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  1. #1
    Guest Member S Landreth's Avatar
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    Keeping tabs on Australia"s newly elected Government

    Which took office in May of 2022. Anthony Albanese and Australia's new left-leaning government: Here's what you need to know - CNN

    August 7, 2022 - A good climate related podcast

    Labor’s climate bill and the power of the Australian Greens

    Labor’s climate bill, enshrining their emissions reduction targets into law, is set to pass both Houses of Parliament. The support of the Greens party - which now holds considerable power in the Senate - was hard won but Greens leader Adam Bandt warns “the fight to stop Labor opening new coal and gas mines continues”.

    ______________


    Climate Change Bill 2022: https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo...lication%2Fpdf

    Australia enters ‘new era’ on climate change as greenhouse gas bill passes

    The Australian government has passed a bill in its lower house of parliament to bind the country to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 43 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030, in what it called “a new era” of commitment to addressing climate change.

    The shift in course puts the country “on the right side of history”, prime minister Anthony Albanese said, after years of being a climate policy laggard under former leader Scott Morrison, who once brandished a lump of coal in parliament as a testament to his Liberal party’s steadfast support of coal and gas despite catastrophic bushfires and floods during his tenure.

    Albanese’s Labor government, elected in May, campaigned for the emissions reduction target to be introduced by legislation. The bill also enshrines a pledge of net zero emissions by 2050. It brings Australia closer to commitments by Canada, South Korea and Japan, while still being behind the US, EU and UK.

    Labor gained the support of the Green party and independent MPs, including ‘teal’ politicians who won seats on an environmental platform, despite pressure from Green representatives to go much further in setting targets during negotiations.

    Chris Bowen, the climate change and energy minister, said: “The passing of this bill in the House of Representatives starts a new era of climate and energy certainty, one that is well overdue.”

    Allegra Spender, a teal MP who won her seat in Sydney’s affluent eastern suburbs from the Liberal party, said the bill would “mark the start of a new way of doing politics that finally gives several communities like mine a voice”.

    The Liberal party, now in opposition, refused to back the government’s climate bill and said it would come up with its own proposals which could include a push for nuclear power to be adopted as an energy source.

    The climate bill is set against a backdrop of an energy crisis that has caused power shortages on Australia’s populous east coast, as well as record exports of fossil fuels, including coal and gas, that have fired the economy as it has emerged from the pandemic.

    The government refused to ban new oil and gas projects altogether despite pressure from the Green party to do so during talks over the climate bill. Pacific island leaders also pushed Albanese for a moratorium on greenfield fossil fuel projects at a meeting in Fiji last month.

    However, the first signs of a stricter approach were clear on the same day the bill was passed when a proposal for a new open pit coal mine 10km from the Great Barrier Reef was effectively rejected.

    It is the first time that an Australian federal environment minister has blocked a new coal mine, although the proposed rejection by Tanya Plibersek, the minister, was on the grounds of potential damage to the reef and water supply rather than specifically related to climate change.

    Adam Bandt, leader of the Green party, said that the proposal to reject the Queensland mine was a case of “1 down, 113 to go”, and a moratorium on all new coal and gas projects was needed. “You can’t put out the fire by pouring petrol on it,” he said.

    Central Queensland Coal, the company behind the Styx basin coal plan owned by billionaire Clive Palmer, did not respond to requests for comment. The rejection of Palmer’s new coal mine is also symbolic as the billionaire is the leader of the United Australia party which has one senator who has pledged to vote against the climate bill.

    The bill will now move to the senate, Australia’s upper house, where it is expected to be adopted.

    The adoption of the 43 per cent emissions reduction target has been welcomed by the broader business community on the grounds that it will introduce investment certainty as Australia upgrades its energy network and stimulates its renewable energy industry.

    Andrew McKellar, chief executive of the Australian Chamber of Commerce, called for swift passage of the bill. “The best way to secure the planning, investment and innovation that will underlie an efficient energy transition is through legislated targets,” he said. Subscribe to read | Financial Times

    _______________

    And why every Australian should be concerned about the highlighted part of the article I posted above…

    Adam Bandt - The Greens welcome reports the government has listened to some of our concerns about the climate bill, and we are continuing negotiations about remaining issues.

    But we’re concerned that Labor’s desire to open new coal & gas mines will make the climate crisis worse.: https://twitter.com/AdamBandt/status...25529510436866


    https://ember-climate.org/insights/r...r-capita-2020/
    Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

  2. #2
    Thailand Expat
    Lantern's Avatar
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    Got to be heaps better than that last shower of sh**e.

  3. #3
    Guest Member S Landreth's Avatar
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    ^Seems to be headed in the right direction, this time


    • Another good podcast, but from Tanya Plibersek


    Tanya Plibersek on Labor’s plans for Australia’s environment

    Fri 12 Aug 2022 21.30 BST

    Australia’s environment and water minister, Tanya Plibersek, talks to Guardian Australia’s political editor, Katharine Murphy, about how Labor will decide which mines get approval and which don’t, whether or not the Albanese Labor government will institute a climate trigger — and how do we prepare for an eventual drought in Australia?

    _____________


    • Little news this past week but I did find an article related to mining. Also, in the link related to Clive Palmer is promising.



    Clive Palmer ordered to pay part of Mark McGowan's defamation legal costs after 'wasteful' court battle

    Billionaire businessman Clive Palmer has been ordered to pay part of the costs incurred by WA Premier Mark McGowan during a defamation case after rejecting an offer to settle the proceedings.

    Federal Court Justice Michael Lee ordered the costs incurred by Mr McGowan in counter-suing Mr Palmer for defamation be paid by the businessman from December 22 last year, two days after the Premier tried to end the litigation by proposing a settlement.

    Mr McGowan suggested both sides walk away at that point, with each to bear their own costs, thereby avoiding further expense.

    But the offer was rejected by Mr Palmer and the case proceeded, with the court finding both sides defamed each another in a scathing judgement handed down last week.

    Mr McGowan was last week ordered to pay damages of $5,000 to Mr Palmer, while Mr Palmer was instructed to pay Mr McGowan $20,000.

    Waste of court resources

    The defamation action was centred on their war of words over WA's closed border and a mining project of Mr Palmer's.

    Justice Lee was damning in his criticism of both men for wasting the court's limited resources, telling the men: "The game has not been worth the candle."

    Both chose to be part of the "hurly burly" of political life and should have expected the barbs that came along with it, he said.

    The mining magnate was unhappy with the Premier's decision to close WA's border in April 2020, which he felt was disruptive to his business interests, and sought to have the closure overturned in court.

    Over the course of a series of press conferences in 2020, during the early days of the pandemic, Mr McGowan called Mr Palmer an "enemy of the state" for his actions.

    The mining magnate told the court this caused him to be brought into "hatred, ridicule and contempt", but Justice Lee found the damage to his reputation to be non-existent.

    A serial litigant, Mr Palmer was observed in the witness box by the judge to have "carried himself with the unmistakable aura of a man assured as to the correctness of his own opinions".

    'Outlaw swinging his gun'

    The other part of the defamation claim related to a state agreement held by Mr Palmer's company Mineralogy for the Balmoral South iron ore project.

    The development of the project was rejected by the then-Liberal government in 2012 under Colin Barnett, and Mr Palmer had sought $30 billion in damages for what he maintained was a breach of contract.

    However, under Mr McGowan extraordinary legislation was passed preventing him from seeking compensation, prompting Mr Palmer to call the Premier "an outlaw swinging his gun around to protect him and his Attorney-General from the criminal law".

    Mr McGowan said these and other comments suggested he had behaved corruptly, and prompted him to counter-sue Mr Palmer. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/aug/11/clive-palmer-ordered-to-pay-part-of-mark-mcgowans-legal-costs-after-defamation-battle

  4. #4
    Guest Member S Landreth's Avatar
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    Australia’s biggest climate polluters could be set emission reduction targets of up to six per cent a year under a Labor proposal to try and transform the much maligned Safeguard Mechanism into something useful.

    The Safeguard Mechanism was part of a package brought in by former prime minister Tony Abbott in the place of the carbon price he destroyed. It was derided as a “fig leaf” of a carbon policy by his Coalition rival Malcolm Turnbull, and by Labor, but is now likely to become a centrepiece of the country’s climate policy.

    It impacts 215 big polluters that generate more than 100,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent a year, and includes power companies, airlines, coal mines, smelters, cement producers and other big manufacturers.

    They have been governed by a “baseline” scheme that has often been conveniently lifted to allow them to produce even more climate pollution as they “expand” their business, but Labor now wants to add real bite to the mechanism, and turn it into an effective emission reductions tool, and too allow more carbon trades.

    The key in how this turns out – after detailed consultations with industry – will be how the baselines are set, what the targets will be, and what might be available for companies to “trade” their way out of their emissions debt with carbon credits. It seems international credits, at least for the time being, are being ruled out.

    The discussion paper released by climate and energy minister Chris Bowen on Thursday says Labor has not yet settled on an annual emissions reduction target for the big emitters – it could be 3.5 per cent to six per cent – as that will depend on other related policy settings.

    These include questions about how much of the country’s soon-to-be-legislated 43 per cent emissions reduction target by 2030 should be met by the big emitters themselves.

    They also include questions about what protections will be in place for trade exposed industries, the nature and use of carbon credits – which are under intense scrutiny over their climate integrity – and even if the emitters should get government funding to help pay for their emissions cuts.

    Australia has claimed that it is well on the way to meeting its Paris climate commitments because of big falls in emissions since 2005, but the grim reality is that industrial emissions have barely moved in the past two decades.

    This is despite significant cuts from renewables in the electricity sector, which have been largely offset by the emissions created in sending fossil fuels overseas. And while many businesses say they have factored emissions reductions into their business plans, precious few have actually done anything about it.

    Australia’s claimed emissions reductions are the result of the highly controversial land use assessment, and analysts such as NDevr note that on current projections, Australia is way off track to meet its newly raised Paris commitments, even including land use.

    Hence the need to actually Do Something.

    “A revamped safeguard mechanism will help Australian industry cut emissions and remain competitive in a decarbonising global economy,” Bowen says in a statement.

    “We are building on the existing architecture of the safeguard mechanism but getting the settings right to get emissions heading downwards while supporting industry competitiveness.”

    Bowen wants the new Safeguard Mechanism to be in place by July next year, and although a draft proposal is expected by December, there is still clearly a lot to figure out in exactly what they are aiming to do, and how they will do it.

    The paper canvasses five key questions and is seeking feedback from business (most business groups are in favour of the general idea, but the devil will of course be in the details).

    These main questions are around the setting of baselines for existing and new facilities; the indicative rates of baseline decline, the use of offsets and credits, treatment of trade exposed industries, and consideration of existing and new technologies, which may influence the speed of emissions baseline declines in certain sectors.

    The paper says the cumulative abatement task for the biggest polluters will be around 170 million tonnes to 2030, although this could grow to 230 million tonnes if business as usual growth was higher than expected.

    The 30- page paper is quite firm about the need to remove the “headroom”, which effectively allows the targeted companies to emit – on aggregate – nearly one third more than their current emissions.

    The paper says the headroom has to go. Firstly, because if it was retained, it would mean facilities would have to cut emissions at a much faster rate from 2025/26, and those facilities without headroom might feel they have been unfairly treated.

    “Legacy baseline setting arrangements mean that, in aggregate, current baselines are well above emissions,” the paper says.

    “In 2020-21, aggregate baselines were 180 Mt CO2-e, compared with covered emissions of 137 Mt CO2-e. This 43 Mt gap—referred to as ‘headroom’—is distributed unevenly across facilities, and has two consequences.”


    It puts the blame for this on previous decisions by the then Coalition government. “Much of the headroom is a legacy of the initial allocation process, which fixed baselines at the high point of emissions over three years, and/or the significant optionality in baseline setting arrangements that followed.”

    The removal of the headroom means that companies that do better than their baselines will get “credits” they they can then trade with others. The paper says these credits will not have the same integrity questions as the carbon offsets that are currently under review from former chief scientist Ian Chubb.

    Companies that exceed their baselines may still be able to buy carbon offsets, known as ACCUs – subject to that review, but there are questions to be resolved about “double counting.”

    The paper also makes it clear that international offsets are not favoured, and won’t be used – at least initially.

    “We would only consider international offsets in the Safeguard Mechanism if the units are of high integrity and the mitigation outcome can be formally transferred to count towards Australia’s Paris Agreement commitments,” it says.

    “Limits on the use of such international offsets may also be appropriate, so they do not become a mechanism to avoid transforming our domestic economy.”

    The paper also talks about “tailored treatment” for trade exposed industries. Proposals include funding for new low emission technologies, issuing credits to help meet the costs, and differentiated baseline decline rates.

    It also canvasses methods to deal with industries on the cusp of embracing new technologies, but not within a certain time frame. It discussed measures on how a lower decline in emissions in early years could be allowed to be offset by higher declines in later years once the technologies are available.

    ______________

    Again, they are now working towards a better direction.




    Federal climate change and energy minister Chris Bowen has announced Labor will soon release a discussion paper on fuel emissions standards in a move that could break down the biggest barrier to the uptake of electric vehicles in Australia.

    Labor is about to release its National Electric Vehicle Strategy, and at its core will be a focus on the need for a fuel emissions standard, cited as the main reason Australian consumers have access to a limited and expensive range of EVs, and why EV adoption is the lowest in the western world.

    “This is ultimately about choice. Freedom of choice,” Bowen will say in the opening address to the EV Summit in Canberra on Friday.

    “Policy settings are denying Australians real choice of good, affordable, no emissions cars. In fact, when asked, more than one in two people said they would consider buying electric for their next vehicle– but the actual number of cars sold shows there are serious barriers which need to be addressed.

    “We believe that now is the time to have an orderly and sensible discussion about whether vehicle fuel efficiency standards could help improve the supply of electric vehicles into the Australian market, to address the cost-of-living impacts of inefficient cars, and to reduce emissions from the transport sector.

    The approach by Labor, of course, is the direct opposite to the previous Coalition government, which had mocked Labor’s approach in the 2019 campaign, warning EVs would ruin the weekend, and the economy. “They won’t tow your boat,” then prime minister Scott Morrison infamously said.

    Labor didn’t broach the topic in the lead up to the latest election, but the call for fuel emissions standard has snowballed, with most major car makers – with the notable exception of Toyota and the main car lobby – supportive of tight and binding standards.

    Car makers such as VW have not brought EVs to Australia, or have only done so in limited numbers, because they focus their deliveries in markets which have strong standards, and where they need a sizeable number of EVs to meet those standards.

    The Greens and the independents are also supportive, and a whole slew of reports and analyses released over the past few weeks point to the massive savings in emissions, health benefits, and costs to consumers from the transition to EVs, and having fuel standards that will stop Australia being a dumping ground for dirty, inefficient and costly cars.

    Australia’s uptake of EVs stood at only 2 per cent in 2021, below the double digit figures in Europe, the near 90 per cent figure in Norway, and an expected global rate of 13 per cent in 2022.

    However, studies show Australians are keen to switch to EVs in their next car purchase, and the huge number of Tesla Model 3 and Model Ys – despite their price of around $70,000 or more – and the queues for other popular models such as the Ioniq 5, the Kia EVs, and the new lower cost BYD Atto 3 and the updated MG ZS EV are testament to that.

    “Apart from Russia, Australia is the only OECD country to not have, or be in the process of developing, fuel efficiency standards,” said Bowen, the first federal minister to drive an EV (he owns a Tesla Model 3), and who is now one of a growing handful of government MPs and independents to do so.

    “Consumers aren’t getting the choice available internationally and as the world moves towards more efficient and cleaner vehicles, we risk becoming a dumping ground for older technology which can’t be sold in other markets.”

    He noted that Australia is significantly behind the pack when it comes to electric vehicles – at last count, consumers in the United Kingdom could take their pick of 26 low-emissions vehicles under $60,000. In Australia that number is only 8.

    Labor is inviting state and territory ministers to contribute to the national vehicle strategy, and many will talk at the summit, either in person or through video link.

    The summit has been organised by the Smart Energy Council, the Electric Vehicle Council, The Australia Institute and Boundless, which is backed by tech billionaire and activist shareholder Mike Cannon-Brookes, who has added EVs to his green transition campaigns.

    _____________




    Australians will have greater choice of electric vehicles as the federal government encourages more into the low-emitting cars.

    The government will also take action on dirty car emissions by introducing national fuel standards for manufacturers after a consultation period.

    High prices, limited stock and long waitlists have excluded most from the electric vehicle market but a new national plan will help change that, Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen says.

    The national strategy to be developed with state and territory leaders will aim to grow Australia’s electric vehicle market and improve fuel efficiency standards.

    Mr Bowen announced the plan at the inaugural national electric vehicle summit on Friday, attended by politicians, industry representatives and community leaders.

    “There’s got to be a genuine effort by manufacturers to send good electric and no emissions vehicles to Australia,” he told reporters in Canberra.

    “At the moment frankly, I’m sorry to say Australia is a dumping ground for cars which would not be able to be sent to other countries.”

    Parliament must push for the strongest possible fuel efficiency standards, independent MP Sophie Scamps said.

    “Australia has been left behind … and we need to catch up when it comes to electric vehicles,” she told AAP.

    “I will also be supporting the rollout of infrastructure to make sure that as we increase the number of electric vehicles in the market, there is the infrastructure to support it.”

    Dr Scamps will back a proposal by fellow crossbencher Kylea Tink to legislate binding fuel efficiency standards in Australia within the next two years.

    Timelines for legislating standards will be decided as part of the public consultation on the strategy, Mr Bowen said.

    The government’s plan was welcomed by industry while tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes, who co-founded the summit, said it was a “refreshing step” from the government.

    But policy changes in Australia needed to be more of a “leap” to catch up to the rest of the world, Mr Cannon-Brookes said.

    Mr Bowen estimates Australia is about a decade behind Europe in electric vehicle policy.

    Meanwhile, Greens deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi called on the government to ban new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030 to bring Australia in line with other countries.

    The Greens also want further investment from the government for fast charging networks across Australia.

    “This manufacturing renaissance must be just, ethical and sustainable with decent jobs for workers,” she said in a speech to the summit.

    “The only thing holding back greater action is the level of ambition from Labor.”

    Transition to an electric vehicle future must be driven by industry-led policy ideas, the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union says.

    AMWU secretary Steve Murphy called for a national innovation council to be established for the electric vehicle sector.

    “A rapid technology change on this scale requires co-ordination between government departments, levels of government, firms, training providers and unions,” he said in a speech to the summit.

    “There can be no transition to electric vehicles without the workers in the sector.”

    Treasurer Jim Chalmers last month introduced a proposal to parliament to change fringe benefits tax laws and remove the import tariff on electric vehicles, to make them cheaper for more people.

    But independent advocate for vehicle safety ANCAP says environmental targets should not take precedence over consumer protection.

    All levels of government must only provide subsidies and incentives to vehicle models that offer the highest levels of safety, ANCAP chief Carla Hoorweg said.

    ______________

    A Bad Drama……….


    • Anthony Albanese seeks legal advice amid reports Scott Morrison secretly swore himself into key ministry roles


    Australians deserve an explanation about Scott Morrison’s decision to secretly swear himself into three ministerial portfolios while in government, the prime minister says.

    Anthony Albanese is seeking advice in relation to the constitutional legality of Mr Morrison’s actions and will be briefed by his department when he travels to Canberra on Monday afternoon.

    “This is quite extraordinary. Australians need a prime minister who is focused on the job that they’re given,” he told reporters in Melbourne on Monday.

    “Nothing about the last government was real, not even the government itself.”

    A report by The Weekend Australian claimed Mr Morrison secretly took on the health and finance portfolios when the COVID-19 pandemic reached Australia in March 2020.

    The former prime minister’s unprecedented move was in response to emergency measures under biosecurity laws and ensured he could administer health and finance powers given to former ministers Greg Hunt and Mathias Cormann.

    Mr Morrison also swore himself in as resources minister and used the power to overturn former minister Keith Pitt’s approval of a controversial gas project off the NSW coast, news.com.au reported on Sunday.

    Mr Pitt reportedly did not know the former prime minister had joint oversight of his portfolio.

    What occurred was contrary to the Westminster system of government, Mr Albanese said.

    “The people of Australia were kept in the dark as to what the ministerial arrangements were - it’s completely unacceptable,” he said.

    “We have a non-presidential system of government in this country, but what we had from Scott Morrison is a centralisation of power, overriding of ministerial decisions and all done in secret.”

    Mr Albanese is also seeking advice about whether Governor-General David Hurley knew about the secret ministerial appointments.

    “This is a shambles and it needs clearing up,” he said.

    “The Australian people deserve better than this contempt for democratic processes and for our Westminster system of government, which is what we have seen trashed by the Morrison government.”

    Nationals leader David Littleproud said he did not know of the former prime minister’s actions, despite him being a minister in the Morrison government.

    “That’s pretty ordinary, as far as I’m concerned,” Mr Littleproud said.

    “If you have a cabinet government, you trust your cabinet.”

    ______________

    Here’s how he did it and when: https://twitter.com/samanthamaiden/s...23484233990144








  5. #5
    Thailand Expat David48atTD's Avatar
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    Federal government opens 46,000 sq km for offshore oil and gas exploration

    "Labor likes to talk big on climate, but when it really matters they’ll do exactly what their fossil fuel donors demand," Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson tweeted.

    HERE

  6. #6
    Guest Member S Landreth's Avatar
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    I see fvck off david removed my last post here (the video below). I'll try again

    PM Anthony Albanese announces inquiry into Scott Morrison’s secret ministries





    _________




    JOURNALIST: Your pledge during the campaign to cut electricity bills by $275: is that dead and buried after the price rise we saw after the election? Or are you still committed to that?

    PRIME MINISTER: No. What occurred was that unbeknownst to the Australian public, again a lack of transparency, the government knew that wholesale prices were going to have considerable increases. They deferred those increases until after the election campaign and then they went up. Our commitment is that because of our policies they will drive down energy prices. We stand by the modelling which we released, which is that, from a business as usual, as the former government was sitting there for a decade with no structure to encourage investment where it was needed in renewables and at the same time as it was presiding over the closure of plants like Liddell, that our policy would reduce power prices. Our policy will reduce power prices and we stand by that and we stand by the modelling.

    ____________




    The Albanese government has launched its first offshore petroleum exploration permits, opening up nearly 47,000 sq km of Australian waters to oil and gas exploration.

    Ten areas stretching from the Ashmore and Cartier Islands in the Indian Ocean to Victoria’s Gippsland basin have been opened for exploration, in what the resources minister, Madeleine King, said would “play an important role in securing future energy supplies”.

    “At the same time as we strive to reduce emissions, it must be emphasised that continued exploration for oil and gas in commonwealth waters is central to alleviating future domestic gas shortfalls,” she said.

    “Australia’s energy sector also continues to support international energy security, particularly during the global turbulence caused largely by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”

    But the move will further alarm environmental groups and climate watchers, who have already condemned plans to test for oil and gas along Victoria’s coast in a separate approval, which they say stands in contrast to Australia’s climate targets.

    The Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson said Labor was making “a mockery of its own weak climate target” by opening up more acreage for oil and gas exploration.

    “We already have enough oil and gas in reserves to trigger catastrophic climate change to our planet,” he said.

    “There’s no plausible excuse for Labor to put our marine ecosystems in jeopardy for the sake of a few profit-driven interests, to drill for the exact same product that is killing our oceans.”

    Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning
    Last year’s acreage release drew criticism for including an area 5km from one of Victoria’s most popular tourist destinations, the Twelve Apostles.

    This year’s includes areas across the Bonaparte, Browse, Carnarvon, and Gippsland basins off the coasts of the Northern Territory, Western Australia, Victoria, and the Ashmore and Cartier Islands. Bidding closes in March next year.

    At the same time, the Albanese government has approved the first offshore greenhouse gas storage areas since 2014, with permits awarded to Inpex, Woodside Energy and TotalEnergies in the Bonaparte Basin, and Woodside in the Browse Basin. Another five are soon to be awarded.

    Australia had higher levels of greenhouse gas pollution from coal per person than any other developed country in 2021, according to data released earlier this year.

    Australia is the second most coal-dependent country for power generation in the OECD, behind Poland, according to the data compiled by UK-based thinktank Ember.

    The Ember report says in 2021 emissions from coal amounted to 4.04 tonnes of CO2 for each person in Australia. Second-placed was South Korea, with 3.18 tonnes a year, followed by China (3.06), South Africa (2.68) and the US (2.23).

    _________


    • David Pocock - Last month the PM declared a climate emergency standing alongside Pacific island leaders.


    Yesterday Minister King announced new offshore oil and gas exploration.

    We need real action to back up the symbolism and gestures. https://twitter.com/DavidPocock/stat...40246893416448

    ___________




    The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has urged the federal government to quickly establish a national energy transition authority tasked with ensuring that workers and their communities affected by the exit of coal-fired generation from Australia’s energy mix are fully supported.

    In a paper released on Monday ahead of the jobs and skills summit to be held in Canberra on September 1 and 2, the ACTU said the authority would ensure the affected workers and communities are properly supported through training, reskilling, redeployment and secure job opportunities.

    ACTU president Michele O’Neil said 12 coal-fired power stations had closed in the past decade, in most cases leaving workers and communities devastated.

    O’Neil said with proper support, those workers can be the first in line to benefit from Australia becoming a renewable energy superpower with the switch to renewables set to create thousands of jobs during both construction and operational phases.

    The union peak body said an estimated 395,000 jobs could be created, and $89 billion in revenue generated by 2040 in export industries alone if the transition is managed properly.

    “A national energy transition authority will ensure that we don’t have to choose between climate action and good, secure jobs,” O’Neil said.

    “Through support for skills and training, redeployment, and secure jobs in new industries we can ensure no worker or region is left behind.”

    Alongside the new authority, the ACTU has recommended the development of a national renewables strategy; a national disaster response capability to deal with climate change impacts; climate mitigation and adaptation policies; access to reliable and affordable energy for households and industries; and a net-zero emissions public service by 2030.

    The ACTU’s call for a national authority to support workers affected by the rapid decline of coal follows the release of a report by Construction Skills Queensland (CSQ) which shows that state’s renewable energy boom will require up to an additional 26,700 construction workers over the next 20 years.

    With the state government targeting 50% renewable energy penetration by 2030, on the pathway to net zero emissions by 2050, the CSQ estimates Queensland will need to install somewhere between 105 GW and 192 GW of additional renewables over the next 30 years. The state’s current installed renewables capacity is 3.8 GW.

    “Queensland will need to expand its base of renewable power generating assets by as much as 50-fold by 2050,” CSQ says in the report. “A substantial amount of capital will be allocated to the construction of renewable energy assets over the coming decades in Queensland.”

    CSQ chief executive Brett Schimming said capital expenditure of up to $13.9 billion a year would be required to meet the net-zero target.

    “Queensland is on the cusp of a renewable energy boom” he said. “The biggest challenge in delivering the boom could be the scale of the construction workforce required. Now is the time to start thinking about the long-term impact this future could have on labour and skilled trade provision. Then we can plan with eyes wide open to meet the challenge.”

    CSQ estimates the number of construction jobs that will be directly created by Queensland’s renewables build-out will range from 14,500 to 26,700.

    “The impact of the renewables transition on the construction workforce will be roughly equivalent to the mining boom,” the peak body said. “But unlike the mining boom, the renewables transition will not be a temporary shock to the labour force. It represents a permanent lift in the demand for construction labour in Queensland.”

    ____________




    Australia’s failing environmental laws could be replaced next year, new minister Tanya Plibersek has said, while launching a scathing attack on the management of the country’s most precious species and places.

    Launching the latest five-yearly state of the environment report, Plibersek laid out the need for sweeping environmental reform and said new legislation would go before parliament next year.

    She also confirmed the Albanese government would press ahead with a pre-election commitment to protect 30% of Australia’s land by 2030, in line with global proposals being put to a UN biodiversity conference later this year.

    The minister’s office told Guardian Australia that environmental law reforms would mean either amendments to the existing 1999 Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act, or an entirely new law to replace it.

    In a speech at the National Press Club, Plibersek said the government would also release a draft proposal for a new independent environment protection agency later this year.

    She did not rule out calls for a “climate trigger” in new laws on fossil fuel project assessments, but pointed to a major review of laws last year that said climate impacts could be addressed in other ways.

    Plibersek attacked previous Coalition governments on environmental management, saying she had inherited widespread lack of trust and integrity.

    She said: “Years of warnings that were ignored or kept secret. Promises made, but not delivered. Dodgy behaviour, undermining public confidence. Brutal funding cuts. Wilful neglect.

    “Laws that don’t work to protect the environment, or smooth the way for sensible development. All against the backdrop of accelerating environmental destruction.

    “It’s time to change that.”

    The state of the environment report, released on Tuesday, assessed Australia’s ecosystems, biodiversity and climate and their threats, as well as the effectiveness of environmental laws.

    Australia’s environment was in poor health and was deteriorating. Since the 2016 assessment, more species were threatened with extinction, land clearing had continued at a massive scale and extreme weather events were unfolding with more frequency on land and in the ocean.

    Rising greenhouse gas emissions, mostly from burning fossil fuels, were having wide-reaching impacts across ecosystems and human societies.

    At least 19 ecosystems were now showing signs of collapse or near collapse.

    Leading conservation groups said the report had painted a grim picture, showing a historical lack of leadership and environmental laws that were desperate for reform.

    Plibersek flagged “new environmental legislation for 2023”, for which the government would “consult thoroughly”.

    In the speech, Plibersek repeated a pre-election pledge to have 30% of Australia’s land area protected by 2030, adding to Australia’s existing commitment to protect 30% of the nation’s ocean estate, which the country had already met.

    This would mean considering new national parks, she said, as well as pushing for a large marine park in east Antarctica that had failed to be adopted internationally despite a decade of backing from Australia.

    In the coming months and years, Plibersek, a high-profile Labor figure who did not expect to be handed the environment portfolio, could have to make approval decisions on up to 27 coal projects, according to analysis.

    A 10-yearly review of the EPBC Act, released in early 2021, found it was failing to protect species and the environment, and needed urgent reform.

    Plibersek said the government would fully respond to that review, led by the former competition watchdog chair Graeme Samuel, before the end of the year.

    The EPBC Act does not require a minister to consider the climate impacts of fossil fuel projects when deciding whether to give approval.

    This stands next to the latest state of the environment report which said climate change had already had profound and “major impacts on human wellbeing and the environment”.

    The Greens and some environment groups have said laws covering the assessment of fossil fuel projects need to include a “climate trigger” that would give the minister the option to block projects.

    Plibersek said she had not yet consulted widely enough, but pointed to a 2021 review of environment laws from Graeme Samuel. That review, she said, had suggested there were other laws that could deal with environmental protection from climate change.

    She said she would be guided by three essential goals to “protect, restore and manage” the country’s environment.

    She said the Murray-Darling Basin plan’s promise to deliver 450 gigalitres of water back to the environment by 2024 would be “almost impossible” to meet, given just two gigalitres had been delivered so far.

    Jonno Duniam, the shadow environment minister, accused Plibersek of “partisan finger-pointing and game-playing”, saying she had not allayed fears Labor would be “stampeded by the Greens into implementing prohibitively tough environmental laws, more lock-ups and industry shutdowns”.

    “The minister had a real opportunity today to spell out detail on Labor’s election policy on a new environmental protection authority, its position on the use of coal, the phasing out of forestry, and many other crucial issues, but failed to do so,” Duniam said.

    Conservationists responded to the report by calling for urgent steps to reform environment laws, increase funding and for the Albanese government to follow through on an election promise to establish an independent federal environmental protection agency.

    Evan Quartermain, the head of programs for Humane Society International, said: “We look forward to the new Albanese government moving swiftly. The next state of the environment report cannot be more of the same.”

    Kelly O’Shanassy, the chief executive of the Australian Conservation Foundation, said Australia needed an independent regulator to enforce strengthened environmental laws “and adequate funding for the recovery of Australia’s threatened species and the restoration of degraded landscapes”.

    Rachel Lowry, the acting chief executive of WWF-Australia, said the heartbreaking findings confirmed the environment act was “failing miserably”.

    “This government has the opportunity to turn things around before we lose another species, and the right place to start is to deliver a new generation of nature laws in its first year,” she said.

    Darren Kindleysides, the chief executive of the Australian Marine Conservation Society, said the response to the “devastating report card” would be the Albanese government’s first test of its environmental credibility.

    More funding was needed to help threatened marine wildlife recover, and areas of marine sanctuaries that allowed wildlife to thrive needed to be expanded, he said.

    The Albanese government’s new target to cut emissions by 43% by 2030 did not go far enough with coral reefs already suffering even before global heating had reached 1.5C. “We cannot shy away from this reality any more,” he said.

    ___________


    • Strict seven-star energy efficiency standards to be approved for new Australian homes


    Experts say this could cut homes’ thermal energy use by about 25%. But there is a heated debate about when and how the new regime should begin.

    Ministers of State and Territory Construction will meet on Friday to host the Albany Government.

    The residential sector accounts for about a quarter of Australia’s energy use and about 12% of greenhouse gas emissions. Officials say ministers are expected to agree to raise the energy efficiency rating of new homes to seven stars – the first such change since 2010 – and also support improved accessibility standards.

    “The past government’s inaction on climate change and energy has left us with a lot to do,” said Jenny McAllister, federal assistant minister for climate change and energy. “Energy efficient homes are more comfortable to live in, and cheaper to heat and cool. We want more Australians to have access to them.”

    The expected change to the National Building Code has been welcomed by energy efficiency advocates. However, they caution that practical change will only come if states and territories support the rapid introduction of higher standards and implement their application. They also want to remove the standards of existing homes.

    “This is a long-expected change,” said ClimateWorks Center Chief Executive Officer Anna Skarbeck. “It’s very much a matter of catching up. We have long believed that energy efficiency and improvements were earlier and easier opportunities because they were to save money as well as save emissions and save energy use.

    About 1.1 million houses are expected to be built in the next three years. Delaying implementation until 2025 – as some in the industry would like – would add at least $2bn in energy costs for those residents based on 2019 energy prices that have more than doubled since then.

    “In terms of emissions, it is about 9m tonnes from today to 2030,” Skarbeck said of the potential delay. “That’s the same One brown coal power station a year. ,

    Alan Pearce, an energy expert at RMIT University, said the national code was just a model that states and territories would need to implement separately. The star rating assessed how well buildings performed in terms of heating and cooling.

    “Going from six to seven stars cuts thermal energy use by 20-27%,” Pears said.

    For example, for Mascot east of Sydney, this would mean a cut of approximately 5,250m joules of gas or 875 kilowatt-hours of electricity. At 3 cents/mJ, that’s a savings of $150 per year, and another $180 per year at 30 cents/kWh.

    “Only Considering” Energy savings. It’s cash flow-positive for most homes if they borrow on the mortgage,” Pierce said of the upfront cost. “The potential health, comfort, and quietness benefits are important, which is why Acos and others have suggested this. Strongly supported the move.”

    Ministers will discuss the timing of implementing the new standards on Friday.

    “Building homes that are really taking care of people, and taking care of the planet, is becoming more and more urgent”, said the ACT’s Minister of Sustainable Buildings, Rebecca Vasarroti.

    “So it is absolutely premature that we make this change,” she said, adding that the housing industry knew that change was coming for years, so an implementation period of 12 months should be sufficient.

    New South Wales’ construction minister, Victor Dominello, said his state supported the rating upgrade, saying it would “deliver more energy efficient homes and contribute to the goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2050”.

    a spokesperson for Accommodation “The priority should be the introduction of whole home appraisals that provide homeowners with a more holistic approach to making their homes more efficient,” the industry association said.

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    “The current six-star standard has not been evaluated to measure the savings achieved in lower emissions and lower energy prices,” the spokesperson said.

    Andrew Picard, an ACT-based energy efficiency specialist with Powerhouse Engineering, said the standards were only the minimum required and they often fell short in practice.

    His firm assesses the performance of 18-month-old homes in ACT in areas such as Strathnairn, where homes with a seven-star rating on paper have performed worse than expected. Residents complained that the temperature would drop 4C in 30 minutes when the heating was turned off.

    Picard said the issue was that the ratings were only as models of the houses — not actually built — and failed to assess the draft. He said the insulation and double-glazed windows weren’t enough.

    “As soon as you turn off your heater, hot air is going to exit the house because there is only uncontrolled air movement.

    “It also means that when you have extreme weather events, it’s not possible to keep the building envelope as a healthy space for people.”

    Phil Harrington, a leading competencies specialist with Strategic Policy Research Advisors, said that the lack of enforcement of ratings “is a open joke” in the industry.

    “The average star rating of a housing stock … is somewhere between 1.5 and two stars. An air-conditioned tent would work just as well.”

    Harrington said, “homes for the first home buyers” were those that were built to the lowest possible specs that the building industry could get away with. Rental stocks were even worse as landlords “had no incentive to upgrade the energy performance of their rental properties”.

    Queensland Energy Minister Mick D. Brenney said his state “lags behind most of the nation in energy-efficiency ratings for our buildings”, so the seven-star upgrade means that his state is “one of the biggest moves in all jurisdictions”. One” was moving on. ,

    “It’s one thing to plan emissions reductions for buildings, it’s another thing to deliver on them,” he said.

    “Queensland is seeking compliance through a number of potential actions that include accreditation of energy appraisers and ensuring that critical energy efficiency elements of home design are reflected in building plans.”

    https://m.thelocalreport.in/strict-s...tralian-homes/

  7. #7
    Guest Member S Landreth's Avatar
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    The Greens will transfer to legislate a brand new energy transition authority when parliament resumes subsequent month, as unions name on the federal government to amend its local weather change laws to mirror the considerations of workers.

    The Greens senator Penny Allman-Payne, who comes from the commercial Queensland metropolis of Gladstone, stated a transition authority would put in place a framework to assist communities affected by the transition to renewable energy.

    “If the government and Greens make serious progress on this issue over the next three years, Coalition climate scare campaigns will fall on deaf ears because coal and gas communities will know their future is being planned for and that their children will have a secure future.”

    The laws would set up an unbiased statutory nationwide energy transition authority that will plan and coordinate new alternatives for affected workers and present recommendation to authorities, backed by a 10-year $2.8bn fund for “diversifying coal communities”.

    In the September sitting fortnight, the Greens will give discover of their intention to introduce the invoice earlier than the top of the 12 months.

    The Greens say the federal government agreed in negotiations over the local weather change invoice to think about its proposal for a statutory transition authority, which can be in keeping with union calls for for “just transition” measures to be legislated.

    A Senate committee inspecting the federal government’s climate change bill to legislate a 43% emissions discount goal is due to report this week, with the federal government eager to go the invoice through the Senate in September.

    The authorities wants the assist of the Greens and one different unbiased senator to go the invoice through the Senate, and the Greens have already voted in assist of the laws when it handed the decrease home earlier this month.

    However, unions have used the inquiry to urge the federal government to revise the invoice, saying it wants to additionally mirror Australia’s commitments below the Paris settlement to bear in mind the affect of transitioning away from a carbon intensive financial system on the workforce.

    The text of the Paris agreement, agreed to by Australia, binds signatories to think about “the imperatives of a just transition of the workforce and the creation of decent work and quality jobs in accordance with nationally defined development priorities”.

    Australia can be required to report on its simply transition progress as a part of Australia’s revised pledge, which the Albanese authorities formally submitted in June.

    In its submission to the inquiry, the Australian Council of Trade Unions stated Australia at the moment has no formalised coverage or method to a simply transition, pointing to the Morrison authorities’s failure to signal a world declaration on the matter, which was backed by the UK, US, Canada, the European Union and New Zealand.

    “These principles should address the worker and community impacts of decarbonisation and the associated economic transitions that are already under way and accelerating,” the ACTU submission states.

    _____________




    Energy-efficiency standards for new homes in Australia are actuality upgraded for the first time in a decade. New homes will be appropriate to advance minimum achievement from six stars to seven stars beneath the civic home activity appraisement scheme. Federal, accompaniment and area architecture ministers agreed on the change aftermost Friday.

    The appraisement will also use a whole-of-home activity “budget”. This will allow homes to accommodated the new accepted in altered ways. The accepted will appear into force in May 2023 and all new homes will have to accede by October 2023.

    On Monday the New South Wales government also announced which large bartering developments, as able-bodied as big accompaniment projects, will have to abide a “net-zero statement” to income planning approval. The account charge appearance their barrio are either all-electric or can absolutely catechumen to renewable activity by 2035. In addition, new homes and renovations will have to ability a seven-star appraisement beneath the state’s building sustainability index. The accepted minimum is bristles and a bisected stars.

    These upgrades represent a footfall in the correct administration about abundant further charcoal to be done to future-proof Australian homes. Buildings account for about 20% of the nation’s emissions. Further upgrades to the civic architecture cipher are bare afore 2030 to accomplish Australia’s altitude targets.

    We’re still abbreviate of zero-carbon buildings

    Across Australia further than 5.5m houses are predicted to be complete amid 2023 and 2050. The upgraded architecture cipher way they will accomplish bigger in altitude extremes and afford beneath carbon.

    So this long-overdue change is acceptable account for households and the planet. It way new houses will use an average of 24.5% beneath activity to accumulate balmy and cool. And new abstract accoutrement will assist to control mould growth, a bloom botheration for deeply closed homes with poor ventilation.

    The International Energy Agency recommends which beat economies such as Australia have a “zero-carbon-ready architecture code” in abode by the end of the 2020s. This would ensure all new barrio in the 2030s will be aught or near-zero carbon.

    Governments all over the apple have already confused in this direction, including in the EU and California. Australia is still able-bodied abaft global best convenance in architecture and construction.

    Best-in-class activity efficiency, abounding electrification and renewable activity delivery will be acute to absolutely decarbonise the architecture sector. Further updates to the NCC in 2025 and 2028 will choose to ensure Australia accouterments a “zero-carbon-ready” architecture cipher by 2030. Only again can Australia bear on its allowable altitude targets and guard Australians from a abating altitude and college activity prices.

    Cost arguments adjoin further upgrades don’t assemblage up

    Australia can’t delay addition decade to advancement architecture standards again. Arguments adjoin college standards tend to focus on the admission amount of new houses about many homes are bought with mortgage loans and per month repayments.

    Higher standards would decrease activity burning to abreast zero, accouterment a absorber adjoin activity amount spikes and increases. Low or awful activity bills (as a aftereffect of payments for exporting electricity) will abundantly account the antecedent charge of architecture better-performing homes. Households will also be less accessible to added acute events such as heatwaves.

    A cornerstone of the authoritative action is cost-benefit appraisal undertaken by government. The appraisal abaft the NCC amend failed to absolutely butt the economic, amusing and ecology benefits of college standards.

    Cost-benefit guidelines, which are set by the Office of Best Practice Regulation, should be reviewed. Any appraisal charge appropriately reflect costs and allowances over the lifetime of a home, including the impacts of bargain activity and bloom bills on mortgage repayments. Ensuring further changes to the NCC accurately represent the abounding allowances will be analytical to abstain addition decade of adjourned action.

    Banks have already began to recognise the price of acceptable housing. Their lowest mortgage ante are for new blooming homes.

    What about all the absolute homes?

    While ensuring all new barrio are complete to zero-carbon standards afterwards 2030 will be important, convalescent the affection and achievement of the majority of Australia’s 10.9m homes is appropriately if not further important. Existing building stocks are inadequate – many apartment was once complete afore activity achievement standards existed.

    A main wave of retrofitting is needed. Deeper upgrades can be done all through renovations to bear bigger performance, safe calm temperatures and lower activity use and bills.

    Existing Australian homes for the many allotment amount below two stars in activity performance. Their occupants acquaintance extremes of temperature all through summer and in winter in areas including Melbourne, Canberra, Adelaide and Tasmania.

    Extreme hot and algid are harmful to human health. The impacts are greatest for humans on low incomes and/or who rent.

    We have many examples of how to cost-effectively retrofit housing. These changes can have significant impacts on domiciliary bills and health.

    Retrofitting will be further resource-efficient than abolition and rebuilding. It will also absorb the architectural and ancestry price of our cities and suburbs.

    But a cardinal of measures will be appropriate to retrofit apartment on the calibration needed. These accommodate financial incentives from banks, government subsidies, minimum requirements at point of sale, minimum rental standards, apprenticeship of landlords, etc.

    Australian architecture ministers are due to accommodated afresh aboriginal abutting year. They charge bound about-face their hobby to ensuring the 2025 and 2028 upgrades pave the way to a zero-carbon-ready architecture cipher by 2030.

    Governments should also banal appear a civic retrofit action which aims for a footfall change in the activity achievement of absolute homes. Essential components of the action accommodate the addition of binding acknowledgment of home activity achievement and the abounding electrification of homes.

    Without such changes, Australian apartment and households accident actuality bound into poor-quality, underperforming and cher apartment for decades.

    ______________

    They better get to work……..



    AEMO has issued its 2022 Electricity Statement of Opportunities (ESOO) report, forecasting electricity reliability concerns that require an urgent response in most regions of the National Electricity Market (NEM) in the next 10 years.

    The ESOO models the latest market data to identify combinations of circumstances when electricity supply won’t be sufficient to meet demand, helping inform the planning and decision-making of market participants, investors and governments.

    AEMO CEO Daniel Westerman said: “The report reiterates the urgent need to progress generation, storage and transmission developments to maintain a secure, reliable and affordable supply of electricity to homes and businesses.

    “Forecast reliability gaps have emerged across NEM regions due to considerable coal and gas plant closures, along with insufficient new generation capacity commitments needed to offset higher electricity use.

    “In the next decade, Australia will experience our first cluster of coal-generation retirements, at least five power stations totalling 8.3 gigawatts (GW), equal to approximately 14 per cent of the NEM’s total capacity. Without further investments, this will reduce generation supply and challenge the transmission network's capability to meet reliability standards and power system security needs,” he said.

    Considering only existing and committed1 projects, AEMO forecasts reliability gaps against the Interim Reliability Measure2 in South Australia in 2023-24 and Victoria from 2024-25. New South Wales is forecast to breach the reliability standard from 2025-26, followed by Victoria (2028-29), Queensland (2029-30) and South Australia (2031-32).

    “Despite the challenging reliability outlook against ‘committed’ projects, should the 3.4 GW of anticipated generation and storage projects, alongside ISP actionable transmission projects, be delivered to their current schedules, then reliability standards would be met in all regions of the NEM until later in the decade when more large thermal generators exit,” Mr Westerman said.

    “The five transmission projects identified in the 2022 Integrated System Plan – HumeLink, VNI West, Marinus Link, Sydney Ring and New England REZ Transmission Link – should progress as urgently as possible to enable electricity consumers to make shared use of existing and future generation and storage.

    “Governments also have a range of measures to bring in new generation, storage and transmission, which will greatly aid the short- to medium-term outlook. As these become committed, they will be incorporated into future reliability assessments, and will reduce the reliability risks presently forecast,” he said.

    AEMO will continue to work with governments, market bodies, industry and community to manage risks and potential solutions as the power system transitions from coal to firmed renewables, supported by efficient investment in the transmission system.

    Structural reforms to the NEM and amendments to the National Electricity Objective agreed by Energy Ministers recently will greatly assist in improving the investment environment and enable the transformation of the NEM.

    _____________



    The Greens have called for all environmental offsets schemes across the country to be suspended pending an independent review, after the New South Wales system was found to be riddled with integrity concerns and failing to protect endangered species.

    It puts the minor party at odds with the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, who planned to use a speech on Thursday to argue that well-designed environmental markets, including those using offsets, could be a “powerful force for good”. She said she hoped Australia may one day be home to a “green Wall Street” that attracted conservation investment from around the world.

    The Greens’ environment spokesperson, Sarah Hanson-Young, said on Wednesday biodiversity offset schemes had been “exposed as a sham” and called for an immediate moratorium on the clearing of wildlife habitat while they were investigated.

    It followed the NSW auditor general on Tuesday finding the state government had failed to properly design core elements of its scheme and had no strategy for ensuring it helped protect the environment. The auditor general review was one of several that followed extensive reporting by Guardian Australia that revealed serious flaws and conflict of interest concerns in the state system.

    Hanson-Young said the damning report added to the evidence of the recent state of the environment report, which found Australia’s wildlife and wild places were in poor and deteriorating health.

    “Our environment is on the verge of collapse and governments that allow schemes to continue that push threatened species and ecological communities further to the brink will be complicit in this natural crisis,” she said. “Dodgy biodiversity offsets schemes are doing more harm than good and should be suspended in all jurisdictions and face a full independent review.”

    But, in speech notes released before her address to a G20 environment and climate ministers meeting in Bali, Plibersek backed environmental markets as important to make it “easier for businesses and philanthropists to invest in projects that repair and protect nature”.

    She said that was why she and the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, last week announced the government would create a biodiversity market, which she described as a “nature market”. The scheme would recognise private landholders who restored and managed habitat by granting them biodiversity certificates that could then be sold to other parties.

    In her speech notes, Plibersek said the nature market would work in tandem with the national carbon credit scheme, which she described as having “high integrity”. The carbon credit scheme is being reviewed after one of the architects of the scheme said it was hurting the environment and had wasted more than $1bn in taxpayer funding.

    She said it was up to governments to lead the way on climate and environmental protection, and nature markets could never replace government effort, but by placing an economic value on positive environmental outcomes they could incentivise protection and restoration projects, particularly on private land.

    “We need to make sure we do it right,” she said. “A bad market can be worse than no market if it’s poorly designed, or underregulated, or if it greenwashes or creates perverse incentives.”

    The minister said a successful market would need to meet three conditions: that the benefit from planting native species, restoring mangroves, removing pests and weeds from an area of land could be accurately measured; that there were laws to make sure someone buying environmental protection can be sure they are getting what pay for; and that there were biodiversity certificates that made clear what was being bought and sold.

    She said Australia was “very well placed to meet all these challenges”.

    “Ultimately, I would like to see the market truly valuing nature, so that protecting forests is more valuable than destroying them,” Plibersek said. “And maybe one day Australia will house its own green Wall Street: a trusted global financial hub, where the world comes to invest in environmental protection and restoration.”

    The government’s biodiversity market plan was cautiously welcomed by some environment groups, but sharply criticised by the Wilderness Society, which said it was evidence the Albanese government had a similar environmental agenda to the Morrison government.

    The government has since released a fact sheet and called for submissions on how the market should work. Submissions close on 16 September.

    __________

    • “Failure by almost every measure:” Offsets under fire again after “damning” audit


    The New South Wales Biodiversity Offsets Scheme has been slammed as a “failure by almost every measure,” after an audit determined its effectiveness so far has been “limited,” with key concerns remaining around its integrity, transparency, and sustainability.

    The report from the Audit Office of New South Wales examines whether the NSW Department of Planning and Environment and the Biodiversity Conservation Trust have effectively designed and implemented the offset scheme to compensate for the loss of biodiversity in the state due to development.

    The report concludes that the DPE has not effectively designed core elements of the scheme, such as a clear strategy to develop the biodiversity credit market, or methods to measure outcomes against the purposes of the Biodiversity Conservation Act.

    “A market-based approach to biodiversity offsetting is central to the Scheme’s operation but credit supply is lacking and poorly matched to growing demand: this includes a potential undersupply of in-demand credits for numerous endangered species,” the report says.

    “Key concerns around the Scheme’s integrity, transparency, and sustainability are also yet to be fully resolved.

    “As such, there is a risk that biodiversity gains made through the Scheme will not be sufficient to offset losses resulting from the impacts of development, and that DPE will not be able to assess the Scheme’s overall effectiveness.”

    The lengthy report, which the Nature Conservation Council on Tuesday described as “damning,” throws further doubt on the integrity of environmental offset schemes in general, including Australia’s fledgling carbon market.

    Last month, federal climate and energy minister Chris Bowen launched an independent review into the troubled Emissions Reduction Fund, appointing a former chief scientist to investigate claims the scheme lacks environmental integrity.

    The key criticisms against the NSW Biodiversity Scheme include that the market-based approach is not working, in that there are not enough biodiversity “credits” to meet the demands of development.

    The Auditor-General’s report notes that while the Scheme has been in place for five years, most credit types have not yet been traded.

    Despite this, the report cites DPE data that around 90% of demand cannot be matched to credit supply – and there is likely to be a substantial credit undersupply for at least seven endangered flora species, three endangered fauna species, and eight threatened ecological communities.

    Meanwhile, credit demand is projected to grow in line with the NSW government’s $112.7 billion four-year infrastructure pipeline.

    Further, the report finds that the practice of developers paying into the Biodiversity Conservation Fund, without proper information about whether sufficient credits for their project exist, is enabling damaging projects to progress while nature loses out.

    “It is hard to imagine a more damning assessment of such an important scheme than the Auditor General has given the NSW Government’s Biodiversity Offsets Scheme today,” Nature Conservation Council CEO Jacqui Mumford said in a statement on Tuesday.

    “It is failure by almost every measure. Essentially, the government’s biodiversity offsets scheme treats nature like a Magic Pudding that developers can keep eating forever if they throw some cash into the government’s tin.

    “It reduces nature to a bunch of financial formulas that can never capture the true value of our unique and rapidly disappearing wildlife and bushland.
    “After this report, offsets must be only used as an absolute last resort. Currently, they are handed out like lollies.”

    Mumford notes that the most recent NSW State of the Environment Report found that more than 1,020 plants and animals were now threatened with extinction, about 20 more than when the scheme began.

    “Offsetting must be used as a last resort and only when it adheres to best-practice principles,” she said.

    Greens MP and spokesperson for the environment Sue Higginson also described the report as “damning” and said it confirmed that government policy was contributing significantly to the current environmental crisis.

    “This broken scheme has failed to adequately identify and provide like-for-like offsets for many developments in NSW creating a situation where threatened species and ecological communities will likely go extinct due to the lack of appropriate and available offset credits,” Higginson said.

    “The government needs to intervene now and halt projects that are relying on this offsets scheme until there is an accurate accounting of what offsets are available for developers and the government.

    “Right now, the offsets scheme is trading biodiversity that doesn’t and can’t exist anywhere else,” she said.

    https://reneweconomy.com.au/failure-...damning-audit/

  8. #8
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    ^ Christ do you get paid by the word? or is this an attempt to shut the thread down

  9. #9
    Guest Member S Landreth's Avatar
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    ^It would be a pain to post newsworthy articles every day so I wait for once a week, except for today.

    Two newsworthy articles........




    A climate trigger proposal to fix Australia’s “broken” environmental laws has been introduced to federal parliament by the Greens.

    The proposal bans the environmental approval of new fossil fuel developments that would emit more than 100,000 tonnes of carbon.

    It also sets a threshold to require environmental assessments of projects that would emit between 25,000 and 100,000 tonnes of carbon in a year.

    In deciding whether to approve those projects, the environment minister would need to consider if they are consistent with the national carbon budget and emissions reduction targets.

    The climate trigger will address a “glaring gap” in current environmental laws that allows global heating to become worse, Greens leader Adam Bandt told parliament.

    “We are in an emergency and the first thing to do in an emergency is to check to see if you can remove a danger, if you can stop what is causing the harm,” he said.

    “What is causing the harm is coal, oil and gas.”

    The Albanese government’s climate change bill is due to be tabled in the Senate this afternoon.

    __________



    The Senate will be keeping itself busy this week with Labor’s climate bill – the one which legislates the 43% target.

    It will pass. We know that. The Greens have given (reluctant) support and David Pocock is on board. That’s enough in terms of numbers.

    But that doesn’t mean it will be quick. There will be attempts to amend it to make it stronger, include climate triggers and push the government to do more. So it won’t be a tick and flick. But it will eventually pass.

    __________

    Edit: Three articles


    • Independent MP Dr Sophie Scamps has given her support to the Greens climate trigger legislation:


    The science is clear, we must stop burning fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and gas if we are to avert the worst impacts of climate change. It is estimated there are over 100 new coal and gas projects up for assessment under the EPBC Act. We need to ensure the impact from the emissions that these projects will create are assessed and that approvals under our national environmental law are not just a smokescreen that provide fossil fuel companies cover to continue profiteering while destroying Australia’s environment.

    The Albanese government cannot have it both ways. They cannot say the climate wars ‘are over’ and legislate our emissions reduction targets while also refusing to act on the root cause of climate change – fossil fuels.

    It is time our national environmental laws were strengthened. And the first step in doing so, is ensuring every major project is assessed for its future climate change impacts – our environment, our economic prosperity and our future depends on it.

    _____________

    Edit: Four articles


    • On the climate change legislation, independent senator David Pocock says a 43% emissions reduction target for 2030 isn’t enough.


    He said:

    It is a start. My focus is on ensuring the target has integrity, so we need more transparency, more accountability about how we are actually going to get to 43% and how we will get in at zero.

    He says he is in discussions with the government on amendments, including requiring the annual budget statement to calculate the projected greenhouse gas emissions from new projects over the forward estimates.

    He says the government response so far has been “lukewarm”, but that discussions are ongoing.

    He says he will ultimately vote for a target, but says the Senate isn’t there to rubber-stamp what passes in the House. He notes the 43% target is a floor.
    Last edited by S Landreth; 05-09-2022 at 03:52 PM.

  10. #10
    Guest Member S Landreth's Avatar
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    Labor is due to pass its climate bill through the Senate today.

    David Pocock. He’s alright. We (the world) need more like him.

    It seems like a pretty sad day in Australia where in 2022 we are hearing arguments about climate science after however long of the bullshit that Australians have had to…

    Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson chimed in with something along the lines of ‘where is the lie?’ but Pocock was made to withdraw anyway.



  11. #11
    Guest Member S Landreth's Avatar
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    Larissa Waters - Senate update: climate bills are now passing, with support from Greens, Pocock and Lambie. Coalition, One Nation and Babet opposing but they don’t have the numbers to block. Greens improved the bill but we will keep fighting to stop new coal & gas, and to lift the target #auspol https://twitter.com/larissawaters/st...26754453934086


  12. #12
    Guest Member S Landreth's Avatar
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    Some highlights from different news organizations. But first the Australian Government.......




    The Albanese Government’s landmark Climate Change Bills have now passed the Senate, ensuring Australia's emissions reduction target of 43 per cent and net zero emissions by 2050 will be enshrined in legislation.

    For almost a decade, Australia stumbled from one policy to another, and our economy and communities missed out on billions of dollars in public and private clean energy investment. But today that changes.

    This overdue legislation will provide the energy policy and investment certainty needed to usher in economic growth and opportunity in a decarbonising global economy.

    The Bills ensure a whole-of-government approach to drive down emissions and accountability through an annual update to Parliament.

    Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen said the legislation puts Australia on a credible path to net zero.

    Climate Change Bill 2022 – Parliament of Australia


    __________



    The bill to lock in a 43 per cent greenhouse gas reduction target by 2030 and net-zero by 2050 passed the Senate on Thursday with the support of the Greens and crossbenchers.

    _________



    The target to cut emissions brings Australia closer into line with allies including Canada, South Korea and Japan, but leaves the country — for years an outcast on climate policy among developed nations — lagging behind the US, European Union and the UK.

    __________



    Australia will slash carbon emissions by 43 per cent as Anthony Albanese's climate bill passes its last hurdle after winning over independent senators

    Senators David Pocock, Jacqui Lambie, and Tammy Tyrrell secured amendments in the Senate, sending the bill back to the House of Representatives to pass it.

    The House late on Thursday afternoon voted 86 to 50 to pass the legislation without any more amendments.

    _________

    • Australia enshrines in law 43% greenhouse gas reduction aim


    The conservative opposition party voted against the bill. The opposition has advocated since 2015 a target of reducing emissions by between 26% and 28%.

    https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/...s-17426673.php

    ___________

    • RESOURCESMEDIA RELEASESNOW THE CLIMATE BILL HAS PASSED, THE HARD YAKKA BEGINS


    “This Act is important because it demonstrates that the majority of our Parliamentarians understand that climate action is a shared and urgent responsibility,” Ms McKenzie said.

    “Australia’s politicians are finally working together. Voters made it clear that they want to see progress, and we thank members of the ALP, the Greens and the Independents in both houses of Parliament for working together so constructively to pass this Bill.

    “For the first time ever Australia has clear, minimum climate targets enshrined in law. This will help encourage the massive private investment we need to transform our economy to net zero.

    Next Tuesday, the Climate Council will launch a new report Power Up: Ten Climate Gamechangers. This highly anticipated policy roadmap can accelerate Australia’s progress towards net zero. There will be a journalist briefing and dynamic website detailing the 10 game-changing things the Federal Government must do in this term to avoid the worst climate impacts.

    https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/re...-yakka-begins/

    __________

    Little extra.

    • Australia’s Parliament had a Mid-Winter Ball


    The anti-coal fashion and statements of the Mid-Winter Ball https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/t...d-winter-ball/


    __________

    Next week

    • Victorian parliament suspended for one week


    Victoria’s premier, Daniel Andrews, is speaking to reporters in Melbourne. He’s confirmed parliament won’t sit next week following the death of Queen Elizabeth II
    Last edited by S Landreth; 10-09-2022 at 03:28 PM.

  13. #13
    Guest Member S Landreth's Avatar
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    I thought it was going to be a slow week (Queen passing away). But no. So, I’m updating the thread with a little news before tomorrow’s update.

    First things first.

    Political Alert - Climate Change Act 2022 and Climate Change (Consequential Amendments) Act 2022 have received Royal Assent #auspol https://twitter.com/political_alert/...15300806365185


    ___________




    The Albanese government has appointed three women with environmental backgrounds to the board of the Climate Change Authority in a bid to counter concerns the advisory body was taken over by business leaders under the Coalition.

    The authority was given expanded responsibilities under climate change legislation that passed parliament last week, including advising the government on future emissions reduction targets and an annual statement to parliament by the climate change minister. The advice must be made public, and the minister must explain why if he rejects it.

    Climate activists have questioned whether the authority’s existing board is qualified to offer scientific advice after the Coalition appointed several business leaders to fill board vacancies.

    The chair is Grant King, a former head of Origin Energy and president of the Business Council of Australia. The former Greens leader Christine Milne has called for King to be replaced by a climate scientist.

    Under changes to be announced by the climate change minister, Chris Bowen, on Thursday, there is no change to the existing six board members, but he has made three appointments to fill vacancies.

    The new members are the biologist Prof Lesley Hughes, a distinguished academic who has held government advisory roles and is a member of the Climate Council, Dr Virginia Marshall, a legal researcher who has worked on Indigenous water rights, and Sam Mostyn, a businesswoman and sustainability adviser who was chair of the climate advocacy group 1 Million Women.

    Bowen said they would bolster the authority’s role in “providing independent advice to government on the reduction of the nation’s emissions and climate change policy”.

    “With this expanded membership, the authority is better placed to oversee emissions reduction efforts and provide government with expert advice,” he said.

    The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, said the appointments were “a welcome change from the coal and gas advocates appointed in the past”.

    “I hope this is the beginning of the Climate Change Authority returning to a focus on the science of how we power past coal and gas and fight the climate crisis,” he said.

    The authority was created in 2012 as part of a suite of climate policies agreed by the Gillard government, the Greens and independent MPs. The Coalition under Tony Abbott tried to abolish it, but failed. Instead, it cut its funding, slashed its staffing and sidelined its advice.

    Milne, who was the Greens’ climate spokesperson when the authority was introduced, said the new appointments were important, and praised Hughes’ inclusion in particular.

    But she said she believed the makeup of the board meant the new appointees would have an “uphill battle” in getting their colleagues to take climate science seriously and not prioritise the future of the gas industry.

    __________




    The federal government is being urged to establish vehicle emissions standards as a priority to drive the uptake of more eco-friendly cars.

    Robyn Denholm, who chairs the board of directors for electric vehicle giant Tesla, wants the federal government to position Australia as a global leader in the electric car industry.

    Specifically, she said Australia could learn policy lessons from other countries that have increased the numbers of new electric vehicle sales.

    In a speech to the National Press Club on Wednesday, Ms Denholm compared Australia to New Zealand, which has successfully lifted the number of new electric car sales from 2.5 per cent to 11 per cent in the past year.

    In Australia, electric models make up only two per cent of new car sales.

    "I once worked at Toyota, when cars were still being made in Australia, and I believe Australia can have an even bigger car industry in the electric age," she said.

    "Where tech skills converge with manufacturing skills to create advanced manufacturing industries ... we have the know-how, we have the skill and an abundance of mineral resources."

    Treasurer Jim Chalmers last month introduced incentives for car buyers to purchase electric vehicles by reducing upfront costs.

    Proposed reforms include changes to fringe benefits tax and removing the import tariff on electric vehicles to make the cars cheaper for more people.

    But Ms Denholm said the single biggest policy change Australia could make would be to introduce vehicle emissions standards.

    "It signals to the market that they have to start reducing emissions even from their internal combustion engine vehicles ... if I had a magic wand, we would do that tomorrow," she said.

    Last month, Energy Minister Chris Bowen announced the government will take action on dirty car emissions by introducing national fuel standards for manufacturers.

    The proposal is currently in a consultation period and Mr Bowen would not put a time frame on when the standards would come into effect.
    Last edited by S Landreth; 16-09-2022 at 12:16 PM.

  14. #14
    Guest Member S Landreth's Avatar
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    The RBA’s Lowe is asked, near the end of the marathon and quite thought-provoking meeting, about climate change and Australia’s commitment to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

    Lowe said that Australia had been “on a different path” from other nations and “it was damaging us”.

    Those comments might not have gone down too well with the Coalition members on the economics committee who didn’t back the government’s recent climate bill. There’s a fair bet Labor, the Greens and the “teal” independents are going to remind them that even the central bank governor backs the call for greater climate action.

    Falling behind “what international investors expect” would dim Australia’s appeal, Lowe was saying, adding it also hurt the country’s ability to sell its story of clean energy.

    What’s next? Lowe backing the return of a price on carbon? That would make sense - and perhaps that’s a question for six months’ time when the committee calls him back for a chat.


    ____________


    • Chris Bowen - Hydrogen is going to be a big part of our transformation to a renewable energy future. The Albanese Government through ARENA is investing $47m to develop a 10MW electrolyser in Western Australia to boost hydrogen generation & help Australia become a hydrogen exporting powerhouse https://twitter.com/Bowenchris/statu...07638119059458


    Hydrogen powerhouse to lead energy future

    Australia's biggest renewable hydrogen project will go ahead in the Pilbara, with support from the federal and state governments.

    The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) on Friday announced a grant of $47.5 million towards French energy company ENGIE's green hydrogen and ammonia project near Karratha in Western Australia.

    Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen said the project would help Australia become a world leader in hydrogen generation.

    "As we move to a more renewable economy, hydrogen will become an increasingly important part of our energy mix, and will be important in supporting industrial and hard to abate sectors," he said.

    ARENA chief executive Darren Miller said the plant could make an immediate difference, because fossil fuels would be replaced by renewable energy to make hydrogen.

    "It is also a huge export opportunity for Australia to provide clean energy and emissions-free materials to the rest of the world," he said.

    The $87.1 million Yuri project includes a 10-megawatt electrolyser to produce renewable hydrogen, powered by solar and with lithium-ion batteries for energy storage, and will be one of the world's largest.

    The largest electrolyser currently operating in Australia is the 1.25MW hydrogen plant located in Adelaide's Tonsley innovation district, in South Australia.

    Suppling hydrogen and electricity to Yara Pilbara Fertilisers at its neighbouring liquid ammonia facility, the new project will produce up to 640 tonnes of renewable hydrogen per year.

    The hydrogen industry's peak body says Yuri would put Western Australia on the map as one of the world's first industrial-scale facilities to use green hydrogen to produce clean ammonia.

    "Production of ammonia is by far the largest user of gas in the whole chemicals sector which means there is an opportunity to decarbonise this industry," said Fiona Simon, CEO of the Australian Hydrogen Council.

    It would pave the way for other industries that use high-heat processes, she said, including food and meat processing.

    WA Hydrogen Industry Minister Alannah MacTiernan welcomed the final investment decision from ENGIE and Yara as an important milestone for the state's renewable hydrogen industry.

    ENGIE has formed a joint venture with Japan's Mitsui, which has agreed to acquire a 28 per cent stake, to develop and operate the Yuri project.

    Electrolysers use renewable electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The renewable hydrogen produced can be used for electricity generation, transport fuel or as a feedstock for ammonia.

    Ammonia is most commonly used to produce agricultural fertilisers, which is currently made using hydrogen derived from fossil fuels and produces around 1.8 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions, similar in scale to the aviation industry.

    Construction of the Yuri plant will begin next month and is due to be completed by early 2024.

    Two other applicants are also close to securing ARENA funding, the agency said.

    ___________




    New South Wales will be the first state in Australia to start treating carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases as pollutants, which will eventually require polluters to develop plans to cut emissions.

    The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) on Thursday launched an eight-week consultation period for its draft climate change policy and related action plan. It marks the first step to require that polluters are on a trajectory towards net zero emissions by 2050.

    “The big issue here is that an Australian government is moving to comprehensively cover [carbon dioxide] and equivalent emissions as a pollutant,” the new EPA chief executive, Tony Chappel, said.

    “[The plan would] give regulatory teeth to its net zero commitment to ensure that the whole economy moves on that path efficiently and effectively.”

    The EPA’s approach was modelled in part on the US EPA’s regulation of greenhouse gases, with fines and criminal sentences among the penalties. It was designed to complement the Albanese government’s safeguard mechanism that will set a cap on carbon pollution on 215 large industrial facilities responsible for about 28% of national emissions.

    NSW’s approach was triggered by a case brought before the state’s land and environment court last year by the Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action. They argued the EPA had a duty under the Protection of the Environment Administration Act 1991 to develop objectives, guidelines and policies to ensure environmental protection from climate change, and won.

    The state’s environment minister at the time, Matt Kean, ordered the EPA not to appeal the mandamus order that an agency perform mandatory duties correctly. The EPA’s approach could also prove a template for other states.

    Chappel said the state’s 50% emissions reduction goal by 2030 was an important step on the route to mid-century carbon neutrality. “Happily that’s the NSW target but this is really a science-based approach,” he said.

    A carrot in the policy will be the “huge opportunities” offered by the transition from fossil fuels, such as new forms of farming or lower cost energy.

    The state could “have a new wave of prosperity and another sort of … mining boom in that we’re mining the sun and the wind, and producing hydrogen, ammonia and green steel, and regenerating the landscape to produce agriculture sustainably”, Chappel said.

    The impacts of global heating, whether in the form of worsening bushfires, floods or other extreme weather, meant “business and the community are already paying a very high price for our emissions intensity”, he said.

    “There’s also a real financial cost businesses are already paying in terms of access to insurance, access to capital markets, and access to export opportunities, as our trading partners transition very quickly to requiring low-carbon products.”

    The EPA has planned eight weeks of consultation. The findings are due to be considered before a policy is formalised before Christmas. The agency would then begin detailed engagement with each sector of the economy on how each would cut emissions and demonstrate they are preparing for future climate impacts.

    “It’s just too early to say what the suite of tools will be because we do want to quite genuinely engage with each industry sector, and understand how they are already acting to reduce their emissions and where the opportunities are,” Chappel said.

    The approach was “very much informed” by the lived experiences of disaster-hit regions. Chappel recently visited Lismore in the state’s north to examine repairs for the region’s sewage works.

    A barrier to protect against one-in-100-year floods was exceeded by several metres, wiping out all the pumping stations, treatment ponds and all the site’s electronics. Landfills in the area also suffered “huge damage,” Chappel said.

    “Ultimately, it’s about limiting the environmental impact when these disasters happen,” he said. “The best remediation is prevention.

    “We just anticipate a continuing worsening of these threats, obviously, as the climate continues to warm.”

    ___________


  15. #15
    Guest Member S Landreth's Avatar
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    Just midweek and they have been busy.

    JAMES NAUGHTIE, HOST
    ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA


    • NAUGHTIE: One last question, and it's about climate change, which you are very concerned about. Now, the King is now out of the political arena in the sense that he has to tread carefully on political issues that are matter for government. But everyone knows his commitment on these questions. No doubt you would hope that that is a conversation despite his accession to the throne that can go on.


    PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think that is a matter, of course, for King Charles, what he comments on. And it's important that the Sovereign stay distant from party political issues. But from my perspective, what I've said, is that I'd be very comfortable with the King expressing views about the importance of climate change, and it is about the very survival of our way of life. We know that in Australia the impacts of bushfires, floods, natural disasters, are doing exactly what the science told us would happen - which is that there have always been natural disasters in Australia, but they're more frequent and they're more intense, and that's why this issue shouldn't be a partisan political issue. It should be an issue which the world needs to confront.

    BBC news | Prime Minister of Australia

    ___________





    _____________





    ___________




    Labor faces an obstacle when it comes to fulfilling election promises electric vehicles The Greens and Independent Senator David Pocock raised concerns about the government’s inclusion of hybrid cars in legislation.

    The Albany government did well on its campaign promise to make EVs cheaper with the introduction of legislation that would cut the fringe benefit tax on low and zero emissions vehicles. But that includes plug-in hybrids, which rely on petrol combustion engines as well as electric power and are already commercially competitive.

    The Greens and Pocock are concerned that the inclusion of plug-in hybrids will bake in another taxpayer-funded fossil fuel subsidy, slowing tax-ups. of real zero emission vehicles,

    Opposition It has already announced that it will vote against the law, on the grounds that it believes the subsidies will cost taxpayers too much. That leaves Labor up to independent senators like the Greens and Pocock if they want to pass the bill.

    Bandt said it was an easy solution for the government to remove plug-in hybrids from the law, a move a Parliamentary Budget Office analysis found would save nearly $1 billion over 10 years, and invest in EV infrastructuresuch as a charging station.

    Bandt said more than $11 billion of taxpayer money is spent on fossil fuel subsidies every year and the government needs to start cutting freebies, not adding to them.

    “Public money should drive the electric vehicle revolution, not handouts for petrol cars. Instead of spending a billion dollar subsidy on petrol cars that people are already buying, the government should spend that money on building charging stations in regional areas as well as setting up home chargers for people,” he said. Told.

    “Building charging stations across the country will make electric vehicles more available to regional and rural Australians, while also giving everyone the confidence to travel long distances.”

    Pocock said he was thinking similarly.

    “Analysis shows that almost half the kilometer traveled by plug-in hybrid uses a petrol engine. This 50% petrol-powered travel time is with additional emissions from the battery and the extra weight of the electric motor,” he said.

    “The average lifespan of a car in Australia is about 10 years. A plug-in hybrid purchased today will lock emissions over the lifetime of the vehicle. We need to move away from transport emissions, not turn them off for long periods of time.” .

    “I have heard the argument that plug-in hybrids are needed in rural and regional areas because of the lack of charging infrastructure. The solution to the lack of charging stations is to build more, not purely to shortchange regional Australia. Failing to encourage electric vehicles that will provide long-term savings.”

    ____________


    • Sydney-based teal independents speak at Sydney Morning Herald Sustainability Summit


    Dr Sophie Scamps MP - There are enormous opportunities & enormous threats for the environment ahead. Australia can be a first mover and lead the world if we have the political will.
    Great panel today at the SMH Sustainability Summit with @KyleaTink @zalisteggall @spenderallegra
    #smhsustainability https://twitter.com/SophieScamps/sta...43375607713795

    Sustainability has been front and centre of this year’s Federal Election campaign reflecting the importance the community places on the future of the planet.

    Organisations have, so far, been ahead of politicians in addressing the challenges of climate change. But how well are they implementing structural reform in their day-to-day operations? And how are they communicating their actions to their employees and key stakeholders? What is Government’s role in encouraging societal change, and will the businesses who go above and beyond mere compliance reap the rewards of the new paradigm? Is having climate-friendly policies the new cost of doing business, and how do you ensure that your actions will make a discernable difference and not be viewed as an exercise in greenwashing.

    This Summit will analyse the political appetite for regulatory reform, assess how Corporate Australia can balance responsibility with shareholder return, and showcase organisations who are already seeing measurable results for their sustainability commitments.

    https://smhsustainability.com.au/

  16. #16
    Guest Member S Landreth's Avatar
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    This article deserves a post of its own. I will not be mixing it into tomorrow’s update.

    I think there are some misinformed readers (of Sky News Australia and The Australian) here at TD.




    The media outlets gave sizeable coverage to journal article that climate scientists said misrepresented their research

    The climate science denial echo-chamber has been loud and proud this week with claims a new “international study” has found no evidence of a climate emergency in records of extreme weather.

    So impressed was the Australian with the work that it ran uncritical coverage on page one and page two.

    Using algorithm-friendly headlines such as “Report finds ‘no evidence’ of a climate emergency”, Sky News Australia has amassed more than 400,000 views on YouTube across two segments on the story.

    Yet a closer look at the publication, which appeared nine months ago in the European Physical Journal Plus – a journal not known for climate studies – reveals something very different.

    The authors – three Italian physicists and an agricultural meteorologist – did little original work, but instead reviewed selected papers from other scientists. This was an article, not a study.

    Climate scientists told Temperature Check the work was selective and had misinterpreted the results of some studies, while leaving others out.

    But why is the article getting coverage now, when it appeared in the journal in January?

    It was highlighted last week in online outlets known for publishing stories promoting climate denial. One UK-based climate sceptic group, the Global Warming Policy Foundation, included the article in its Net Zero Watch newsletter.

    The report in the Australian, from the environment editor, Graham Lloyd, described the article as a “long-term analysis of heat, drought, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes and ecosystem productivity” which had found “no clear positive trend of extreme events”.

    Dr Greg Holland, an emeritus senior scientist at the National Centre for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, has coordinated several reviews of extreme weather.

    He told Temperature Check the journal article “appears to have taken the predefined view that there has been no change – and then selected evidence to show this”.

    Holland said there were many uncertainties in understanding the impact of fossil fuel burning on extreme weather, but a clear picture had emerged across many different approaches.

    “As a result, over 70% of all recent research studies of extreme weather have found that climate change has increased the frequency and/or intensity of the event; 20% were indeterminate; and 9% found a decrease, most of which were for extreme cold or similar.”

    Prof Lisa Alexander, a climate scientist and expert on rainfall extremes from the University of New South Wales, said sections of the article on rainfall had misrepresented the state of the science.

    “There is definitely an increase in precipitation extremes,” Alexander said. “The [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] also says that. Not only have we seen an increase, but it’s also attributed to human activity.”

    She said the article claimed they had found little to no trend in extreme rainfall, which “totally misrepresented” some of the conclusions from her own papers.

    “They all show a significant trend,” she said. “It’s not everywhere [in the world] but we would not expect to see that anyway.”

    A finding that 8% of quality-controlled rain gauges globally showed an increase in extreme rainfall was given a passing reference in the article. But Alexander said in climate statistics this was a big change.

    She described the article as “selective and biased” and said if she had been sent it for review, she would either have asked it be rejected by the journal, or for major revisions.

    On drought, the article points to the IPCC’s fifth assessment report from 2013 that said “conclusions regarding global drought trends increasing since the 1970s are no longer supported.”

    But the more recent round of UN assessments said studies had found “increasing trends in agricultural and ecological droughts on all continents” and some regions had seen a rise in hydrological droughts.

    That report – compiled by more than 60 scientists – said there was “high confidence” that concurrent heatwaves and droughts were happening more often over the last century “at the global scale due to human influence”.

    Prof Steve Sherwood, a climate scientist at UNSW, said the article had considered only a handful of studies.

    “The IPCC report released last year, for example, reviewed over 60 studies of tropical cyclones, while this new paper cites only five – one of which is itself a review paper,” he said.

    On cyclones, the IPCC concluded it was likely tropical cyclones were becoming more extreme. A more recent study, also not covered in the article, said there was a clear rise in the number of stronger and more destructive cyclones.

    On Sky News Australia, Lloyd told Chris Kenny the article was an “interesting study that appeared in an international journal this month”.

    In the sense that all journals are international, that part is correct. But the article appeared in January.

    In another Sky segment, presenter Chris Smith said: “These authors are not climate deniers and in fact they say we should prepare for a possible increase in disasters and do not say no action should be taken on climate change. They are not deniers.”

    But three of the article’s four authors have previously shown they are sceptical of the science of human-caused climate change.

    Renato Ricci, a long-retired nuclear physicist, and Franco Prodi, a known climate science sceptic, signed a declaration earlier this year saying there was no climate emergency.

    That declaration claimed “enriching the atmosphere with CO2 is beneficial”, net zero policies were “harmful and unrealistic” and the planet was warming naturally.

    Among the ambassadors of that declaration were Lord Christopher Monckton, who has claimed global warming is a hoax, and Prof Ian Plimer, who rejects evidence that CO2 causes warming.

    The article’s lead author, nuclear physicist Prof Gianluca Alimonti, argued in 2014 there was no consensus among climate scientists that human activities are causing warming.

    Prof Michael Mann, a climate scientist at the University of Pennsylvania, told Temperature Check the journal article was “another example of scientists from totally unrelated fields coming in and naively applying inappropriate methods to data they don’t understand”.

    “Either the consensus of the world’s climate experts that climate change is causing a very clear increase in many types of weather extremes is wrong, or a couple of nuclear physics dudes in Italy are wrong.”

  17. #17
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    Meanwhile Albanese is on his knees in front of the monarchy and his head is going up and down vigorously.
    Appalling.

  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by S Landreth View Post
    Which took office in May of 2022. Anthony Albanese and Australia's new left-leaning government: Here's what you need to know - CNN

    August 7, 2022 - A good climate related podcast

    Labor’s climate bill and the power of the Australian Greens

    Labor’s climate bill, enshrining their emissions reduction targets into law, is set to pass both Houses of Parliament. The support of the Greens party - which now holds considerable power in the Senate - was hard won but Greens leader Adam Bandt warns “the fight to stop Labor opening new coal and gas mines continues”.

    ______________


    Climate Change Bill 2022: https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo...lication%2Fpdf

    Australia enters ‘new era’ on climate change as greenhouse gas bill passes

    The Australian government has passed a bill in its lower house of parliament to bind the country to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 43 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030, in what it called “a new era” of commitment to addressing climate change.

    The shift in course puts the country “on the right side of history”, prime minister Anthony Albanese said, after years of being a climate policy laggard under former leader Scott Morrison, who once brandished a lump of coal in parliament as a testament to his Liberal party’s steadfast support of coal and gas despite catastrophic bushfires and floods during his tenure.

    Albanese’s Labor government, elected in May, campaigned for the emissions reduction target to be introduced by legislation. The bill also enshrines a pledge of net zero emissions by 2050. It brings Australia closer to commitments by Canada, South Korea and Japan, while still being behind the US, EU and UK.

    Labor gained the support of the Green party and independent MPs, including ‘teal’ politicians who won seats on an environmental platform, despite pressure from Green representatives to go much further in setting targets during negotiations.

    Chris Bowen, the climate change and energy minister, said: “The passing of this bill in the House of Representatives starts a new era of climate and energy certainty, one that is well overdue.”

    Allegra Spender, a teal MP who won her seat in Sydney’s affluent eastern suburbs from the Liberal party, said the bill would “mark the start of a new way of doing politics that finally gives several communities like mine a voice”.

    The Liberal party, now in opposition, refused to back the government’s climate bill and said it would come up with its own proposals which could include a push for nuclear power to be adopted as an energy source.

    The climate bill is set against a backdrop of an energy crisis that has caused power shortages on Australia’s populous east coast, as well as record exports of fossil fuels, including coal and gas, that have fired the economy as it has emerged from the pandemic.

    The government refused to ban new oil and gas projects altogether despite pressure from the Green party to do so during talks over the climate bill. Pacific island leaders also pushed Albanese for a moratorium on greenfield fossil fuel projects at a meeting in Fiji last month.

    However, the first signs of a stricter approach were clear on the same day the bill was passed when a proposal for a new open pit coal mine 10km from the Great Barrier Reef was effectively rejected.

    It is the first time that an Australian federal environment minister has blocked a new coal mine, although the proposed rejection by Tanya Plibersek, the minister, was on the grounds of potential damage to the reef and water supply rather than specifically related to climate change.

    Adam Bandt, leader of the Green party, said that the proposal to reject the Queensland mine was a case of “1 down, 113 to go”, and a moratorium on all new coal and gas projects was needed. “You can’t put out the fire by pouring petrol on it,” he said.

    Central Queensland Coal, the company behind the Styx basin coal plan owned by billionaire Clive Palmer, did not respond to requests for comment. The rejection of Palmer’s new coal mine is also symbolic as the billionaire is the leader of the United Australia party which has one senator who has pledged to vote against the climate bill.

    The bill will now move to the senate, Australia’s upper house, where it is expected to be adopted.

    The adoption of the 43 per cent emissions reduction target has been welcomed by the broader business community on the grounds that it will introduce investment certainty as Australia upgrades its energy network and stimulates its renewable energy industry.

    Andrew McKellar, chief executive of the Australian Chamber of Commerce, called for swift passage of the bill. “The best way to secure the planning, investment and innovation that will underlie an efficient energy transition is through legislated targets,” he said. Subscribe to read | Financial Times

    _______________

    And why every Australian should be concerned about the highlighted part of the article I posted above…

    Adam Bandt - The Greens welcome reports the government has listened to some of our concerns about the climate bill, and we are continuing negotiations about remaining issues.

    But we’re concerned that Labor’s desire to open new coal & gas mines will make the climate crisis worse.: https://twitter.com/AdamBandt/status...25529510436866


    https://ember-climate.org/insights/r...r-capita-2020/
    You do drone on with this per capita bullshit which has very little to do with climate change. As you should know with the amount of googling you do on the subject, if australia wnt to absolute zero carbon emissions tomorrow there would be no change in global temperature rise due to Australias low overall level of CO2 contributions and why you concentrate on a country that will make no difference is a mystery to me. It must be remembered this labor govt actually polled less votes than the liberal govt they defeated and they won on 30% of the vote which is incredibly low considering compulsory voting in Australia. It also must be remembered that many countries including your own benefit from the mined exports that produce CO2 emissions but are not counted in the country of benefit. Here is a realistic comparison of Australias coal power output in comparison.

    https://www.statista.com/statistics/...ts-by-country/

  19. #19
    Guest Member S Landreth's Avatar
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    The European Union is ready to sign up to a free trade deal with Australia as soon as February now the federal government’s climate laws meet the bloc’s exacting environmental standards.

    One of the union’s top trade negotiators says that now progress has been made on environmental policy – a stumbling block in previous talks – there is room to negotiate on key concerns such as naming rights for cheeses and wines.

    The EU is shopping for stable trading partners in critical minerals such as lithium as the war in Ukraine continues and subsequent sanctions on Russia take effect, while Australia wants to secure broader access for beef and dairy exports.

    Bernd Lange, the German chair of the European parliament’s committee on international trade, said the EU was keen to seal the deal before the parliament’s term ended.

    “Australia has now good climate targets, the new legislation passed [about] a week ago is quite similar to the European Union, and now it’s really important to agree on some concrete projects,” he told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

    “We are here to push for a new trade agreement, and the push is necessary because we want to have a conclusion at latest [by] February next year.”

    Lange met Trade Minister Don Farrell in Canberra on Monday alongside eight other delegates from the European committee on international trade. It’s the first time members of the committee that evaluates all EU trade agreements and scrutinises negotiations have been in Australia since 2017, when the free trade negotiations began.

    The government’s recently passed climate law was a “breath of fresh air” in the negotiations, Farrell said, and opened up new opportunities for Australia, which had been exposed to potential EU carbon sanctions without those targets.

    Farrell said the government would only agree to a deal that provided “substantial” new access for key agricultural exports, including beef, dairy, sugar, rice and grain.

    “We are very keen to advance our agricultural interests to make sure that we get a fair deal for our farmers in Europe,” he told The Age and the Herald.

    The minister noted Australia’s critical minerals were in huge demand around the world.

    “We want to make sure that the Europeans share in those critical minerals, but there’s got to be something for Australia in that process,” he said.

    Lange said Europe wanted to depend on reliable partners such as Australia for access to the minerals needed for energy and digital industries. Late last week, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said the union could not rely on some of the countries that currently controlled supply.

    Lange acknowledged that agricultural trade was a sensitive topic – while Australia wants greater market access, some in Europe want to restrict imports to protect local markets.

    Another tricky point in negotiations is the EU’s desire to protect naming rights to smallgoods and alcohol, including feta and Irish whiskey. However, Lange said there was room for flexibility, and pointed to the trade agreement with Canada.

    “We had a compromise on feta, so ‘feta cheese, Canada style’. I could imagine ‘Australian prosecco’ so at the end of the day, it’s clear that the interest to protect local production and on the other side the interest to use traditional trademarks fight together,” he said.

    Opposition trade spokesman Kevin Hogan, who is meeting the European delegation on Tuesday, said a good trade deal for Australia meant a good deal for the agriculture sector.

    Australia will begin negotiations with the European Union on a free-trade agreement covering a market with 500 million people and worth $17.3 trillion.

    “This is a test for the government, there are things you have to negotiate that are for the benefit of your country at the expense of another. We encourage the Labor government to get a good deal.”

    This week’s meetings with government ministers, parliamentary committees and business groups come ahead of next month’s formal round of offers on goods, services and market access.

    Farrell said ultimately, a trade deal with the EU, which has a GDP of about $23 trillion and a population of 450 million, would be important for Australia.

    “We think that there’s prosperity for both [sides] by a trade agreement, and we’re going full steam ahead to get one negotiated,” he said.

    _______________


    Australians are clear that they want urgent and serious action, and they have given their government a mandate. Among the first acts of the new Australian Government has been to submit our ambition, nationally determined contribution to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and we have just passed legislation that makes these targets law. Our climate policies mean that, within this decade, 83% of Australia’s energy supply will be renewable. We want to help the global energy transition. Australia will be a renewable energy superpower.

    And while we are playing our part to reduce our own emissions, we are working in our region to support Pacific countries, which have the most to lose from the changing climate. Nothing is more central to the security and economies of the Pacific than climate change. As Pacific leaders themselves put it plainly in the first article of the 2018 Pacific Islands Forum’s Declaration on Regional Security, we reaffirmed that climate change remains the single greatest threat to the livelihoods, security, and wellbeing of the peoples of the Pacific, and our commitment to progress the implementation of the Paris Agreement.

    In my first months as foreign minister, I have visited six Pacific Islands Forum countries. It is a clear sign of our priorities that, by the end of this year, I will have visited nearly all. Australians want to enhance our defence, maritime, and economic cooperation with Pacific Island countries because our peace and prosperity are one, and we want to be the Pacific’s partner of choice for development and security.


    ______________




    A Tiwi Islander has won a landmark case in the Federal Court to stop Santos drilling at a massive gas project northwest of Darwin.

    Federal Court Justice Mordecai Bromberg ruled the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority should not have approved Santos’s drilling off the Tiwi Islands.

    Dennis Tipakalippa, who launched the legal action against the regulator’s decision, said Wednesday’s judgment made him the happiest man alive.

    “The most important thing for us is to protect our sea country,” he told AAP in a statement.

    “We want Santos and all mining companies to remember – we are powerful, we will fight for our land and sea country, for our future generations no matter how hard and how long.”

    The Munupi elder said he was not consulted over the company’s environmental plan and feared the project could damage his people’s sea-country.

    Santos, Australia’s second-largest independent gas producer, had told the Federal Court it had all necessary approvals to drill eight wells in the Barossa gas field following consultation with stakeholders.

    But in his judgment handed down on Wednesday afternoon, Justice Bromberg said the regulator should not have been lawfully satisfied the project’s drilling plan met the legal criteria.

    “The task that NOPSEMA was required to perform could not have been performed in accordance with the regulations on the information provided by Santos,” the judge said.

    “Furthermore, there was material … that NOPSEMA was bound to consider which NOPSEMA did not consider.”

    He ordered the regulator’s approval be set aside and the current drilling injunction continue to October 6.

    Santos will suspend drilling activities as it awaits either a favourable appeal outcome or the approval of a fresh environment plan, a company spokesperson said.

    “Santos will be seeking to expedite these processes,” the company told AAP in a statement.

    “Given the significance of this decision to us, our international joint venture partners and customers, and the industry more broadly, we consider that it should be reviewed by the full Federal Court on appeal.”

    Santos was committed to improving its consultation processes and the company’s relationship with traditional owners was very important, the spokesperson said.

    The offshore gas regulator said it would consider implications of the decision.

    During last month’s week-long hearing, the court sat at Melville Island where Justice Bromberg heard from several witnesses in words, song and dance.

    The court was told of the Munupi people’s connection to the land and sea, and how they feared the Santos project would damage the environment and impact their way of life and spiritual wellbeing.

    Santos argued the traditional owners from the Tiwi Islands were not relevant stakeholders in the Barossa project so they would not need to be consulted.

    The Nurrdalinji Native Title Aboriginal Corporation says it will closely examine Wednesday’s judgment to see what it means for companies hoping to frack for gas in the Beetaloo Basin.

    “The Tiwi people’s story is our story too,” the corporation’s chair Johnny Wilson said in a statement.

    “We have not been properly consulted by fracking companies, or the Northern Land Council, and when they do consult they often don’t consult widely.

    “We should be better consulted and have the final say on whether development should proceed.”

    The $US3.6 billion ($A5.2b) Barossa project was expected to create up to 600 jobs and pipe gas 280km to the Darwin LNG facility, with first production originally expected in 2025.

    The company said the project, which it purchased from ConocoPhillips in 2020, was 43 per cent complete and on schedule.

    ______________


    • Australia signs global nature pledge committing to reverse biodiversity loss by 2030


    The Australian government has active a all-around agreement accustomed by further than 90 countries committing them to abandoning biodiversity accident by 2030.

    The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, alien Australia had abutting the Leaders’ Pledge for Nature at an accident demography abode on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

    In a video message, he answered Australia’s access to ecology challenges had afflicted and the government accepted altitude change and the all-around accident of biodiversity were bifold crises.

    “This highlights Australia’s reinvigorated access to maintaining our ambiance and altitude administration and signals our adherence with added apple leaders in our charge to demography able action on the bifold crises of biodiversity accident and altitude change,” he said.

    The Leaders’ Pledge for Nature is the aforementioned certificate the Morrison government refused to assurance in 2020 because it alleged for commitments which were inconsistent with Australia’s behavior at the time, including greater appetence to decrease greenhouse gas emissions.

    The agreement was once developed by the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), Belize, Bhutan, Colombia, Costa Rica, the EU, Finland, Kenya, Seychelles, the UK and an accord of organisations.

    Countries which have accustomed the agreement have promised accomplishments including stronger all-around accomplishment to decrease deforestation, awkward unsustainable fishing practices, eradicating environmentally adverse subsidies, and alpha the alteration to acceptable aliment assembly systems and a annular abridgement all through the abutting decade.

    The certificate promises action to decrease biodiversity accident and stop human-caused extinctions of added species.

    Australia signs global nature pledge committing to reverse biodiversity loss by 2030 - Bksfe

    __________

    Quote Originally Posted by S Landreth View Post
    I think there are some misinformed readers (of Sky News Australia and The Australian) here at TD.



    Here’s one now.

    Quote Originally Posted by Hugh Cow View Post
    You do drone on with this......
    Remember this denier……..

    Science and continued awareness,.........rule.

  20. #20
    Thailand Expat David48atTD's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by S Landreth View Post



    A Tiwi Islander has won a landmark case in the Federal Court to stop Santos drilling at a massive gas project northwest of Darwin.
    Ok, time for some perspective and background to this ...

    "Our client argued that he and his clan were not properly consulted about drilling that could irreparably damage their Sea Country. Witnesses gave compelling on-Country evidence about the physical and spiritual impact the drilling could have on them, their culture and the sacred animals that call this sea country home." ... Tiwi Traditional Owner wins legal challenge to Santos Barossa Gas Project - Environmental Defenders Office

    "The Barossa Field is 265km (165 miles) north of the gas-hub city of Darwin on the Australian mainland and 138km (86 miles) north of the Tiwi Islands." ... Australian Indigenous island community halts $3.6bn gas drilling | Energy News | Al Jazeera


    "Traditional Owners told the court that Santos’ Barossa offshore gas project posed a risk to food sources and continuous spiritual connection to Sea Country that has endured for millennia" ... Tiwi Islander triumphs over Santos, Federal Government as Federal Court tears up Barossa drilling approvals - Petroleum Australia

    ^ FFS, it's 138km from the shoreline!


    "When someone drills underground or in the sea and it's close to the proximity of your land, or your boundary in whitefella way — in our way, spiritually, they are drilling a hole in our body," he said.

    "It can be damaging, spiritually."

    All four also spoke about the sea serpent Ampitji, who would be disturbed and angered by any damage to the sea country.


    ^ FFS, it's 138km from the shoreline!
    Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago ...


  21. #21
    Guest Member S Landreth's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by S Landreth View Post
    I think there are some misinformed readers (of Sky News Australia and The Australian) here at TD.


    The 2nd in just one day

    Quote Originally Posted by David48atTD View Post
    Ok, time for some perspective........
    Accidents happen. Leave it the fvck in the ground!

  22. #22
    Thailand Expat David48atTD's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by David48atTD View Post
    Ok, time for some perspective
    Quote Originally Posted by S Landreth View Post
    S Landreth, you provide a link to an oil spill (not a gas project), 10 years ago, half a world away

    But please, let them not disturb the (rolls eyes) sea serpent Ampitji who swims the waters 138km from the project .

  23. #23
    Guest Member S Landreth's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by David48atTD View Post
    S Landreth, you provide a link to an oil spill (not a gas project), 10 years ago, half a world away
    you’re so easy.

    Want to talk about methane leaks and climate change?

    Accidents happen. Keep it in the fvcking ground.

  24. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by S Landreth View Post
    Want to talk about methane leaks and climate change?

    Accidents happen. Keep it in the fvcking ground.
    Hmmm you can shout as much as you like but the melting permafrost in Siberia is going to release more methane than gets produced soon.

  25. #25
    Guest Member S Landreth's Avatar
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    ^Got that. You must have missed the post on the Climate Change thread I made a while back. No matter where the methane is, it’s better left in the ground.

    See: “Northern Permafrost abrupt thaw”

    Quote Originally Posted by S Landreth View Post





    The five tipping points that are within range of the current 1.1’C global temp rise:



    Chart: On the brink - Cool Earth

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