. It’s time to come clean.
Big Tech
In what may be its largest investment in a single publicly listed foreign company, the Future Fund holds a $793 million stake in tech giant Microsoft. Other very large Future Fund tech investments include Google owner Alphabet ($559.9m), NVIDIA ($346.8m), Cisco Systems ($288.2m), Meta Platforms ($256.4m) and Intel Corp ($240.0m). Amazon comes in with a rather more modest investment of $187 million.
Given the vital importance of IT and telecommunications policy for Australian governments, business, our economy and society, disclosure of the nature and scale of these publicly funded investments is clearly in the public interest.
However, it only comes after the Future Fund was forced to abandon its deep preference for secrecy and resistance to scrutiny through FOI.
Pharma, energy and mining………………………………..
AUKUS wins
Paul Keating’s words still resonate in Aussie minds,
At the Kabuki show in San Diego … there’s three leaders standing there, only one is paying, our bloke, Albo.
But it appears the Future Fund is well ahead of Albo, with investments in leading American and British aerospace and defence manufacturers including Raytheon Technologies ($91.9m), Lockheed Martin Co ($75.1m), General Dynamics ($65.3m), Northrop Grumman ($41.5m), Honeywell International ($76.0m), BAE Systems ($20m), and Rolls-Royce ($0.7m).
A number of these companies will be deeply involved with the AUKUS nuclear submarine project, so maybe this a return path for a tiny share of the eye-watering $368 billion AUKUS price tag.
Tax haven heaven………………………………………………………
Backing Murdoch
In the end however, two quite modest investments in the United States may prove to be among the Future Fund’s more controversial holdings – a $6.3 million stake in News Corp and $13.5 million in Fox Corp which have been notable political allies of Coalition governments.
That’s $19.8 million in the two companies controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his primary channels of national and global political influence………………………………………….
The Future Fund is an independent, statutory body but it wouldn’t be entirely surprising if a “Defund Murdoch” campaign emerges.
Last month Treasurer Jim Chalmers wrote about the need to bring ethics and values into national economic and financial policy. Perhaps he should call in Costello for a chat about ESG (Environmental, Social & Governance). https://michaelwest.com.au/big-tech-weapons-tax-havens-even-rupert-murdoch-secrets-from-the-future-fund-investment-vault/
NuScale Power the canary in the small modular nuclear reactor market
SMRs are being marketed as a solution to the climate crisis, but they’re already far more expensive and take much longer to build than renewable and storage resources – that we already have.
Utility Dive, David Schlissel, 21 Mar 23, Davis Schlissel is the Institute for Energy Economics anf Financial Analysis director of resource planning analysis.
NuScale is hoping to be among the first of about a dozen companies trying to take advantage of the much-hyped market for small modular nuclear reactors or SMR. So far, however, the Oregon-based company is looking like the first canary in the coal-mine.
Considered a leader in the new technology, NuScale is marketing its SMR project by claiming that the reactor design project will save time and money – persistent problems for traditional large nuclear plants.
But NuScale and the Utah Municipal Power Systems, its partner in an SMR project planned for Idaho, announced early in January, that the target price for the power from their proposed modular reactor had risen by 53% from $58/MWh to $89/MWh……..
The announcement has serious implications for all would-be SMR manufacturers………………
the new $89/MWh target price already means that power from the NuScale SMR will be much more expensive than renewable and storage resources even with an estimated $4.2 billion in tax-payer subsidies.
……………………………….. The gap is only going to get larger as the costs of building SMRs rise and costs of renewables and storage continue to decline.
………….. Using SMRs as backups for renewables will not be financially feasible
………………………………….evryone – utilities, ratepayers, legislators, federal officials and the general public, should be very sceptical about theindustry’s current claim that the new SMRs will cost less and be built faster than previous designs. https://www.utilitydive.com/news/nuscale-power-small-modular-reactor-smr-ieefa-uamps/645554/
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 