‘Take it down a few notches': Morrison urges calm as fire blame game escalates

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has demanded an end to the bickering over bushfires and climate change after a dramatic escalation in the political attacks when Greens senator Jordon Steele-John accused the two major parties of being "no better than a bunch of arsonists".

Mr Morrison slapped down Coalition and other politicians for their "unhelpful" remarks after a day of insults traded between the Nationals, the Greens and others over the cause of the fires ravaging NSW and Queensland.

Read the story from The Age by David Crowe and Max Koslowski - “‘Take it down a few notches': Morrison urges calm as fire blame game escalates.”

Environment Minister ordered Adani meeting the day colleagues lobbied for approval

Environment Minister Melissa Price ordered a sudden meeting between scientists and her department over the Adani mine the day her Queensland colleagues demanded the government progress a critical federal approval, it has emerged.

Federal Environment Minister Melissa Price was under
pressure to sign off on the Adani project before the election.

The Department of the Environment and Energy has confirmed that Ms Price, rather than bureaucrats, requested controversial meetings between senior department staff and two scientific agencies, CSIRO and Geoscience Australia, to discuss changes to Adani's contentious groundwater management plan.

Read the story from The Age by Nicole Hasham - “Environment Minister ordered Adani meeting the day colleagues lobbied for approval.”

Queensland Nationals demand action on energy before federal election

Six Queensland Nationals have demanded Michael McCormack and Angus Taylor take “immediate action” to underwrite new power station construction in regional Queensland, and pass the “big stick” package in the final sitting week of the 45th parliament.

 Six Queensland Nationals have written to Angus Taylor
and Michael McCormack demanding ‘immediate action’
on new power station construction. 

George Christensen, Michelle Landry, Ken O’Dowd, Keith Pitt, Llew O’Brien and Barry O’Sullivan have fired an internal warning shot across the bow of the Nationals leader by demanding that McCormack insist the Liberals take concrete action on energy before the coming election.

Revealing the scope of internal frustration with McCormack and with the Liberals, including Taylor, the energy minister, the six Nationals have told their leader, in a letter seen by Guardian Australia, that they are under siege about high energy prices in their electorates.

They say “everyday consumers are at their wits’ end” because they cannot afford “such exorbitant energy costs” and the government needs to deliver both new supply and divestiture powers, because “without divestiture powers, in our view, no action can be taken which would cause Queensland Labor to reduce power prices”.

Read the story from The Guardian by Katharine Murphy - “Queensland Nationals demand action on energy before federal election.”

(Ignoring the facts about climate change and encouraging the construction of a new coal plant is simply wrong and so if Australia is to have any real chance of surviving the quickly unfolding dilemmas we need to devote all or time, effort and money to put Australia on a totally renewable energy journey - Robert McLean)