FoE Adelaide march with 1,500 others in Adelaide protesting against projected emissions by the expansion of the Roxby Downs mine
The federal parliament in rejecting the Rudd government’s determination to implement it’s carbon emissions trading scheme has brought Australia closer to an early election.
The Liberals together with Green and other independent Senators were able to barricade the legislation to defeat the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme
which the Federal government had planned to commence on July 1, 2011.
The scheme would have required approximately 1,000 of Australia’s heaviest polluters to cover 75 per cent of national emissions by purchasing carbon permits.
Greens offer Government ‘new way forward’ for meaningful climate action in Emissions
The collapse of Mr Rudd’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme presents Australia with an opportunity to move ahead with meaningful climate action, the Australian Greens said today in a letter to the Prime Minister and Climate Change Minister, Penny Wong.
The letter calls on the Minister and Prime Minister to commence discussions with the Greens on a suite of measures to begin reducing Australia’s emissions immediately. This includes bringing on the Renewable Energy Target legislation on Monday and moving towards a renewable energy feed-in tariff, forest protection, clean transport and comprehensive energy efficiency upgrades.
“The CPRS would have locked in failure on the climate crisis with its inexcusably weak emissions target and its $16 billion handout to polluters. Three in four Australians support the Greens’ decision to reject the bill if the Government refused to toughen it up.
Is the house of cards finally crumbling?
The collapse of the CPRS opens the door to a suite of other measures that can be implemented immediately, before an amended CPRS returns to the Parliament, in order to begin reducing Australia’s emissions with renewable energy and upgrading energy efficiency by shifting to sustainable transport and protecting the countries vast forest carbon stores. Renewable energy has equal potential to both repower Australian and create tens of thousands of jobs.
Australia’s renewable energy industry has been used as a political football for too long according to the Greens with both old parties bending over backwards to sandbag the old polluters. The Australian community wants a renewable energy powerhouse.
The letter, from Senators Brown and Milne to Prime Minister Rudd and Minister Wong, sets out the Greens’ proposals for an amended emissions trading scheme, as well as complementary measures on forest protection, renewable energy, sustainable transport and energy efficiency. The Senators have invited the Government to immediately engage in constructive discussions with the Greens on this proposal, in order to create meaningful action on the climate crisis.
Will the Greens prove themselves effective climate change leaders?
Many Australian’s who are unsatisfied with the lack of genuine consultation on environmental concerns, believe that this will be a serious test for the Greens to truly prove that they too don’t have all the answers and are in fact capable of working with the people. Many individuals through frustration have implemented their own effective method of cheating climate change.
Climate change in itself is creating a new economic priority where the “old party” sytem of profit at the expense of public health has become unacceptable along with political rhetoric where political parties plead “green” a few weeks before an election in order to skid across the line to waiting corporate partners and contriving polluters. All industrial processes must be thoroughly investigated and acurately published.
Independent watchdogs may become part of a more realistic new world order, in cleaning up the ongoing holocaust of the industrial revolution which has clearly served it’s purpose.
All political party donations must be made immediately available to the public. Public servants are simply that and must become fully accountable with the time fast approaching for all party policies to be laid out for scrutiny.
Categories: GENERAL News
Coober Pedy Regional Times 
POLITICAL LEADERS NEED A TRIAL PERIOD TO GIVE AUSTRALIANS AN OPPORTUNITY TO ASSESS
I’d like to congratulate those who persisted, and in doing so defeated the ability to “BUY” the privilege to pollute, being offered to corporations against the wishes of the Australian electorate.
The Prime Minister that many of us voted for is not the same person in 2009 and we believe that we need it built into future contracts of fly in fly out politicians that violations such as these ludicrous “pay to polute” schemes will terminate the appointment of trial dictators who get their feet into the doors of our parliament.
Let’s seriously look at trial and assessment periods for politicians, as appears to be the world’s best practice in any corporation for employees.
In this economic climate we can’t afford to continue paying wages for such obvious waste in feathering the nests of those who stumble from pot-hole to pot-hole when they were elected to serve the people of this country yet, immediately proceed to serve another.
Australian focused FoE Adelaide marched with 1,500 others on the streets of Adelaide on June 13 demanding that the government treat climate change as an urgent and serious emergency situation.
Like other environmental organisations, political parties and trade unions present on the day, FoE on behalf of the people, completely rejected the Federal government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, and called for an immediate transition to sustainable, green jobs through the renewable energy sector.
THE BIGGEST POLLUTER IS AUSTRALIA’S CHERNOBYL OF THE FUTURE
A speaker in the climate festival that followed, alerted the audience to the difficulties in making any progress to reduce our state’s emissions if the expansion of the Roxby Downs mine went ahead.
A technical assessment by Monash University engineering lecturer Dr Gavin Mudd revealed that the proposed Olympic Dam mine expansion would make it almost impossible for South Australia to meet its legislated target of a 60% reduction in greenhouse emissions.
The technical assessment – which found that emissions from the mine would rise from one million tonnes to 4.5-6.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually – was issued to coincide with BHP Billiton’s release of an EIS for the mine expansion.
Dr Mudd said that South Australia has a legislated target to reduce greenhouse emissions by 60%, limiting total emissions to 13 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually by 2050. Yet the Olympic Dam mine alone, if ever approved would produce one-third to one-half of that total, making it almost impossible for South Australia to meet its target.
Dr. Mudd also stated that BHP Billiton wants to take credit for its export of uranium to fuel low-carbon nuclear power reactors, but that argument is flawed on two counts.
Firstly, the end uses of energy exports are not counted in Australia’s greenhouse emissions, and if they were, BHP Billiton would also need to account for its extensive fossil fuel exports.
Secondly, the argument rests on the arbitrary and implausible assumption that the only alternative to Olympic Dam uranium exports is to build coal fired power plants.
Congratulations again to these dedicated people in drawing attention to that which is likely to be the Australian Chernobyl of the future.
As per the Greens entertaining folly, the ETS should be labelled as Greenhouse Mafia trickery and scrapped and such parties should focus attention on a national energy policy, which will require a proper exposure of the water, energy, and ecological waste associated with the uranium industry and mismanagement of local natural gas reserves.
1400MW of SA electricity is gas fired (over 50%), that could be 100% in two years. The damage from coal and uranium industries is unnecessary, as soon as we are released from the clutches of the energy lobbyists.
This was another broken Rudd promise, but the collapse of ETS, is an opportunity to look at reality. Where was Senator Faulkner with his investigation into political donations and the perverse effects of lobbying??….two years on and it’s the same.