With the LNP returned to power, is there anything left in Adani’s way?

After months of “start” and “stop” Adani campaigning, the coalmine is poised to go ahead following the surprise success of the Coalition government at the federal election.

The habitat of the endangered black-throated finch must be protected.

So is anything still stopping the coalmine from being built?

Australia has a federal system of government, but states own coal. This means the Queensland Labor government is responsible for issuing the Adani mining licence.

Read the story from The Conversation by the Director of the Centre for Energy and Natural Resources Law from the Deakin Law School at Deakin University, Samatha Hepburn - “With the LNP returned to power, is there anything left in Adani’s way?”

Far from a contest of ideas, this campaign withers to irrelevance

For the second time in a dozen years a Coalition government is, according to the polls, facing electoral defeat, easily characterised as “stubborn” and “prejudiced” on key policy issues, a team of (mostly) men of the past, lacking a vision or the policies to back it up.

Where is the contest of ideas? Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten.

It was American statesman and diplomat Adlai Stevenson who remarked in a 1963 address to the UN that “ignorance is stubborn, and prejudice dies hard”. He could well have been describing the Coalition.

Read the opinion piece from The Age by John Hewson - “Far from a contest of ideas, this campaign withers to irrelevance."

Coalition back bench’s crazy last-gasp attempt to save coal

Facing certain defeat in the next election, the hard right rump of the governing Coalition government (that’s more than half the party), are making a last ditch attempt to reverse the course of technology and have the government fund new coal-fired generators.

Alpha Males and the Lump of Coal.

A newly-named “ginger group” known as the Monash Forum has burst from the bleechers to put the case for coal, arguing – despite all evidence to the contrary – that new coal-fired generation is the key to restoring low power prices.

Newspaper reports suggest more than half of the Coalition back bench are behind this move for more coal – which is consistent with other estimates that put the percentage of Coalition MPs and Senators who don’t accept climate science at around the same level.

The push for more coal, and the rejection of climate evidence, goes hand in hand.

Read the RenewEconomy story by Giles Parkinson -  “Coalition back bench’s crazy last-gasp attempt to save coal.”

New coal plant may be coalition price for clean energy target

There is increased speculation that the Coalition government is prepared to spend taxpayers money on a new clean/cleaner/cleanish/not-quite-so-dirty coal plant in an effort to get conservative support for a clean energy target and even to appease potential One Nation voters.

Alpha Males and the Lump of Coal.

The construction of new coal fired generator – be it in the Latrobe valley or the preferred location of north Queensland – makes no economic sense whatsoever, despite the insistence by conservatives and the Murdoch media that it will “produce jobs” and lower energy prices.

But The Australian reported on Monday that prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and energy minister Josh Frydenberg are considering offering a government-funded coal plant as the ransom to pay to get a clean energy target approved by conservative factions led by former PM Tony Abbott and Craig Kelly.

The proposal, the paper says, will be put to the party room later this month, presuming it hasn’t already torn itself apart over the issue of same-sex marriage.

The energy industry has already ridiculed the idea of a new coal-fired generator, many times over, including the big three energy retailers, the main coal generation lobby, and most energy analysts.

Read the story by Giles Parkinson on RenewEconomy - “New coal plant may be coalition price for clean energy target.”

Exploring the psychology and politics of a warming world

The Great Barrier Reef is dying. 

Extreme weather is becoming all too familiar. And the Coalition government is divided and paralysed.

In this vivid, urgent essay, Anna Krien explores the psychology and politics of a warming world. She visits frontlines in Australia's climate wars - the Great Barrier Reef, South Australia, the Coalition party room. 

She looks at the global state of play. Talking to coal workers and scientists, lobbyists and activists, she considers where climate change is taking us, and assesses where effective action is to be found.

Hear Anna talk about her essay in Melbourne on Monday, June 19, at 6:30 pm in conversation with  Chloe Hooper at the Church of All Nations at 180 Palmerston Street, Carlton. Tickets are $25, includes a copy of the essay.

Tickets can be secured through Readings.

Australia’s conservative government fiddles on climate policy while the country burns

Malcolm Turnbull is given a jersey by Brisban
 Heat cricket captain Kirby Short. The PM says
Australia will 'meet and beat' carbon 
 emissions targets.

‘When Malcolm Turnbull deposed Tony Abbott as prime minister, serious action on global warming was hoped for – but almost nothing has changed’

Australia’s January news has been full of official reports of record-breaking extreme weather devastating our ecosystems on land and in the sea and government ministers suggesting we build new coal-fired power stations, provide billion-dollar subsidised loans to rail lines for new coal mega-mines, increase coal exports to reduce temperature rises and reduce our ambitions for renewable power.

The disconnect is glaring but perhaps dimmed in the eyes of some readers because Australian politicians have been dissembling on climate change for decades, pretending it will be possible to do what we must without any impact on our position as the world’s largest coal exporter or our domestic reliance on brown coal-fired power, or without incurring any costs.

The Coalition government – which boasts as one of its proudest achievements the repeal of the former government’s emissions trading scheme – has a particular need for doublespeak.

Read Lenore Taylor’s story on The Guardian - “Australia’s conservative government fiddles on climate policy while the country burns.”

Turnbull leads attack on wind as Coalition readies carbon price backflip

Malcolm Turnbull’s Coalition government appears ready to throw the medium and long-term future of Australia’s large-scale renewable energy market under a bus, as the price to be paid for a back-flip on a carbon price for the electricity sector.

Turnbull joined with The Australian and right-wing climate denying bloggers Andrew Bolt and Jo Nova on Friday in somehow connecting last week’s network fault in Victoria with the growth of renewable energy. Turnbull told a local radio station that the outage was the “fault” of the South Australian government.

Read Giles Parkinson’s story on RenewEconomy - “Turnbull leads attack on wind as Coalition readies carbon price backflip.”

Farmers demand the Coalition government does more on climate change

Victorian dairy farmer Karrinjeet Singh-Mahil
 and Liverpool Plains beef farmer Derek
 Blomfield at Parliament House in Canberra
 on Tuesday.

A thumping majority of Australian farmers have concluded they are witnessing the effects of climate change, urging the Coalition government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare the country for a future that is drier, less predictable and more prone to bushfires.

This is according to a survey of 1300 primary producers across states and agricultural sectors, conducted by advocacy group Farmers for Climate Action with the co-operation of the National Farmers Federation.

It found 88 per cent of respondents want rural and regional politicians to start advocating for stronger climate change action. Two thirds have seen changes in rainfall over their time on the land and half have seen an increase in droughts and floods.

Nine in 10 are concerned about damage to the climate and eight in 10 support Australia moving towards 100 per cent renewable energy.

Read the story by Fergus Hunter in The Sydney Morning Herald - “Farmers demand the Coalition government does more on climate change.”

Jotzo wonders about Turnbull's appetite for the climate challenge

Director of the Centre for Climate
Economics and Policy at the
Australian National University,
Frank Jotzo, wonders whether or not the
 re-elected Malcolm Turnbull has the
appetite to tackle climate change. 

The re-elected Coalition government has the opportunity to revamp its policies on climate change. Transition of the energy sector is key if the 2030 emissions target is to be met. But with a razor-thin majority in Parliament, will Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull have the appetite and internal authority to tackle the challenge?

In contrast to the past three federal elections, climate change policy was not one of the big issues in this campaign. Faced with a fairly comprehensive climate policy blueprint from the Labor Party, the Coalition opted not to say much on the subject. A carbon tax and emissions trading scheme have been ruled out, but the door for climate and energy policy reform has not been slammed shut.

In fact, there has been a clear sense that the government accepts that there needs to be a more comprehensive policy framework than just the subsidy-based Emissions Reductions Fund, with its inherent problems. In 2015, Environment Minister Greg Hunt announced that there will be a climate change policy review during 2017

Read the piece on The Conversation by the Director of the Centre for Climate Economics and Policy at the Australian National University, Frank Jotzo - “Can Malcolm Turnbull do climate and energy policy now?”

Communities making renewable power work for them

The federal election campaign has highlighted the very different visions of Australia’s renewable energy future held by the major parties. The Coalition government supports the present Renewable Energy Target (RET) of 33,000 gigawatt-hours from large-scale projects in 2020, which it negotiated with the Labor opposition in 2015.

It’s expected to deliver just over a 23% contribution of renewables to the Australian electricity sector in 2020. There is, most likely, only one more federal election before then.

For the longer term, the Coalition proposes no change to this target before 2030 which, given future demand growth, might well see renewables' contribution to Australian electricity supply actually fall.

By comparison, Labor has a target of 50% renewable electricity by 2030 and the Greens a 90% target. Complicating the situation further are the ambitious targets of some state and territory governments.

Read the story on The Conversation by a PhD Candidate from the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Science at the University of NSW, Franziska Mey, and the Co-director for the Centre for Energy and Environmental Markets, also at the UNSW, Iain MacGill - “Power to the people: how communities can help meet our renewable energy goals.”

Election off to a bad start - RenewEconomy

The 2016 election campaign got off to a bad start, even before it was officially declared.

In its budget presentation last Tuesday, the Coalition government gave no mention of climate change or clean energy, despite banking on its theme of “innovation”, a nimble and agile Australia and a “new economy”.

When the campaign was finally launched, Turnbull – the man who said he would never lead a party that didn’t take climate change seriously – saw no reason to correct the record.

By Monday, the first day of the campaign, the man voted in at least partly because he could speak in whole sentences, was reduced to one and two-word exclamations: “More jobs ….. growth …. Australia,” I heard him say on ABC radio.

Things actually did get worse. The budget contained no additional funding for the government’s emissions buy-back program, just confirmation that it intends to strip $1.3 billion from the legislated budget of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.

Later that week, it emerged that the Climate Change Authority – the pesky institution that the Coalition had tried to abolish, but which has now been stacked with Coalition appointees – had decided to censor itself and delay two key reports until after the poll.

Read the RenewEconomy story - “Election off to bad start, but Sex Party supports clean energy.”

'Jobs, jobs, jobs' is hollow argument - Ross Gittins

“

Jobs, jobs, jobs” is the cry of the Australian Coalition Government and it has been the Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, who has said he will never put the environment ahead of the economy.

Ross Gittins - questioning the
pleas of the Abbott Government.

And with the environment running in a distant last place, the government is doing all it can to ensure massive industrial projects become a fixed part of our landscape, and along with that, the jobs they promise.

This endless bleating about jobs is a fallacy as explained by Ross Gittins in his article in today’s Age - “Economists' concerns with emissions reduction target not what you'd expect.”