Report costing climate change policies is ‘propaganda’: Shorten

Bill Shorten has come out swinging against “propaganda” modelling of the cost of his climate change policies, likening its author to doctors shilling for tobacco giants.

New modelling has put a price on the ALP's climate policies. 

In a report for BA Economics, former federal government economist Brian Fisher estimates Labor’s carbon reduction targets could wipe up to $542 billion from the nation’s growing economy.

“This fellow and his report remind me of the doctors that big tobacco companies used to roll out in the ’70s and ’80s to say that smoking was healthy for you,” Mr Shorten said in Tasmania on Thursday.

“We will file this report under ‘P’ for propaganda.”

Dr Fisher estimates Labor’s plan to cut carbon emissions by 45 per cent by 2030 could shrink economic growth by 0.8 per cent over the decade.

Read the story from The New Daily - “Report costing climate change policies is ‘propaganda’: Shorten.”

Richard Di Natale and the Greens' moment of truth

Richard Di Natale has spent the past three days driving an electric car up the North Coast of NSW. While Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten officially paused their election campaigning over the Easter weekend, the Greens leader has been protesting against the Adani mine in an anti-coal convoy.

Greens leader Richard Di Natale at Parliament House. 

Di Natale is not taking a break, because he feels there is no time to lose.

"Climate change matters more than anything else at this election because it is, quite literally, an existential threat to humanity," he told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. 

"This has got to be a climate change election because we're running out of time.”

The 2019 election is also a critical election for the Greens and their position in the parliamentary ecosystem. Six of the party's nine senators are up for re-election, with three of them, Sarah Hanson-Young in South Australia, Larissa Waters in Queensland and Mehreen Faruqi in NSW, facing tough battles to retain their seats.

Read the story from The Age by Judith Ireland - “Richard Di Natale and the Greens' moment of truth.”

The fear campaign about electric cars has hit a new level of utter shamelessness.

The phoney election campaign reached a new peak of phoney political rhetoric on Tuesday when a government minister stood with voters and vowed to defend them when Bill Shorten came to take their cars away.

Small Business Minister Michaelia Cash
goes on the attack over electric cars.

“We are going to stand by our tradies and we are going to save their utes,” said Small Business Minister Michaelia Cash.

Read the story from The Sydney Morning Herald by David Crowe - “The fear campaign about electric cars has hit a new level of utter shamelessness.”

Top scientists agree to Labor request to study Darling River fish kill

Leading Australian scientists will conduct a study into causes of the huge fish kill on the Darling River and the wider issue of water mismanagement after accepting a request from Labor leader Bill Shorten.

Days after a mass fish kill in the Darling River at Menindee
 last week, hundreds of carcasses remain , stinking and rotting.

The Australian Academy of Science welcomed the opportunity to prepare the report by February 10 in time for Mr Shorten to present it to Parliament in its first week back.

Read the story from The Age by Peter Hannam - “Top scientists agree to Labor request to study Darling River fish kill.”

Will Shorten's battery boost stack up at your house?

Even with a $2000 subsidy, like the one Bill Shorten is promising should Labor win the next election, will a home battery save Australian households on their power?

The answer is it depends. It depends on how big your house is, how much power you use and how big a battery and solar system you buy. It also depends what state you're in and how much you're paying for power.

But within those confines there are some conclusions to be drawn from the averages. On the usage side, comparison site Energy Wizard, said the average Australian household uses roughly 13.7kWh per day while an entry level home battery will store 6.5kW of energy - just under half of the average daily usage.

Read the story from The Age by Peter Bateman - “Will Shorten's battery boost stack up at your house?”

Labor announces $15 billion to 'turbo charge' renewables sector

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has pledged $15 billion to transform Australia into a renewable energy "powerhouse" in a plan that promises to secure supplies and relieve households stung by soaring electricity bills.

Labor would provide $200 million in subsidies
 towards battery storage to support rooftop solar.CREDIT:

Mr Shorten on Thursday announced a future Labor government would double the original $10 billion capital of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation as part of a 10-year investment plan to lower energy prices, cut carbon pollution and create employment.

Read the story from The Age by Nicole Hasham - “Labor announces $15 billion to 'turbo charge' renewables sector."

Bill Shorten: 'We've got to end the climate change war'

Bill Shorten has signalled Labor will keep the national energy guarantee and maintain subsidies for households and businesses to install small-scale renewable energy until 2030, as the shadow cabinet prepares to deliberate on energy policy.

 Bill Shorten says he is doing the things he entered politics to
achieve by ‘trying to improve the things that need improving’.

In a wide-ranging interview marking five years as opposition leader, Shorten also revealed Labor was in talks with the Australian Medical Association about conditions on Nauru, and indicated announcements were coming imminently on what he termed “progressive trade policy”. Some leftwing unions are in open revolt about the party’s decision to support the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact.

Shorten all but confirmed Labor would keep the Neg, telling Guardian Australia “we would like to keep that and make it work”. The Coalition has abandoned the energy policy for the electricity sector it championed for months, rendering the prospect of bipartisan agreement highly unlikely, but Shorten said if Labor was blocked in trying to revive the Neg, “we’ll look at other solutions”.

Read Katharine Murphy’s story from The Guardian - “Bill Shorten: 'We've got to end the climate change war’.”

Bill Shorten accused of flip-flopping on Adani coal mine

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has denied telling colleagues he wants to block the Adani mega-mine should Labor win government, instead insisting that blocking it would hurt foreign investment in Australia.

The Adani coal mine proposal has encountered strong public opposition.

Mr Shorten declared the position on Friday amid internal wrangling over the divisive coal mine proposal, and concern from some quarters within the party that Labor is sacrificing its electoral chances in Queensland for city votes.

Read Nicole Hasham’s story in The Age - “Bill Shorten accused of flip-flopping on Adani coal mine.”

Shorten goes colder on Adani coal mine as the battle for Batman begins

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has taken a further step toward opposing the proposed Queensland Adani coal mine as he starts campaigning for the Batman byelection, where Labor is fighting off a strong challenge from the Greens.

Bill Shorten said he had become increasingly
sceptical of Adani in recent months. 

Shorten was appearing with Labor’s candidate Ged Kearney, who on Friday resigned as ACTU president to contest the byelection.

Shorten seized on a Guardian Australia report that said Adani put in “an altered laboratory report” when appealing a fine for contamination of wetlands near the Great Barrier Reef.

Shorten said he had become increasingly sceptical of Adani in recent months.

If Adani was “relying on false information, that mine does not deserve to go ahead”.

Read the piece on The Conversation by Michelle Grattan - “Shorten goes colder on Adani coal mine as the battle for Batman begins.”

Big surge in opposition to Adani, new poll reveals.

A growing majority of Australians now oppose the construction of Adani's huge Carmichael coal mine, while environmental groups are ramping up pressure on Bill Shorten and federal Labor to rule out support for the project.

Opponents of the proposed mine dogged candidates
 in last year's Queensland state election.

A poll of 3312 people, conducted by pollsters ReachTEL on January 25 and commissioned by the Stop Adani Alliance, found 65.1 per cent of Australians opposed or strongly opposed Indian mining company Adani building the new coal mine in Queensland.

Read James Massola’s story in today’s  Melbourne Age - “Big surge in opposition to Adani, new poll reveals.”

Shorten goes on front foot over 50% renewables ‘target’

Bill Shorten will say that without confidence in the
policy environment, investors would never put up
the billions of dollars required for energy projects. 

Australia could be the “energy capital of Asia” but instead it is going backwards, Bill Shorten will say in a speech on Thursday, vigorously defending Labor’s target of 50% of Australia’s electricity coming from renewables by 2030.

As the government floats the prospect of help for cleaner-coal power stations and attacks Labor for committing too strongly to renewables, Shorten will say that to achieve the ALP’s 50% target much more private investment in renewable generation and technology will be needed than the amount required to get to the legislated Renewable Energy Target (RET). The RET is for 23.5% of Australia’s electricity generation in 2020 to come from renewable sources.

He will say that what is required is an emissions-intensity scheme (EIS) for the electricity sector, ongoing support for research and investments in renewable energy technology, and a plan to modernise the National Electricity Market.

Read the piece by Michelle Grattan on The Conversation - “Shorten goes on front foot over 50% renewables ‘target’.”

'Old King Coal' - by Mungo McCallum

"Coalaphopia" - a term used by an Australian
Government Minister to describe the leader
of the Opposition, Bill Shorten.

After a couple of days of Malcolm Turnbull berating Bill Shorten as a hypocrite, parasite, fake, suck-up and general scumbag, the prime minister and his government finally got to the substance of the argument.

The Opposition leader’s ultimate, irredeemable sin is that he does not love coal. To prove the point, ministers handed a chunk of the stuff around parliament last Thursday. 

Shorten, Scott Morrison declared, suffers from coalaphopia, while the aptly named Coalition really adores the stuff, wallows in it.

Coal is the modern philosopher’s stone, the cure for all ills; coal will provide cheap, reliable energy for the whole country, the entire world – it would probably power the known universe if we could only export enough of it. And what’s more, coal can be made clean. 

Well, actually it can’t; it can be made marginally less dirty through the very expensive technology in which Australian industry has not the slightest interest in investing, but to get rid of the emissions altogether involves tapping and burying them at prohibitive cost – even if, as the government has hinted, taxpayer money is offered for the process.

But forget about the details: coal rules, OK?

Read Mungo MacCallum’s story in The Monthly - “Old King Coal.”

Climate change at the heart of Shorten's election campaign

Bill Shorten puts climate change at
the heart of his election hopes.

Bill Shorten says he will put climate change at the centre of his campaign to become prime minister despite the political risks as he seeks to draw the election battle lines against the "underwhelming" Malcolm Turnbull.

In an exclusive interview with Fairfax Media ahead of the final week of Parliament before the May budget, Mr Shorten says that while Labor remains the underdog he now believes he can beat Mr Turnbull, who had been viewed as untouchable.

As Mr Turnbull prepares to mark six months in power on Monday – and with early-budget and double-dissolution election speculation now at fever pitch – Mr Shorten says the Prime Minister has been a huge letdown for many Australians.

Read Adam Gartrell’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “'I can win': Bill Shorten draws election battle lines.”

More than half Australians want strong action on climate change

M

ore than 60% of Australians support strong action on climate change, according to a survey by the Lowy Institute ahead of the Paris climate summit.

One of the reasons that politics and
 public opinion are finally lining up
- taken at the Melbourne People's
Climate March on November 27.

With opposition leader Bill Shorten having added his voice to those calling for deeper cuts than Australia’s current target, the government could pledge stronger action in Paris without significant political damage at home.

The poll underlines the continuing upward trend in public concern about climate change, which has been evident since 2012. That year marked a low point in public concern, corresponding with the entry into force of Australia’s “carbon tax”.

Read the piece on The Conversation by Associate Professor of International Relations at The University of Queensland, Matt McDonald - “Is this the moment that climate politics and public opinion finally match up?”

Thousands in Melbourne's record climate march

T

ens of thousands of people have gathered in Melbourne's CBD to demand world leaders take strong action to protect the planet at the Paris climate change conference.

One of many fascinating signs at yesterday's
record-making climate march in Melbourne.

The so-called People's Climate March was one of hundreds of rallies being held around the world in the lead up to the crucial meeting.

Members of The Cat Empire performed for the crowd, which included Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and Greens Senator Richard Di Natale.

Organiser Victoria McKenzie-McHarg estimated the crowd was at least 60,000 strong.

"This absolutely is the largest climate change rally we have ever seen in Australian history," she said to cheers from the crowd.

Read today’s story in the Melbourne Age - “Thousands gather at Melbourne CBD rally ahead of Paris climate summit.”

Labor pleased Turnbull's Paris bound, but skeptical of policies

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abor has welcomed the announcement that Malcolm Turnbull will attend climate change talks in Paris this year but says the government is selling Australia short by taking global warming “sceptic” policies to the key meeting.

The prime minister revealed to Guardian Australia on Friday that it was his “intention” to attend the UN climate change meeting, which his predecessor, Tony Abbott, had decided to shun.

The government has pledged to reduce greenhouse gas pollution by at least 26% of 2005 levels by 2030, with the possibility of reducing it even further to 28% if the target does not adversely impact the economy

Read The Guardian story - “Turnbull government selling Australia short on climate change – Bill Shorten”.

Shorten to take the climate challenge up to Abbott

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Labor leader, Bill Shorten will take the
 climate challenge up to Tony Abbott.

abor leader Bill Shorten will today issue a defiant challenge to Tony Abbott to make the next election about climate change policies.

"Bring it on," he will declare in his opening address to the Labor Party national conference in Melbourne.

"Instead of giving big polluters fistfuls of taxpayer dollars to keep [polluting], Labor will cut pollution with a market solution," he will announce to the delegates.

Read the ABC story - “ALP conference: Bill Shorten to challenge Tony Abbott on climate change in election lead-up”.

Shorten to announce bold renewable energy target

O

pposition Leader Bill Shorten is set to unveil a bold climate policy goal requiring half of Australia's large-scale energy production to be generated using renewable sources within 15 years.

Bill Shorten to announce bold renewable
energy target at Labor conference.

Fairfax Media has learnt that despite Labor's humiliating 2013 election defeat caused in part by voter contempt for its carbon tax, Mr Shorten will use this weekend's ALP national conference in Melbourne to announce the even more ambitious goal, dramatically beefing up Labor's renewable energy target.

The policy shift is designed to recover green support, sharpen the contrast with Prime Minister Tony Abbott over climate change and make global warming the defining battleground of the next federal election

Read the Sydney Morning Herald story - “Bill Shorten to unveil 50% renewable energy target at Labor conference”.

No guarantee of bipartisan support for 2020 emissions target

B

ill Shorten has signalled Australia’s post-2020 emissions reduction target may not win bipartisan support if Tony Abbott forces Australia into “the path of lowest common denominator” in Paris later this year.

Labor leader, Bill Shorten.

The opposition leader told reporters on Tuesday bipartisanship was important on emissions reduction targets, but not at any cost.

The signal from Shorten comes as the Abbott government moves to formal consideration of the post-2020 emissions reduction target it will take to United Nations-led climate talks in Paris, which start on 30 November.

Read the Guardian story - “Post-2020 emissions target may not win bipartisan support, Bill Shorten says”.

Combet called back to shape emissions trading scheme

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Greg Combet - penning
emissions trading scheme.

abor has enlisted the former climate change minister Greg Combet to help develop policies for the next election – including a new climate change stance – as the party debates how to make good its promise to reintroduce an emissions trading scheme.

Combet has been employed part time by Labor’s national secretariat to help the opposition leader, Bill Shorten, as the party debates policy ahead of its July national conference and the next election, due in 2016.

Labor has yet to make basic decisions about how to implement Shorten’s pledge that it will continue to advocate an emissions trading scheme.

Most are envisaging a new cap-and-trade scheme broadly similar to the one introduced during the last parliament, and repealed by the Abbott government.

Read the Guardian story - “Labor calls Greg Combet back to help develop emissions trading scheme”.