Labor’s plan to kill coal-fired power

Labor would retire coal-fired power plants and never fund new ones under recommendations from a Senate committee to be released on Monday, forcing thousands of workers to transition into new jobs while pushing towards and emissions intensity scheme. 

French energy major Engie closed down the
Hazelwood coal-fired power station in Morwell. 

The recommendations, contained within a Labor-steered Senate select committee draft report into electricity resilience, have been "fundamentally rejected" by the Coalition as part of "a report that is so biased that it could have been written before the inquiry even commenced”.

The committee recommended the government "stop providing public financing for new coal-fired power plants, noting such public support would not represent value for taxpayer money, violate notions of competitive neutrality and would not be consistent with meeting international emission reduction objectives”.

The recommendations made by Labor senators Jenny McAllister, Alex Gallacher and Anne Urquhart mark a shift within Labor ranks over the future of coal-fired plants after a March committee stopped short of calling for an outright halt to public funds, noting "that coal-fired power generation will continue to play a significant role over the coming decades". 

Read Eryk Bagshaw’s storey in today’s Melbourne Age - “Labor’s plan to kill coal-fired power.”

The power of cycling recognised and to be made law

Recently a speaker advised that should you wish to retire a decade before your contemporaries with your health intact and your bank balance even healthier then don’t buy a car.

Dr Paul Tranter.

That piece of advice came from the Associate Professor and Geographer in the School of Physical, Environmental and Mathematical Sciences at the University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence for Force Academy, Dr. Paul Tranter.

The costs of owning a motor car are, for most people when examined clearly, honestly and objectively, financially disabling.

The chorus of advice about the practicality of bicycles as personal transport is world-wide and now Beneath the Wisteria supporter, John Pettigrew, alerted us to this article in Britain’s “The Times” headed - Safe cycle lanes to be made law in Wales.