Matt Canavan billed taxpayers $5,390 for charter flight to attend coalmine opening

The former resources minister Matt Canavan billed taxpayers for a $5,390 charter flight to travel 150km to attend the opening of a coalmine, where he gave a speech attacking “self-indulgent” environmental activists.

Matt Canavan.

Canavan took the private charter flight from Mackay to Colinsville, a three-hour drive, so he could get to the opening of the $1.76bn Byerwen mine in north Queensland.

At the opening, Canavan gave a speech attacking what he described as “hypocritical, self-indulgent activists” holding back the dreamers of the mining industry.

“Today those dreamers have the modern problem of fighting a bunch of hypocritical, self-indulgent activists who like to enjoy all of the conveniences of modern life powered by our mining sector while campaigning against the very industry that makes this happen.”

The most recent parliamentary expense reports, released last week, show Canavan later billed taxpayers for the $5,390 charter flight.

Read the story from The Guardian by Christoper Knaus - “Matt Canavan billed taxpayers $5,390 for charter flight to attend coalmine opening.”

Global finance leaves Australia behind in the march to net-zero emissions

Scott Morrison dismissed Anthony Albanese’s commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050 as "Bill Shorten 2.0". Surely better than the Prime Minister's effort – Tony Abbott 4.0. Then there's the equation proposed by the Nationals' senator Matt Canavan: net-zero emissions equals net-zero jobs. So, that would amount to no job losses, eh? Oh, the tyranny of all-too-simplistic slogans.

EnergyAustralia's Yallourn generator.

The world, meanwhile, is leaving Australia behind. While our politicians dither, a net-zero target is now embraced by almost half of the world’s gross domestic product – some 121 nations. It was just 16 per cent of GDP nine months ago, according to the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit in Britain. Major global financial institutions, too, are declaring their exit from coal.

In Australia, where Labor has declared its commitment to net-zero by 2050, the party should be under scrutiny to provide its thinking on transition pathways and how they will be managed. But so should the Morrison government be pressured to substantiate its claim that Labor's path would cost jobs, raise electricity prices and hurt regional Australia. Both the Coalition and Labor should admit the tremendous opportunities for new industries and jobs from an effective energy transition.

Read the opinion piece from The Age by John Hewson - “Global finance leaves Australia behind in the march to net-zero emissions.”

I would cross floor on climate: Canavan

Outspoken Nationals senator Matt Canavan would consider crossing the floor of parliament on climate or energy policy if it wasn't in the interests of his Queensland constituents.

 Matt Canavan says he would vote against the
government's climate policy if he didn't agree with it.

Senator Canavan, who returned to the back bench as a result of the recent leadership spill in the National Party, is a strong supporter of coal for Australia's energy source.

Asked on Sky News whether he would be willing to cross the floor and vote against the government on climate or energy policy, Senator Canavan said: "Well, the short answer is yes, the longer answer is it depends on the detail.”

Read the story from The Canberra Times by Colin Brinsden - “I would cross floor on climate: Canavan.”

Barnaby digs for coal on the moral high ground. How did we get here?

Now that Barnaby Joyce and Matt Canavan have created their own buddy podcast, we can be fairly sure the medium has peaked. Teenagers across Australia had better hope the pair don’t take next to Tik-Tok, or it too will be ruined by association. As for Snapchat, we pray Joyce has never heard of it.

Long has the member for New England exhausted the mainstream media with his need for attention, and yet it’s strangely difficult to recall any formal policy positions he has fought for.

Not content with drenching the traditional airwaves with himself, this week Joyce was conscripted by his former chief of staff, the recently departed resources minister, Matt Canavan, to break the internet with their own podcast, Weatherboard and Iron.

The trend of politicians podcasting is a worrying one – Christopher Pyne, the former defence minister-turned lobbyist, recently launched one. Julia Gillard has one too.

Read the opinion piece from The Age by Jacqueline Maley - “Barnaby digs for coal on the moral high ground. How did we get here?”

Matt Canavan should stop wagging his finger at those who want climate action

I have mentioned this before, but the mystery persists. Matt Canavan, the federal resources minister, has an economics degree, graduating from the University of Queensland with first class honours.

Matt Canavan has rebuked ‘loud and undemocratic
voices’ he suggests are putting climate pressure
 on resources companies and banks.

Canavan also worked at the Productivity Commission prior to entering politics, first as a staffer for Barnaby Joyce and then as a senator for Queensland.

His professional background would point to a basic level of respect for facts and evidence – unless Canavan was the only staffer ever to work at the Productivity Commission overheard insisting stoutly in the tea room that everything needed to remain just the same, forever. It would also suggest a degree of fluency with the concept of industry transformation, a minor speciality of the commission.

It is possible, of course, that Canavan departed the technocracy and sought refuge in political life in order to enact a state of being called the permanent present, but in any case, let’s not sweat the mystery, because we need to review the latest thinking of the resources minister.

Read the story from The Guardian by Katharine Murphy - “Matt Canavan should stop wagging his finger at those who want climate action.”

Now is the time for new coal plants, resources minister says.

The resources minister, Matt Canavan, has declared “now” is the right time to build new coal-fired power, as the prime minister insisted his pre-election priorities were securing passage of budget bills and helping north Queensland recover from the recent floods.

 Matt Canavan: ‘The best time to start building a coal-fired
power station was 10 years ago, the second best is now.’

The comments from Canavan and Scott Morrison follow a new push from Queensland Nationals for “immediate” government action to underwrite new power station construction in regional Queensland, and a separate demand the government pass the “big stick” energy package in the final sitting week of the 45th parliament.

Canavan backed the intervention from his Queensland colleagues, which was targeted primarily at their own party leader, Michael McCormack, although he left the timing of the passage of the “big stick” legislation “to the wiser people in the House of Representatives”.

Read the story from The Guardian by Katharine Murphy - “Now is the time for new coal plants, resources minister says.”

(Delusion manifests itself on many forms and sometimes disguises it identity as madness - Robert McLean)

Paris climate deal doesn't stop us building new coal plants, Canavan says

Australia does not need to quit the Paris climate agreement because our commitments are non-binding, and new coal plants can continue to be constructed, according to the resources minister, Matt Canavan.

 Resources minister Matt Canavan says Australia’s
commitment to the Paris climate deal is non-binding. 

Canavan told Sydney broadcaster Alan Jones on Friday he had never been to Paris, and was “happy to leave the Champs-Élysées for others”, but people needed to be clear the treaty Tony Abbott committed Australia to in 2015 “doesn’t actually bind us to anything in particular”.

Abbott said in 2015, when he announced Australia would be signing up, that the government was making a “definite commitment” to a 26% reduction in emissions by 2030 and “with the circumstances that we think will apply ... we can go up to 28%”.

Read the story from The Guardian by Katharine Murphy -“Paris climate deal doesn't stop us building new coal plants, Canavan says.”

(The idea of resources minister, Matt Canavan, that Australia is not bound by the Paris climate agreement and so it can build new coal-powered energy plants its irresponsible, socially malignant and demonstrates little concern for the welfare of Australians and people of the world. Even if all the Paris promises made in December 2015 are fulfilled, the world is still heading for temperature increases of well over two degrees and maybe even three. Australians are, on a per capita basis, among the world’s largest, if not the largest emitters of carbon dioxide. Mr Caravan should be removed from his influential position just as quickly as we can - Robert McLean)

Seeing the oxymoron in low-emission coal

From the Melbourne Age  - 

Matt Canavan says Nationals are not 'mandating' new investment in coal

The resources minister, Matt Canavan, says Nationals are not in the business of “mandating that coal should be definitely invested in”, but are pushing to ensure it is not left out as part of the transition to the national energy guarantee.

The resources minister, Matt Canavan, says Australia needs
to be ‘flexible’ to end the dispute about climate and energy policy.

Canavan told the ABC on Sunday that everyone needed to be “flexible” if Australia was to end a decade-long partisan brawl about climate and energy policy, but he said the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission had provided the government with a roadmap for future investment in all energy technologies, including coal.

The resources minister was referring to a recommendation from the ACCC in a report released last week that the commonwealth consider underwriting new investment in “firm” generation technology, in instances where proposals struggle to get finance, in order to boost competition in the market.

Read Katharine Murphy’s story from The Guardian - “Matt Canavan says Nationals are not 'mandating' new investment in coal.”

("Flexible" means investing in coal, so let's be honest Minister, say what you mean. All fossil fuels should remain where they are, in the ground - Robert McLean)

Sorry, Matt Canavan, no one believes coal magic means everyone wins

Matt Canavan has an economics degree, graduating from the University of Queensland with first class honours. The Nationals senator and federal minister for resources worked at the Productivity Commission before he entered politics, first as a staffer for his colleague and friend Barnaby Joyce, before being elected to the Senate himself.

 Matt Canavan at the National Press Club on Wednesday. 

The economic pointy head backstory makes Canavan an unconventional National, a fact that doesn’t go unnoticed among his party room colleagues. It also makes some of his public commentary this week just that bit harder to get your head around.

In a busy week, where the government prosecuted but lost an attempt to steer its big business tax cut through the Senate, where Tony Abbott was so desperate for a “look at me” moment he launched Pauline Hanson’s new book, where the nation roiled inconsolably about the behaviour of our cricketers – Canavan fronted the National Press Club to try and generate a couple of headlines of his own.

Read Katherine Murphy’s story from The Guardian - “Sorry, Matt Canavan, no one believes coal magic means everyone wins.”

The Long Mining Boom - Matt Canavan

“Dubious” was the quality attributed to those attempting to slow and derail Queensland’s Adani coal mine by the Minister for Resources and Northern Australia, Matt Canavan, at today’s National Press Club.

Minister for Resources and Northern Australia, Matt Canavan.

Those uncomfortable about today’s address, and Mr Canavan’s overall performance, would equally consider the efforts  and ideologies of the Minister equally dubious.

Today’s address was like a voice from the past and spelt out, not in discrete and specific terms, the reason why the world is facing hitherto unseen difficulties; difficulties that have arisen from our industrial world that is the way it is because of ideas and philosophies championed today by the Minister at the National Press Club.

Watch today's lecture at the press club by Mr Canavan - “The Long Mining Boom”. 

This is not rhetoric: approving the Adani coal mine will kill people

Rarely have politicians demonstrated better their ignorance of the risks and opportunities confronting Australia than with Barnaby Joyce, Matt Canavan and other ministers' recent utterances on Adani and Galilee Basin coal, along with their petulant foot-stamping over Westpac's decision to restrict funding to new coal projects. Likewise, Bill Shorten sees no problem in supporting Adani.

The Adani mine by itself will push global temperatures
 above the threshold increase of 2 degrees.

The media are no better; discussion instantly defaults to important but secondary issues, such as Adani's concessional government loan, the project's importance to the economy, creating jobs for north Queenslanders and so on.

Read Ian Dunlop’s story on The Canberra Times - “This is not rhetoric: approving the Adani coal mine will kill people.”

Coalition says coal subsidies still on the table despite Snowy Hydro plan

 The Coalition’s resources minister, Matt Canavan,
says subsidies for coal-fired power stations
have not been made redundant by
Malcolm Turnbull’s Snowy Hydro plan. 

Subsidies for coal-fired power stations have not been made redundant by the federal government’s plan to spend $2bn increasing the capacity of pumped hydro power storage in the Snowy Mountains, Matt Canavan has said.

The minister for resources and northern Australia told the ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday the so-called Snowy Hydro 2.0 plan would be an important addition to Australia’s energy supply but “would not make a huge difference” in northern Queensland.

Canavan also backed Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce’s call for states to follow South Australia’s plan to pay royalties as compensation to landholders for gas development.

Read Paul Karp’s story on The Guardian - “Coalition says coal subsidies still on the table despite Snowy Hydro plan.”

You say renewable, the Resources Minister Matt Canavan says undoable

Resources Minister Matt Canavan has said
towns like Yackandandah intent on being
100 per cent reliant on solar energy
are living in "fantasy land".

The federal minister responsible for supporting energy resources has labelled towns like Yackandandah aiming to become 100 per cent reliant on solar energy as living in a “fantasy land”.

Resources Minister Matt Canavan visited Wodonga on Wednesday to speak with business about protecting jobs in food production and manufacturing during a time of rising power costs.

He said the Victorian government’s goal for 50 per cent renewable energy was “mad” and should be done in a more managed way.

Asked by The Border Mail if community group Totally Renewable Yackandandah could expect federal government support in its goal to have 100 per cent renewable energy by 2022, Senator Canavan said the idea would not work for towns “when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine”.

Read the Bendigo Advertiser story - “You say renewable, the Resources Minister Matt Canavan says undoable.”

Australia should invest in coal power to reduce emissions, minister says

Matt Canavan - "misreported".

Research touted by the resources minister that reportedly suggests Australia can rely on coal to meet emissions reduction has been attacked by experts and appears to have been misreported.

The Australian reported on Tuesday that research conducted by the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science – and commissioned by Matt Canavan, the federal minister for resources – showed Australia could cut its emissions by 27% if it replaced its existing coal power stations with the more efficient “ultra-supercritical” technology.

If true, that would get the country close to its 2030 target, which is a reduction of 28% below 2005 levels.

However, a summary of the analysis seen by Guardian Australia suggests the new coal technology – under a very expensive demolition and construction program – could reduce Australia’s emissions by 12% at most.

In fact, to reduce Australia’s emissions by 27% by relying on reductions in the electricity industry alone, the sector’s emissionswould need to be reduced to almost zero. Australia’s entire electricity sector only accounts for about a third of its carbon emissions.

Read Michael Slezak’s story on The Guardian - “Australia should invest in coal power to reduce emissions, minister says.”

Adani protest: hundreds rally against proposed $1bn loan to mining company

Protesters at Treasury Place before an expected
meeting in the city between Malcolm Turnbull
and Gautam Adani, the head of the Indian
 mining company Adani.

More than 300 people rallied in Melbourne on Monday to protest against a proposed $1bn federal government loan to Adani for a rail line before an expected meeting in the city between Malcolm Turnbull and the head of the Indian mining company, Gautam Adani.

Adani and Turnbull were expected to meet on the sidelines of the Australian Indian Leadership Dialogue in Melbourne, which they are both scheduled to attend.

The minister for northern Australia, Matt Canavan, confirmed the federal government was considering lending $1bn toward the construction of a 310km rail line from the proposed Galilee Basin coalmine to the port.

Read the story in The Guardian - “Adani protest: hundreds rally against proposed $1bn loan to mining company.”

Carmichael coal mine: politics, activism and the search for truth

The federal resources
minister, Matt Canavan.

The federal resources minister, Matt Canavan, wielded some big numbers this week as he pleaded with the Queensland media to help save the mining industry from an “unprecedented” threat.

The sunshine state, he said, was under attack from “environmental activists” who have brought court cases against Adani’s Carmichael coalmine. The big numbers came from a PricewaterhouseCoopers report, which found that “legal delays” had already cost Queensland $3.9bn in economic output and 2,665 “lost” jobs and had cost Adani $200m.

This, the minister advised the assembled media “is a story”.

Turns out, they were already onto it. Canavan cited what he called an “expose” in the previous week’s Sunday Mail entitled “Stop with Madness: Greens jeopardise Queensland’s future”. That story, in turn, favourably cited the minister railing against the greens and an accompanying editorial implored the federal government to “step in” and “rid Queensland of these delays”.

Conveniently, that happens to be exactly what the minister wants to do.

As a backbencher he was one of the most vocal advocates of the Abbott government’s so called “lawfare” changes – the amendments to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act to remove the right of most environmental organisations and other groups to challenge developments under federal laws unless they can show they are “directly affected”. This, the government argued, would stop the dastardly “green saboteurs”. The senate refused to pass the changes and the early indications after Malcolm Turnbull became prime minister was that they would be shelved.

But Canavan is now the resources minister and is determined to revive them, speaking to the new senate crossbench and insisting the government “remains committed” to the changes.

Read Lenore Taylor’s story in The Guardian - “Carmichael coal mine: politics, activism and the search for truth.”

Malcolm Roberts to talk with the CSIRO about climate change 'evidence'

One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts used question
time on Thursday to ask the Coalition for the
  'specific location of data that proves
claims that humans affect global climate change’.

The CSIRO will meet Malcolm Roberts to discuss global warming after the innovation and science minister, Greg Hunt, intervened to help the One Nation senator obtain a briefing.

Roberts told Guardian Australia he would listen to the evidence, despite having described climate data that contradicted his view as “corrupted”.

In Senate question time on Thursday Roberts asked the minister for resources and Northern Australia, Matt Canavan, for “the specific location of data that proves claims that humans affect global climate change”.

Read Paul Garp’s story on The Guardian - “Malcolm Roberts to discuss climate science with CSIRO.”

Q&A: renewable energy and climate change trumped all questions

Peter Singer.

The question of renewable energy and climate change trumped all questions on the ABC’s Q&A last night, or at least it did according to one of the guests, philosopher, and ethicist, Peter Singer.

A question from a young woman, Sophie, about renewable energy, the Adani mine, and climate change brought a predictable response from Australia’s Resources Minister, Matt Canavan, who lives in the area of the Queensland mine and in parroting Tony Abbott, effectively said coal is good for humanity.

Tasmanian Labor Senator, Lisa Singh, who was quick to point out that her state had more than 90 per cent renewable energy (not mentioning the fact that the state’s hydro system only works if it rains, something that a disrupted climate system makes questionable).

Host Virginia Trioli could see Peter Singer had much to say on the matter and in keeping him to last gave the former CEO Committee for Melbourne Kate Roffey a chance to speak.

She had a bit each way, not understanding that climate change will not allow such oscillations, and then plumped for nuclear power, seeing that as the solution to the world’s energy needs.

Singer quickly disabused her of that thought pointing out that the time needed to bring nuclear power online, and  providing energy, was well outside what was need to counteract what is happening in the world now.

The U.S. based philosopher/ethicist explained the complications of climate change, all of which, he pointed out, are aligned to our use of fossil fuels, facts that are well known to climate activists, but seem to escape the understanding of many.

The other guest on last night panel show was commentator and writer, Celeste Liddle.

Watch Q&A and take particular note of what Singer has to say and compare them to what might be the Luddite-like views of Matt Canavan.