Road user charges for electric vehicles 'on the radar' as fuel excise revenue falls

Road user charges for electric vehicles are being considered by the Victorian and NSW governments, paving the way for a major overhaul of the way motorists are taxed as early as next year.

Road user charges for electric vehicles
could be introduced as early as next year. 

Victoria is likely to be the first mover, with senior government and industry sources confirming consultations had begun on a charge that is under consideration for May's Victorian state budget. NSW will watch developments closely before deciding on its own course of action, but Treasury has been discussing changes with the sector.

Read the story from The Age by Eryk Bagshaw - “Road user charges for electric vehicles 'on the radar' as fuel excise revenue falls.”

Industry super urges Australia to consider the nuclear power optio

Nuclear reactors should be considered as a realistic option to confront Australia's deepening energy crisis, according to a study from industry superannuation's chief lobby group.

"Failure to exclude nuclear does not mean we are
pro-nuclear", said Industry Super Australia.

In a report that raises concerns about the ability of battery technology to maintain the baseload power, Industry Super Australia (ISA) argued that investment in nuclear energy should not be sidelined simply because of its controversial nature.

"If you look at the output of the nuclear industry, and if you consider its future relative to other technologies, it looks awfully good relative to some of the other potential technologies and therefore it shouldn't be excluded from consideration," ISA's chief economist Stephen Anthony told The World Today.

Read the ABC News story by Peter Ryan - “Industry super urges Australia to consider the nuclear power option.”

Black Saturday is an Australian tragedy that redefined the way we live with fire.

I’d visited the Latrobe Valley a few times before I really took in Hazelwood power station. Of course, I’d seen it. How could anyone miss it? But now I beheld the concrete behemoth, its towering chimney stacks creating their own thin, brown cloud-stream.

 With a death toll of 131, Victoria’s Black Saturday bushfires
 are considered the worst in Australia’s history. 

I was writing about the adjacent town of Churchill, built in the late 1960s as a dormitory suburb for Victorian electricity workers. In 1971, a toddler named Brendan Sokaluk had moved to Churchill with his parents, who believed the coal fields would provide a better life for their children. Brendan was raised in the town, and never left. Aged 39, he woke on the morning now known as Black Saturday, and just after lunch, got in his car – a view of Hazelwood visible from his street – and took the short drive to a eucalypt plantation where he set a blaze that engulfed the surrounding world.

Driving to the town, and the area devastated by what is called the Churchill Fire, meant passing the power station, and for the first time I didn’t just half-look at the building.

Read the story from The Guardian by Chloe Hooper - “Black Saturday is an Australian tragedy that redefined the way we live with fire.”

Council backs solar farms.

Councillors are celebrating a ‘‘solar city’’ return with more than $300 million and 200 megawatts of proposals across five solar farm projects being considered for Greater Shepparton.

The council on Tuesday night voted for its chief executive to request Victoria’s planning minister decide on the solar farm planning applications in Greater Shepparton.

The council also resolved to invite the minister to establish a process that provides a fair and proper opportunity for all affected stakeholders to be heard.

Background to this week’s meeting detailed that if future applications are lodged, officers propose to also refer those applications to the minister for a decision.

Five solar farm proposals — located in Tatura East, Tallygaroopna, Lemnos, Congupna and Mooroopna — have been detailed by the council in background to the meeting.

These projects would produce an estimated output of 217 megawatts and cost a total $316 million, according to council projections.

The council’s main concern with the applications is ‘‘whether the loss of productive agricultural land . . . for a solar farm produces acceptable planning outcomes’’.

Officers would need to consider conflicting policies and decide on net benefit, considered a difficult task.

‘‘Officers consider that the most efficient method of determining these solar farm applications . . . is to request (the minister) become the decision maker,’’ the report continues.

If agreed, it would ensure decisions were determined faster.

Background also refers to a sixth solar farm application, totalling 100 megawatts and worth $150 million, as being expected in about six months.

In moving the motion to refer the proposals on to the minister, Cr Dinny Adem stressed the ‘‘1000 percent’’ support for solar farms from the council and cited the potential for applicants to get tied up in processes.

Cr Chris Hazelman agreed it was appropriate to refer the items on for government assistance in helping determine such applications.

‘‘This is really the tip of the iceberg,’’ Cr Bruce Giovanetti said, referring to renewable energy targets, predicting ‘‘huge development in this area’’.

Cr Fern Summer moved an amendment to ensure the council also helped develop a strategy to balance the existing prime agricultural land use with large-scale renewable energy applications but did not receive support.

Following the meeting, Mayor Kim O’Keeffe spruiked the ‘‘significant investment’’ forthcoming from the proposals, which presented a valuable opportunity for the city.

Background to the meeting emphasised the motion carried by the council did not remove the opportunity of objectors to two of the projects to be heard.

Story by Thomas  Moir in the Shepparton News - “Council backs solar farms.”