Private investors won't touch new Coalition-backed coal plant, Labor says

The federal Labor opposition says private investors will not touch “with a barge pole” the Morrison government’s plan to support a coal-fired power plant in Queensland. 

The Morrison government says it will spend up to $6m in grants
 for two new Queensland electricity generation projects, including
 a coal-fired power plant at Collinsville.

The government says it will spend up to $6m in grants for two new Queensland electricity generation projects, including a coal-fired power plant, as part of a bid to lower power prices.

About $2m has been set aside for a pre-feasibility study on a 1.5GW hydro-electric plant to be developed as part of the planned Urannah water scheme, while up to $4m will support a feasibility study for a 1GW “high efficiency, low emissions” coal plant at Collinsville.

“We are supporting two promising new generation projects to deliver the reliable, affordable power that the north Queensland economy needs to grow and thrive,” the deputy prime minister, Michael McCormack, said.

Read the story from The Guardian - “Private investors won't touch new Coalition-backed coal plant, Labor says.”

(This is absolutely the wrong thing to do. The science tells us clearly and unequivocally, that Australia should be playing a leading role in helping the world break its addiction to fossil fuels. We should be setting an example by switching, just as quickly as we can, to a system that depends entirely upon renewable energy, primarily solar, wind and where feasible, hydro - Robert McLean)

Call for Australia's Pacific membership to be suspended over coal

Welcome mat to go?: Australia's Prime
 Minister Scott Morrison arrives at the
Leaders Retreat during the Pacific Islands
Forum last week in Funafuti, Tuvalu.

Australia's membership of the Pacific Islands Forum should be "urgently reviewed" for possible sanctions or suspension over the Morrison government's pro-coal stance, says Anote Tong, a former president of Kiribati.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison's resistance to demands by forum leaders at last week's gathering in Tuvalu for a global ban on new coal-fired power plants and coal mines has also drawn criticism from Rachel Kyte, a special United Nations representative, who described support for the fossil fuel as "reckless and cruel”.

Read the story from The Sydney Morning Herald by Peter Hannam - “Call for Australia's Pacific membership to be suspended over coal.”

Morrison government experts say Australia must 'do more' on climate

The Morrison government's climate change advisers say Australia and others must do a better job of cutting emissions for the world to meet the Paris goals, and more ambitious policies are needed to put the nation "firmly" on the path to a zero-carbon economy.

As the driest inhabited continent on earth, Australia is
particularly vulnerable to the effects of planetary warming.

The statement coincides with a new scientific assessment of the Great Barrier Reef that found coral had suffered an "unparalleled" decline over the past five years and the damage wrought by climate change would only worsen.

Read the story from The Age by Nicole Hasham - “Morrison government experts say Australia must 'do more' on climate.”