Keeping South Australia nuclear-dump-free – a priority for Candace Champion, Greens candidate for Grey electorate
Greens announce new candidate for Grey electorate, Transcontinental, Amy Green 6 Feb 19 Port Augusta woman Candace Champion has joined the race for the seat of Grey at the next federal election.
Running as a candidate for The Greens, Candace is described as a passionate and driven young Aboriginal woman who can bring diversity to Australian parliament.
Brought up in a close-knit family, Candace has many fond memories of her childhood growing up on the Eyre Peninsula – especially participating in local sports. ……
While her family has been a large source of inspiration throughout her life, her faith is also something that has had a big influence on who she is today.
Candace’s father was a minister and later on her mother followed suit.
“The church is and has always been a second home for me. Friday night Youth Group and Sunday Church hold special memories,” she said.
She is now an active member of the Uniting Church in Australia and the Uniting Aboriginal and Islanders Christian Congress.
Candace said she was inspired to run for government after witnessing the many issues her family, friends, country, communities and church continue to face. ……
She is deeply committed to child safety and keeping families together, a treaty with First Australians, and the protection of Australia’s beautiful country and waters.
“By running for the seat of Grey I hope to achieve real advocacy, I will advocate for equality, justice and change. I hope to create positive change in all areas of government and society,” Candace said……
Candace is also passionate about cleaning up politics – where corporate donations should be banned and making SA a no nuclear waste dump. …… https://www.transcontinental.com.au/story/5886273/candace-throws-her-hat-to-contest-the-seat-of-grey/?fbclid=IwAR0TR2ZpvxAPD1T647q1lPdqF30cV6h6aE38D
Canavan takes cheap shots at the UN for Adani
“Canavan and Adani keep saying that Adrian Burragubba and the W&J Council don’t speak for the Traditional Owners. One thing is absolutely certain… Canavan and Adani don’t.
Neither Canavan nor Adani would know land rights if they fell over them. We will persist with our petitioning of various UN bodies because the legislation and processes in Australia fall well short of international laws and standards to which Australia is a signatory.
The Coalition Government has an appalling record on Aboriginal rights, and we operate under a worse native title regime today than when the UN CERD, more than 20 years ago, found the Howard government’s “10 point plan” changes to the Native Title Act were racially discriminatory.
The mining industry’s Resources Minister, Adani and the Coalition Government: fighters for Aboriginal Land Rights? Canavan must think we’re fools if we believe that. He is not going to run W&J business.” wanganjagalingou.com.au/canavan-takes-cheap-shots-at-the-un-for-adani/
Anger in Ireland, about UK plans to dump nuclear waste close to Louth border
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Bill Shorten’s climate change policy isn’t ‘ambitious enough’ – Zali Steggall
Independent challenging Tony Abbott says Shorten’s climate change policy isn’t ‘ambitious enough’ The high-profile independent taking on Tony Abbott in Warringah at the coming federal election says Labor’s climate change policy needs to be more ambitious and include an explicit commitment to block the Adani coalmine.In an interview with Guardian Australia’s political podcast, Zali Steggall said the current policy outlined by Bill Shorten was on the right track, but she challenged the opposition to go further. “I don’t think it’s ambitious enough.”
Steggall said Labor, given the potential for a change of government later in the year, needed to include a commitment to block the controversial Queensland coal project. “Our financial institutions aren’t prepared to lend or invest in coal projects, why should the Australia people’s money be invested?”
She said Labor, if it wins this year’s federal contest, needed to use whatever regulatory powers it had available to it to stop the project. “We need an orderly retirement of coal, I don’t think we should be entering new projects,” Steggall said.
“The attention should be with renewables, technology, clean transport, clean energy – not projects like Adani.”
Steggall, a barrister, and former Olympic ski champion, is one of a group of small l liberal independents taking on government frontbenchersin the federal election contest expected in May, and has put Abbott and the Coalition’s record on climate change front and centre of her campaign in the Sydney seat.
The environment movement, and activist groups like GetUp, also want Labor to strengthen its position on the Adani project, an idea Shorten countenanced seriously last year, before stepping back.
Private polling conducted for the environment movement and for the major parties suggests community concern about climate change is currently sitting at levels not seen since the federal election cycle in 2007……. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/feb/06/zali-steggall-says-labor-needs-to-commit-to-stopping-adani-coalmine
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Climate disruption is driving the migration of people from Central America
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Climate change is the overlooked driver of Central American migration, https://www.pri.org/stories/2019-02-06/climate-change-overlooked-driver-central-american-migration, Living on Earth. February 06, 2019 Adam Wernick As people from Guatemala and Honduras continue to seek sanctuary in the US for a variety of reasons, including violence and poverty, another factor driving their migration has gotten much less attention: climate disruption. Continue reading
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How Australia has lost the plot on adapting to climate change
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Ten years ago, climate adaptation research was gaining steam. Today, it’s gutted, The Conversation, Professor, University of Melbourne February 7, 2019 “……..Between 1997 and 2009 the state [of Victoria] suffered its worst drought on record, and major bushfires in 2003 and 2006-07 burned more than 2 million hectares of forest. Then came Black Saturday, and the year after that saw the start of Australia’s wettest two-year period on record, bringing major floods to the state’s north, as well as to vast swathes of the rest of the country.
In Victoria alone, hundreds of millions of dollars a year were being spent on response and recovery from climate-related events. In government, the view was that things couldn’t go on that way. As climate change accelerated, these costs would only rise. We had to get better at preparing for, and avoiding, the future impacts of rapid climate change. This is what is what we mean by the term “climate adaptation”. Facing up to disastersA decade after Black Saturday, with record floods in Queensland, severe bushfires in Tasmania and Victoria, widespread heatwaves and drought, and a crisis in the Murray-Darling Basin, it is timely to reflect on the state of adaptation policy and practice in Australia. In 2009 the Rudd Labor government had taken up the challenge of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. With Malcolm Turnbull as opposition leader, we seemed headed for a bipartisan national solution ahead of the Copenhagen climate summit in December. Governments, meanwhile, agreed that adaptation was more a state and local responsibility. Different parts of Australia faced different climate risks. Communities and industries in those regions had different vulnerabilities and adaptive capacities and needed locally driven initiatives. Led by the Brumby government in Victoria, state governments developed an adaptation policy framework and sought federal financial support to implement it. This included research on climate adaptation. The federal government put A$50 million into a new National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility, based in Queensland, alongside the CSIRO Adaptation Flagship which was set up in 2007. The Victorian Government invested A$5 million in VCCCAR. The state faced local risks: more heatwaves, floods, storms, bushfires and rising sea levels, and my colleagues and I found there was plenty of information on climate impacts. The question was: what can policy-makers, communities, businesses and individuals do in practical terms to plan and prepare? Getting to workFrom 2009 until June 2014, researchers from across disciplines in four universities collaborated with state and local governments, industry and the community to lay the groundwork for better decisions in a changing climate. We held 20 regional and metropolitan consultation events and hosted visiting international experts on urban design, flood, drought, and community planning. Annual forums brought together researchers, practitioners, consultants and industry to share knowledge and engage in collective discussion on adaptation options. We worked with eight government departments, driving the message that adapting to climate change wasn’t just an “environmental” problem and needed responses across government. All involved considered the VCCCAR a success. It improved knowledge about climate adaptation options and confidence in making climate decisions. The results fed into Victoria’s 2013 Climate Change Adaptation Plan, as well as policies for urban design and natural resource management, and practices in the local government and community sectors. I hoped the centre would continue to provide a foundation for future adaptation policy and practice. Funding cutsIn the 2014 state budget the Napthine government chose not to continue funding the VCCCAR. Soon after, the Abbott federal government reduced the funding and scope of its national counterpart, and funding ended last year. Meanwhile, CSIRO chief executive Larry Marshall argued that climate science was less important than the need for innovation and turning inventions into benefits for society. Along with other areas of climate science, the Adaptation Flagship was cut, its staff let go or redirected. From a strong presence in 2014, climate adaptation has become almost invisible in the national research landscape. In the current chaos of climate policy, adaptation has been downgraded. There is a national strategy but little high-level policy attention. State governments have shifted their focus to energy, investing in renewables and energy security. Climate change was largely ignored in developing the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. Despite this lack of policy leadership, many organisations are adapting. Local governments with the resources are addressing their particular challenges, and building resilience. Our public transport now functions better in heatwaves, and climate change is being considered in new transport infrastructure. The public is more aware of heatwave risks, and there is investment in emergency management research, but this is primarily focused on disaster response. Large companies making long-term investments, such as Brisbane Airport, have improved their capacity to consider future climate risks. There are better planning tools and systems for business, and the financeand insurance sectors are seriously considering these risks in investment decisions. Smart rural producers are diversifying, using their resources differently, or shifting to different growing environments. Struggling to copeBut much more is needed. Old buildings and cooling systems are not built to cope with our current temperatures. Small businesses are suffering, but few have capacity to analyse their vulnerabilities or assess responses. The power generation system is under increasing pressure. Warning systems have improved but there is still much to do to design warnings in a way that ensures an appropriate public reaction. Too many people still adopt a “she’ll be right” attitude and ignore warnings, or leave it until the last minute to evacuate. In an internal submission to government in 2014 we proposed a Victorian Climate Resilience Program to provide information and tools for small businesses. Other parts of the program included frameworks for managing risks for local governments, urban greening, building community leadership for resilience, and new conservation approaches in landscapes undergoing rapid change. Investment in climate adaptation pays off. Small investments now can generate payoffs of 3-5:1 in reduced future impacts. A recent business round table report indicates that carefully targeted research and information provision could save state and federal governments A$12.2 billion and reduce the overall economic costs of natural disasters (which are projected to rise to A$23 billion a year by 2050) by more than 50%. Ten years on from Black Saturday, climate change is accelerating. The 2030 climate forecasts made in 2009 have come true in half the time. Today we are living through more and hotter heatwaves, longer droughts, uncontrollable fires, intense downpours and significant shifts in seasonal rainfall patterns. Yes, policy-makers need to focus on reducing greenhouse emissions, but we also need a similar focus on adaptation to maintain functioning and prosperous communities, economies and ecosystems under this rapid change. It is vital that we rebuild our research capacity and learn from our past experiences, to support the partnerships needed to make https://theconversation.com/ten-years-ago-climate-adaptation-research-was-gaining-steam-today-its-gutted-111180 |
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NSW under pressure to move quickly on renewables, as coal clunkers fail — RenewEconomy
Major parties under pressure to produce a plan for energy transition as new data highlights growing failures of ageing fossil fuel generators. The post NSW under pressure to move quickly on renewables, as coal clunkers fail appeared first on RenewEconomy.
via NSW under pressure to move quickly on renewables, as coal clunkers fail — RenewEconomy
Gupta’s Simec pushes into Victoria, says “baseload” renewables to “change the game” — RenewEconomy
Simec Energy obtains licence to retail in Victoria, extending its reach to offer its “baseload renewable energy” product to businesses and large energy users. The post Gupta’s Simec pushes into Victoria, says “baseload” renewables to “change the game” appeared first on RenewEconomy.
via Gupta’s Simec pushes into Victoria, says “baseload” renewables to “change the game” — RenewEconomy
February 6 Energy News — geoharvey
Opinion: ¶ “Why Oil Companies Have Suddenly Gone Missing In The Bond Market” • The US shale oil revolution was built on cheap capital from the bond markets. Frackers used tons of borrowed money to make enormous technological advances in drilling, and that sent oil output skyrocketing. But that trend has broken down in recent […]
2018: The year fossil fuels began their inexorable decline — RenewEconomy
Renewable energy broke through the 20% market share threshold in 2018, for the first time since the 1970s. Meanwhile, coal and gas generation continued to fall. The post 2018: The year fossil fuels began their inexorable decline appeared first on RenewEconomy.
via 2018: The year fossil fuels began their inexorable decline — RenewEconomy
2018: The year fossil fuels began their inexorable decline — RenewEconomy
Renewable energy broke through the 20% market share threshold in 2018, for the first time since the 1970s. Meanwhile, coal and gas generation continued to fall. The post 2018: The year fossil fuels began their inexorable decline appeared first on RenewEconomy.
via 2018: The year fossil fuels began their inexorable decline — RenewEconomy
Met Office: World has 10% chance of ‘overshooting’ 1.5°C within five years — RenewEconomy
Met Office expects average global surface temperature from 2019-23 to reach between 1.03 and 1.57°C above pre-industrial levels, making the period from 2014-23 the hottest decade since records began. The post Met Office: World has 10% chance of ‘overshooting’ 1.5°C within five years appeared first on RenewEconomy.
via Met Office: World has 10% chance of ‘overshooting’ 1.5°C within five years — RenewEconomy
The week in climate and nuclear news Australia
This week has seen extreme weather in both North and South hemispheres. Yes, there have always been cold snaps and heat waves – “one in a hundred years” events, but climate change is making them more frequent and more extreme.
The world seems to be taking it all too calmly, – that USA and Russia are both about to withdraw from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty , opening the way to a renewed arms race, and, with Putin and Trump in charge, increasing the risk of nuclear Armageddon.
AUSTRALIA.
Independent media is here to stay – and to keep the politicians honest.
CLIMATE.
- Climate change is here, in Australia, as temperatures rise faster than predicted. Climate change is back as a big issue in Australian federal politics. Australian government fudging the facts to make its climate policy look good. Australia’s Energy Minster Angus Taylor ready to subsidise new coal projects.
- Queensland floods: Townsville reels under record water levels as more rain arrives. Former fire chief lashes out at government inaction over climate change. Murray-Darling River report shows public authorities must take climate change risk seriously.
- Sydney to host international climate conference for women in 2020.
- Coal power plants in Australia broke down once every three days in 2018.
South Australian government changing Environment Dept, and cutting its budget. Mark Parnell calls on South Australian government to stop its plans to diminish environmental department.
NUCLEAR. Mark Butler ALP Shadow Minister rules out nuclear power. Labor Party’s latest policy platform – on nuclear waste, and opposition to nuclear industry development.
Australian Aboriginal politician Jacinta Price cynical about BHP, Rio Tinto backing Uluru Statement (I would be, too!)
RENEWABLE ENERGY. State by state – solar records fell across Australia in 2018. Energy efficient homes could save households $1,000-plus a year on bills. Western Australia unveils plan to lead global lithium-ion battery boom. Gupta challenges coalers with $1 billion plus solar and storage plan.
INTERNATIONAL
2 billion people at risk, as Himalaya’s glaciers melt. Paradoxically, extreme cold weather indicates that global warming is accelerating. Atlantic ocean circulation is being altered, by climate change.
China urges dialogue, as Russia and USA ramp up nuclear weaponry, pull out of weapons treaty.– Why so little public anxiety about risk of nuclear war? With Putin and Trump in charge!!
How the utilities financial system is rigged to give the nuclear industry the advantage.
Storage of nuclear waste a ‘global crisis’ as stockpile reaches 250,000 tons, Greenpeace warns.
Sending dummies into space, to test effects of radiation on women.
ITALY. Radioactive poisoning by the world’s military – the scandalous case of Sardinia. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6-6AYQYJm8&t=6s
JAPAN.
- Propaganda for 2020 Olympics, and for the nuclear industry is behind lifting evacuation order for irradiated town of Namie. IAEA urges Japan to slow the Fukushima wastes clean-up – delay release to Pacific till after Olympic Games. Radioactive cesium above legal limit detected in fish caught off Fukushima. Governor of Fukushima Prefecture promotes Fukushima foods in Hong Kong.
- Radiation leaks at Japan’s Tokai plutonium lab; ‘no workers exposed’.
- Reflection on PM Abe’s sales pitch for nuclear at Davos.
USA.
- There’s money in climate denialism, as 150 U.S. Congressional Republicans have found! Extreme cold shuts down N.J. Nuclear Reactor, due to an unusual ice phenomenon.
- IAEA criticises USA’s efforts to sabotage Iran nuclear deal. Donald Trump confirms U.S. withdrawal from INF nuclear treaty. Sen. Elizabeth Warren introduces Bill to outlaw first strike use of nuclear weapons.
- New radiation panel leader appointed by EPA in the interests of nuclear corporations, not of the public. FirstEnergy nuclear bailout would be crony capitalism at its worst .
- USA’s $43 billion nuclear waste fund – but no nuclear waste has been buried. Nevada State Officials Are Outraged that the Trump Administration Secretly Shipped Plutonium in from South Carolina. Cleanup estimate for Hanford nuclear site increases by $82B. North Dakota Community Alliance urges public to watch progress of Bill on high-level radioactive waste. Clean-up of molten salt nuclear reactor continuing (shut in 1969)M – new plan to reduce the costs.
- Is Vogtle nuclear station expansion now further behind schedule? Report is delayed? Low-flying choppers monitoring radiation in Atlanta (fears of nuclear terrorism?)
- Judge refuses to unseal criminal charges against Julian Assange.
UK. UK’s ageing nuclear power stations are likely to close early. UK’s Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit’s under-reported analysis – renewables cheaper than new nuclear.
INDIA. India’s Kudankulam nuclear power station means big debt to Russia.
HUNGARY. Countries going into deep nuclear debt to Russia; Hungary the latest victim of this political blackmail.
CANADA. SNC-Lavalin, with its record of corruption should be barred from federal contracts. Grim outlook for uranium industry -financial analyst Jayant Bhandari.
SWITZERLAND. Employee faked radiation test data at Swiss nuclear plant.
FRANCE. Pump malfunction causes shutdown at Flamanville nuclear reactor.
BANGLADESH. Nuclear power: Surviving on secrecy and misinformation.
TAIWAN. Taiwan to abolish nuclear power in 2025.
RUSSIA. Russia also to withdraw from Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, weakening weapons control. Russia’s Plan to Solve the North Korea Nuclear Crisis?
CZECH REPUBLIC. Czech industry minister: nuclear reactor tender not realistic in 2019 .
Australian Labor Party’s policy platform – on nuclear waste, and opposition to nuclear industry development
From Robyn Wood, 4 Feb 19– The ALP policy platform has just been published.
The link between weapons testing – thorium, depleted uranium – and birth defects and cancer
How paradise island Sardinia was poisoned by the world’s military | Foreign Correspondent
Italian military officials’ trial ignites suspicions of links between weapon testing and birth defects in Sardinia https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-29/sardinia-military-weapons-testing-birth-defects/10759614
Key points:
- Eight former commanders of a bombing range are before Italian courts
- Locals living near Quirra firing range describe multiple cases of deformities and cancer as “Quirra syndrome”
- Italy’s army has dismissed a report linking exposure to Depleted Uranium to disease suffered by the military
- Watch the full episode on ABC iview
“She died in my arms. My whole world collapsed. I knew she was sick, but I wasn’t ready.”
Her daughter, Maria Grazia, was born on the Italian island of Sardinia with part of her brain exposed and a spine so disfigured her mother has never allowed her photo to be published.
This was only one of many mysterious cases of deformity, cancer and environmental destruction that have come to be called the “Quirra syndrome”.
Eight Italian military officers — all former commanders of the bombing range at Quirra in Sardinia — have been hauled before the courts.
It’s unprecedented to see Italian military brass held to account for what many Sardinians say is a scandalous coverup of a major public health disaster with international consequences.
Bombs and birth defects — is there a link?
In the year baby Maria Grazia was born, one in four of the children born in the same town, on the edge of the Quirra firing range, also suffered disabilities.
Some mothers chose to abort rather than give birth to a deformed child.
In her first television interview, Maria Teresa told Foreign Correspondent of hearing bombs exploding at the Quirra firing range when she was pregnant.
Enormous clouds of red dust enveloped her village.
Later, health authorities were called in to study an alarming number of sheep and goats being born with deformities.
Shepherds in the area had routinely grazed their animals on the firing range.
“Lambs were born with eyes in the back of their heads,” said veterinary scientist Giorgio Mellis, one of the research team.
“I had never seen anything like it.”
One farmer told him of his horror: “I was too scared to enter the barn in the mornings … they were monstrosities you didn’t want to see.”
Researchers also found an alarming 65 per cent of the shepherds of Quirra had cancer.
The news hit Sardinia hard. It reinforced their worst fears while also challenging their proud international reputation as a place of unrivalled natural beauty.
The military hit back, with one former commander of the Quirra base saying on Swiss TV that birth defects in animals and children came from inbreeding.
“They marry between cousins, brothers, one another,” General Fabio Molteni claimed, without evidence.
“But you cannot say it or you will offend the Sardinians.”
General Molteni is one of the former commanders now on trial.
Years of investigation and legal inquiry led to the six generals and two colonels being charged with breaching their duty of care for the health and safety of soldiers and civilians.
After repeated attempts, Foreign Correspondent was refused interviews with senior Italian military officials and the Defence Minister.
Governments earning money by renting out ranges
Sardinia has hosted the war games of armed forces from the west and other countries since sizable areas of its territory were sectioned off after World War II.
Rome is reported to make around $64,000 an hour from renting out the ranges to NATO countries and others including Israel.
Getting precise information about what has been blown up, tested or fired at the military sites and by which countries is almost impossible, according to Gianpiero Scanu, the head of a parliamentary inquiry that reported last year.
Many, including current Defence Minister Elisabetta Trenta, have previously accused the Italian military of maintaining a “veil of silence”.
Speaking exclusively to the ABC, chief prosecutor for the region, Biagio Mazzeo, said he is “convinced” of a direct link between the cancer clusters at Quirra and the toxicity of the elements being blown up at the defence base.
But prosecuting the case against the military comes up against a major hurdle.
“Unfortunately, proving what we call a causality link — that is, a link between a specific incident and specific consequences — is extremely difficult,” Mr Mazzeo said.
What is being used on the bases?
A recent parliamentary inquiry revealed that 1,187 French-made MILAN missiles had been fired at Quirra.
This has focussed attention on radioactive thorium as a suspect in the health crisis.
It’s used in the anti-tank missiles’ guidance systems. Inhaling thorium dust is known to increase the risk of lung and pancreatic cancer.
Another suspect is depleted uranium. The Italian military has denied using this controversial material, which increases the armour-piercing capability of weapons.
But that’s a fudge, according to Osservatorio Militare, which campaigns for the wellbeing of Italian soldiers.
“The firing ranges of Sardinia are international,” said Domenico Leggiero, the research centre’s head and former air force pilot.
Whatever is blown up on the island’s firing ranges, it’s the fine particles a thousand times smaller than a red blood cell that are being blamed for making people sick.
These so-called “nanoparticles” are a new frontier in scientific research.
They’ve been shown to penetrate through the lung and into a human body with ease.
Italian biomedical engineer Dr Antonietta Gatti gave evidence to four parliamentary inquiries.
She has suggested a possible link between disease and industrial exposure to nanoparticles of certain heavy metals.
The World Health Organisation says a causal link is yet to be conclusively established and more scientific research needs to be done.
Dr Gatti said armaments had the potential to generate dangerous nanoparticles in fine dust because they are routinely exploded or fired at more than 3,000 degrees Celsius.
Inquiry confirms causal links
In what was labelled a “milestone”, a two-year parliamentary investigation into the health of the armed forces overseas and at the firing ranges made a breakthrough finding.
“We have confirmed the causal link between the unequivocal exposure to depleted uranium and diseases suffered by the military,” the inquiry’s head, then centre-left government MP Gianpiero Scanu, announced.
The Italian military brass dismissed the report but are now fighting for their international reputation in the court at Quirra where the eight senior officers are now on trial.
The ABC understands commanders responsible for another firing range in Sardinia’s south at Teulada could soon also face charges of negligence as police conclude a two-year investigation.
Until now the military has been accused of acting with impunity.
Perhaps their reckoning has come.
1 This month.
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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